CHRONOLOGY of Colonialism in South America
1492 Columbus Sails for Spain Detail from: America Sive Novus Orbis, by Theodore de Bry, 1596 Image from: De Insulis nuper in mari Indico repertis, by Christopher Columbus, 1494
1493 Columbus Second Voyage Image from: De Insulis nuper in mari Indico repertis, by Christopher Columbus, 1494
1494 / 1495 Native Peoples Enslaved Image from: De Insulis nuper in mari Indico repertis, by Christopher Columbus, 1494
1496 Santa Domingo Founded John Ogilby, 1671
1498 Columbus Finds Mainland Edward Wells, 1701 Paulo di Forlani, 1566
1501 African Slaves Brought to Americas Image from: Orbis Maritimus oft Zee Atlas, by Frederick de Wit, 1675
1520 Magellan Sails into Pacific Ocean Detail from: America Sive Novus Orbis, by Theodore de Bry, 1596
1521 Sugarcane Planted in Brazil Image from: Atlas Major, by Johannes Blaeu, 1662
1555 French Found Rio de Janeiro Image Courtesy of Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil. La France Antarctique autrement Le Rio Ianeiro, by Pierre du Val, date unknown.
1604 The English Attempt a Gold Colony Image from: Orbis Maritimus oft Zee Atlas, by Frederick de Wit, 1675
1616 Cape Horn Rounded 1596 Theodore de Brys, 1596 1701 Edward Wells, 1701
1621 Dutch Organize West India Company Image from: De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld, by Arnoldus Montanus, 1671
Sources: Louis de Vorsey Jr. Keys to the Encounter: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of the Age of Discovery. Washington: Library of Congress, 1992. Michael Paiewonsky. Conquest of Eden 1493 1515. Mapes Monde Editore, 1991. Colonial Latin America Chronology. http://faculty.smu.edu/bakewell/bakewell/chronology.html
South America Chronology Slide Notes Slide 2 1492 Columbus sails for Spain and discovers the Americas. Even though he did not make it to South America proper until much later, the history of colonial South America is tied to the history of the Caribbean. When he returned to Spain, a book of his letters with some added illustrations was published. The title page shows an image of King Ferdinand of Spain. Slide 3 1493 Columbus embarks on his second voyage to the Americas. While he finds many other islands, he does not reach the mainland of South America. Slide 4 1494 and 1495 It did not take long for Europeans to begin enslaving the native population. When Columbus ship sailed back to Spain, it took over 100 slaves, most of whom died on the journey or soon after arriving in Europe. Slide 5 1496- Santa Domingo, the first permanent European settlement in the Americas is founded on Hispaniola. Slide 6 1498- Columbus makes to mainland of South America. Compare these maps. What does the first map include that the second map doesn t? Answer: the Caribbean. Our way of organizing the world s landmasses into 7 continents is mostly arbitrary. Many of the older maps of South America will also include the islands of the Caribbean. Beginning in the 17 th and 18 th century, however, people begin to think of the Americas as two separate continents. Slide 7 1501 The first African slaves that were brought to the Americas arrived in 1501. Those that survived the journey at sea would likely perish from being overworked or in the smallpox epidemics that started ravaging the Caribbean and South America as early as 1507. Slide 8 1520 Magellan became the first European to enter the Pacific Ocean from the east. At first it was believed he had found a small gap between South America and Terra Australius, a mythical southern continent that Europeans thought must exist to balance out the Earth s rotation. The gap was called the Straits of Magellan Slide 9 1521 Sugarcane is the plant that sugar, molasses, and rum is made from. Although it had been cultivated for years in the Caribbean, it wasn t until 1521 that it was planted in Brazil. This increased the demand for African slaves. Working on a sugar plantation was grueling, often deadly, work.
Slide 10 1555 While many European powers founded colonies in the Caribbean early on, it was primarily the Spanish and Portuguese who were making a concerted colonization effort in South America at first. In 1555, however, the French found La France Antarctique, a colony that would later morph into Rio de Janeiro. The colony held on for 12 years, but the Portuguese destroyed it in 1567. After that, there is not a lot of French effort to colonize South America. Their holdings in the Caribbean and North America, hold strong for centuries. Slide 11 One of the earliest draws to South America was its rich gold deposits. In 1604, the English founded a colony in Guiana, with the intent to mine nearby gold. The colony produced little to no gold, however, and was abandoned within two years. The English, like the French, do not make a concerted colonizing effort in South America after this. Slide 12 1616 For almost a century, Europeans rounded South America s tip by going through the deadly straits of Magellan, believing that Tierra del Fuego was part of a large, unexplored Southern continent. Finally, in 1616, a Dutch seafarer discovered that Tierra del Fuego was, in fact, a relatively small island. The Southernmost cape of Tierra del Fuego, Cape Horn, was a much easier area to sail through than the straits of Magellan. Slide 13 1621 While the Dutch had made colonizing efforts in South America, they had little success until they organized the West India Company, whose purpose was to coordinate the capture of Spanish and Portuguese colonies in South America. Of course, having control of South American colonies required control of slaving colonies in Africa. This image shows the Dutch capture of Elmina, a slaving colony in Africa. The Dutch presence in South America was considerable after the 1620s.