Spain’s Tribute Colonies

European interest in the Americas took shape under the influence of Spain’s conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires. There, Spanish colonizers capitalized on preexisting systems of tribute and labor discipline to tap the enormous wealth of Mesoamerica and the Andes. Once native rulers were overthrown, the Spanish monarchs transferred their institutions — municipal councils, the legal code, the Catholic Church — to America; the empire was centrally controlled to protect the crown’s immensely valuable holdings. The Spanish conquest also set in motion a global ecological transformation through a vast intercontinental movement of plants, animals, and diseases that historians call the Columbian Exchange. And the conquest triggered hostile responses from Spain’s European rivals, especially the Protestant Dutch and English (Figure 2.1).

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FIGURE 2.1
Chronology of European Colonies in the Americas