Western Hemisphere, European conquerors imported
African slaves to do more of the work.
Indians nevertheless benefited from some aspects
of the ecological transformation of the Western
Hemisphere. Horses were among the many big mam-
mals that became extinct in the Americas over
10,000 years ago. When Spanish conquistadors
brought horses back to the Americas, the Indians
were terrified by the strange beasts. The horses, how-
ever, thrived in the vast grasslands of North America.
Plains Indians used horses to hunt buffalo and harass
Europeans. Farming Indians such as the Navajo prof-
ited from sheep cultivation by learning to weave fine
woolen cloth.
TheColumbian Exchangeof plants and animals
went both ways, yet it remained unequal. American
Indians usually fared far worse than Europeans. The
best indicator is the shift in population: During the
300 years after Columbus, Europe’s share of the
world’s population nearly doubled, increasing from
about 11 percent to 20 percent. During the same
period, the American Indian’s share declined from
about 7 percent to 1 percent.
Spain’s European Rivals
Despite the staggering decline in Indian populations,
Spanish colonization was a success by the one mea-
sure that most mattered in the sixteenth century: pre-
cious metals. By 1650, over 181 tons of gold and
16,000 tons of silver had been shipped from the
Americas to Spain. By 1585, a quarter of the empire’s
revenue came from American gold and silver.
At first, Spain’s rivals did little to oppose
Spanish colonization of the New World. In 1497
and 1498 King Henry VII of England sent Captain
John Cabot to explore the New World. Cabot vis-
ited Newfoundland and the northeastern coast of
the continent. His explorations formed the basis for
later British claims in North America, but they were
not followed up for many decades. In 1524
Giovanni da Verrazano made a similar voyage for
France, coasting the continent from Carolina to
Nova Scotia. Some ten years later the Frenchman
Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence River as
far inland as present-day Montréal. During the six-
teenth century, fishermen from France, Spain,
Portugal, and England exploited the limitless sup-
plies of cod and other fish they found in the cold
waters off Newfoundland. They landed at many
points along the mainland coast from Nova Scotia
to Labrador to collect water and wood and to dry
their catches, but they made no permanent settle-
ments until the next century.
There were many reasons for this delay, the most
important probably being the fact that Spain had
achieved a large measure of internal tranquility by the
sixteenth century, while France and England were still
torn by serious religious and political conflicts. The
Spanish also profited from having seized on those
areas in America best suited to producing quick
returns. Furthermore, in the first half of the sixteenth
century, Spain, under Charles V, dominated Europe as
well as America. Reinforced by the treasure of the
Aztecs and the Incas, Spain seemed too mighty to be
challenged in either the New World or the Old World.
Under Philip II, who succeeded Charles in 1556,
Spanish strength seemed at its peak, especially after
Philip added Portugal to his domain in 1580. But
beneath the pomp and splendor (so well-captured by
such painters as Velázquez and El Greco) the great
empire was in trouble. The corruption of the Spanish
court had much to do with this. So did the ever-
increasing dependence of Spain on the gold and sil-
ver of its colonies, which tended to undermine the
local Spanish economy. Even more important was the
disruption of the Catholic Church throughout
Europe by the Protestant Reformation.
Letters of Patent Granted to John Cabotat
myhistorylab.comReadtheDocumentSpain’s European Rivals 27Horses (blindfolded) were loaded onto Spanish warships for shipment
to the Americas. Native peoples had never seen horses (which had
been extinct in the Americas for over 10,000 years). Nor had they seen
enormous wooden warships, powered by sails and carrying heavy
cannons, or warriors, seated on horses and encased in armor.