History of South America - European Colonization

European Colonization

Before the arrival of Europeans, an estimated 30 million people lived in South America.

In 1493, the papal bull Inter caetera was the third of a series that paved the way for the European colonization and Catholic missions in the New World, authorizing to take possession of non-Christian lands and encouraging the enslavement of the non-Christian people of Africa and the Americas.

In 1494, Portugal and Spain, the two great maritime powers of that time, signed the Treaty of Tordesilhas on the expectation of new lands being discovered in the west. Through the treaty they agreed that all the land outside Europe should be an exclusive duopoly between the two countries. The treaty established an imaginary line along a north-south meridian 370 leagues west of Cape Verde Islands, roughly 46° 37' W. In terms of the treaty, all land to the west of the line (which is now known to include most of the South American soil), would belong to Spain, and all land to the east, to Portugal. Because accurate measurements of longitude were not possible at that time, the line was not strictly enforced, resulting in a Portuguese expansion of Brazil across the meridian.

Beginning in the 1530s, the people and natural resources of South America were repeatedly exploited by foreign conquistadors, first from Spain and later from Portugal. These competing colonial nations claimed the land and resources as their own and divided it into colonies.

European diseases (smallpox, influenza, measles and typhus) to which the native populations had no resistance decimated the American population, as well as cruel systems of forced labor (such as encomiendas and mining industry's mita) under Spanish control. Following this, African slaves, who had developed immunity to these diseases, were quickly brought in to replace them.

The Spaniards were committed to converting their American subjects to Christianity and were quick to purge any native cultural practices that hindered this end. However, most initial attempts at this were only partially successful; American groups simply blended Catholicism with their traditional beliefs. The Spaniards did not impose their language to the degree they did their religion. In fact, the missionary work of the Roman Catholic Church in Quechua, Nahuatl, and Guarani actually contributed to the expansion of these American languages, equipping them with writing systems.

Eventually the natives and the Spaniards interbred, forming a Mestizo class. Mestizos and the native Americans were often forced to pay unfair taxes to the Spanish government (although all subjects paid taxes) and were punished harshly for disobeying their laws. Many native artworks were considered pagan idols and destroyed by Spanish explorers. This included a great number of gold and silver sculptures, which were melted down before transport to Europe.