Foreign Policy (New World)

Question 1

What motivated new world expansion?

Answer 1

• rivalry with Portugal
• economic/commercial reasons
• agricultural reasons
• religion

Question 2

When did Portugal and Spain (initially) reject Columbus’s request for funding?

Answer 2

• Portugal: 1485
• Spain: 1486

Question 3

What happened with regards to Columbus finding funding from England?

Answer 3

Columbus dispatched his brother Bartolomeo to inquire about sponsorship for his expedition but he was captured by pirates and didn’t arrive until 1491, by which time the Spanish crown had invited Columbus back to reconsider.

Question 4

When did Spain agree to fund Columbus’s expedition?

Answer 4

1492 - he undertook an voyage with 2 ships and 12 priests, landing in Hispaniola

Question 5

What did the Inter Caetra bull dictate?

Answer 5

Issued by Pope Alexander VI (a Spaniard) in 1493, it declared that Ferdinand and Isabella had complete control over the church in any newly discovered American lands.

Question 6

When was Columbus named Viceroy?

Answer 6

April 1492 (he was also named Admiral of the seven seas).

Question 7

When was slavery forbidden?

Answer 7

1500. Columbus and his fellow settlers had thought it ok that they enslave locals however the Dominican and Franciscan friars.

Question 8

Treaty of Tordesillas

Answer 8

1494, gave Portugal the rights to Brazil

Question 9

Spanish acquisitions in the New World by 1516?

Answer 9

• Cuba (1511)
• Hispaniola (1500)
• Puerto Rico (1508)
• Small settlements in central America (1509).

Question 10

House of Trade

Answer 10

Established in Seville in 1503 by Fonseca and Francisco Pinelo and all trade had to pass through it.

Question 11

How much did the voyage cost?

Answer 11

2 million maravedis - relatively low compared to other expenditure (Catherine’s voyage to England cost 60 million).

Question 12

What was the encomienda?

Answer 12

The encomienda was a land grant given to an individual in return for his services to the crown. This was granted to settlers in the New World, natives would then have to work in exchange for the encomenderos which was meant to protect, educate and instruct them in the Christian faith.

Question 13

Law of Burgos

Answer 13

Issued in 1512 and set a code of conduct for Spanish settlers and reaffirmed 1500 ban on slavery. Exceptions were made for those who attempted to attack Spain or practised cannibalism. These exceptions were often used by settlers to their advantage.

Question 14

When were Columbus’s other three expeditions?

Answer 14

1493, 1497 and 1502.