The period in America from around 1521 to 1821 where everyone deals with living in the hot desert (or if it's Florida, a giant swamp), conquistadors are wearing heavy armor and everyone is praying en masse in some Spanish missions with nearly bald but well meaning friars. Big forts were established and if not old cities built Native Americans would be rebuild as something new, provided by of course labor by the conquered natives as unlike the English, there's no need for slaves from Africa. note
The towns are always named with a "San" or "Santa" or "St." If not they would be given a very long and very Spanish sounding name. There are hardly any Spanish women in these places, and the women are often Native Americans given away to the Spanish Conquistador and intermarried creating the brown latinos we see today. Occupations among the men, besides the aforementioned prayer and intermarriage, included persecuting Protestants, oppressing Native Americans, being scalped, and running large mines with Natives giving away silver and gold. If the natives do not give enough silver they can have they're limbs chopped off.
People came here expecting to get rich quick, and unlike the English settlers, it ends up happening with Spanish men becoming very rich owning huge amounts of land (and native slaves) from the Encomienda system. Despite that, it is much more sparsely populated than the English colonies, but not as much as the French one. Speaking of French and English, expect some conflict over a border scuffle with more forts established to protect their towns from invasion and war.
Meanwhile Spain in the mainland grew very rich and successful with some inflation here and there and wanted immense control over its colonies. But from the beginning of the 19th century, Spain fell into crisis, aggravated by the 1808 Napoleonic invasion of Iberia and the forced abdication of the Bourbon monarch, Charles IV. This resulted in a political crisis in New Spain and much of the Spanish Empire in 1808, which ended with the government of Viceroy José de Iturrigaray. Conspiracies of American-born Spaniards sought to take power, leading to the Mexican War of Independence, 1810–1821. At its conclusion in 1821, the viceroyalty was dissolved and the Mexican Empire was established.
This era is coincidental with The Renaissance and The Cavalier Years across the pond. See The Thirteen American Colonies on the eastern coast and north of Florida and New France for colonies in the middle.
Here is some information on the founding and history of the colonies both in what would be the United States and outside of the United States
Spain colonization outside of the United States
- Spanish West Indies (Caribbean)
- Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire
- Spanish Conquest of the Maya
- Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empire
- Spanish Conquest of the Philippines
- Uh Oh, Spanish did it, Spanish did it : The Spanish are the oldest people to settle in the Americas outside of the Native Americans or the Vikings, having been the first to establish a permanent settlement, the first Europeans to reach the Appalachian Mountains, the Mississippi River, the Grand Canyon and the Great Plains. Spanish ships sailed along the East Coast, penetrating to present-day Bangor, Maine, and up the Pacific Coast as far as Oregon. From 1528 to 1536, four castaways from a Spanish expedition, including a "black" Moor named Estevanico, journeyed all the way from Florida to the Gulf of California, 267 years before Lewis and Clark embarked on their much more famous trek. In all, Spaniards probed half of today's lower 48 states before the first English colonization attempt (Roanoke Island, 1585). Santa Fe, New Mexico also predates Jamestown, Virginia (of Pocahontas fame) and Plymouth Colony (of Mayflower, Pilgrims and Thanksgiving fame). The Spanish even established a Jesuit mission in Virginia's Chesapeake Bay 37 years before the founding of Jamestown. Speaking of Jamestown, almost 80 years before John Smith's alleged rescue by Pocahontas, a man by the name of Juan Ortiz told of his similar rescue from execution by an Indian girl. Spaniards also held a thanksgiving feast, 56 years before the Pilgrims, when they feasted near St. Augustine with Florida Indians. A less lighthearted fact, the Spanish were the ones who established the Trans Atlantic slave trade and were importing slaves into the America well before 1619. Before the 1520s, slavers took Africans to Seville or the Canary Islands and then exported some of them from Spain to its colonies in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, but eventually Spain took slaves from Africa directly. A burial ground in Campeche, Mexico, suggests enslaved Africans had been brought there not long after Hernán Cortés completed the subjugation of Aztec and Mayan Mexico in 1519.
- Florida: In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León became the first European to reach Florida, likely landing on the east coast near present-day St. Augustine. He named the land "La Florida" in honor of the Easter season (Pascua Florida). In the 16th century, several Spanish expeditions explored the Florida peninsula, but permanent settlements were not established until later. In 1565, Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine, the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the continental United States. St. Augustine was established as a military outpost and served as the capital of Spanish Florida. They also took Fort Caroline in modern-day Jacksonville in 1564, by French Huguenots but the Huguenots were slaughtered, and Menéndez de Avilés marched south and captured the survivors, ordering all but a few Catholics executed beside a river subsequently called Matanzas (Spanish for 'killings'). St. Augustine's establishment marked the beginning of Spanish colonization efforts in Florida. It played a strategic role in defending Spanish interests and trade routes in the New World. The Spanish established a network of missions and forts throughout Florida to convert Native American populations to Christianity and to protect their interests. These missions became centers of cultural interaction between Spanish colonists and indigenous peoples. Spanish Florida faced conflicts with other European powers, including the French and English, who sought to challenge Spanish control of the region. The most significant threat came from English raids along the Florida coastline in the late 17th century, with the British attacking St. Augustine, burning the city and its cathedral to the ground several times, while the citizens hid behind the walls of a fort. The Spanish, meanwhile, encouraged slaves to flee the English-held Carolinas and come to Florida, where they were converted to Roman Catholicism and given freedom. They settled in a buffer community north of St. Augustine, called Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, the first completely black settlement in what would become the United States. Despite common misconception, the Spanish never had a firm hold on Florida, and maintained tenuous control over the region by converting the local tribes, briefly with Jesuits and later with Franciscan friars. Over the centuries, Spanish Florida faced various challenges, including attacks by pirates and the spread of diseases. As a result, the Spanish Crown struggled to maintain control and briefly lost Florida to Britain before gaining it back with the Treaty Of Paris after the American Revolution.
- California: Spanish exploration of California began in the 16th century, with explorers seeing the California coastline. Despite that, Spain did not care that much about California, focusing attention on its imperial centers in Mexico, Peru, and the Philippines. Confident of Spanish claims to all lands touching the Pacific Ocean (including California), Spain simply sent an occasional exploring party sailing along the California coast. California seen by these ship-bound explorers was one of hilly grasslands and forests, with few apparent resources or natural ports to attract colonists. The other colonial states of the era, with their interest on more densely populated areas, paid limited attention to this distant part of the world. But around 1530, Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán (the rather infamous governor of New Spain) was told by an Indian slave of the Seven Cities of Cibola that had streets paved with gold and silver. About the same time, Hernán Cortés was attracted by stories of a wonderful country far to the northwest, populated by beautiful women and filled with gold, pearls, and gems. The Spaniards conjectured that these places may be one and the same, so an expedition in 1533 and discovered a bay, most likely that of La Paz, before experiencing difficulties and returning. Cortés accompanied expeditions in 1534 and 1535 without finding the sought-after city. On May 3, 1535, Cortés claimed "Santa Cruz Island" (now known as the peninsula of Baja California), and laid out and founded the city that was to become La Paz later that spring. In July 1539, moved by the renewal of those stories, Cortés sent Francisco de Ulloa out with three small vessels. He made it to the mouth of the Colorado, then sailed around the peninsula as far as Cedros Island. The account of this voyage marks the first recorded application of the name "California". The first European to explore the coast was João Rodrigues Cabrilho, a Portuguese navigator sailing for the Spanish Crown. In June, 1542 Cabrillo led an expedition in two ships from the west coast of what is now Mexico. He landed on September 28 at San Diego Bay, claiming what he thought was the Island of California for Spain. Cabrillo and his crew landed on San Miguel, one of the Channel Islands, then continued north in an attempt to discover a supposed coastal route to the mainland of Asia. Cabrillo likely sailed as far north as Pt. Reyes (north of San Francisco), but died as the result of an accident during this voyage; the remainder of the expedition, which likely reached as far north as the Rogue River in today's southern Oregon was led by Bartolomé Ferrer. More expeditions were done by Sebastián Vizcaíno, leading to more settlement. The most significant phase of Spanish colonization in California occurred in the late 18th century when the Spanish established a chain of missions and presidios (military forts) in the region. This effort was led by Franciscan friars, with the primary goal of converting Native American populations to Christianity and integrating them into Spanish colonial society. The mission system was a critical component of Spanish colonization in California and played a central role in the region's history. Eventually, in 1821, Mexico gained independence from Spain, and California became part of the Mexican territory. During this period, the Mexican government initiated the secularization of the missions, leading to the decline of the mission system. Mexican ranchos, or large land grants, were established, and Californios (Mexican settlers) played a prominent role in the region.
- Lousiana: In 1763, France ceded Louisiana to Spain to compensate for the loss of Florida, which had been ceded to the British in 1763 after losing the French & Indian Wars (Spain and France were allies). The Government of Louisiana lived in New Orleans, capital of Lower Louisiana, but had representatives (or "commandants") in Saint Louis, Missouri, capital of Upper Louisiana (also named Illinois Country). During the Louisiana's Spanish period, many Spanish settlers emigrated to this region. However, the more known Spanish emigration during this period happened between 1778 and 1783, when the Governor of Louisiana Bernardo de Gálvez recruited groups from the Canary Islands and Málaga and sent them to Louisiana in order to populate regions of New Orleans. So, more than 2,100 Canarians and 500 Málaga's natives emigrated to Louisiana in these period. In 1800, Spain returned Louisiana to France, although it sell it to the U.S. in 1803. The descendants of Spanish settlers still living there.
- The Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Nevada, & Utah): Spanish exploration of the Southwest began in the early 16th century. Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led an expedition in 1540-1542 that explored parts of what are now Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Coronado's expedition sought the fabled Seven Cities of Gold but did not find the riches they were searching for. Despite that, the Spanish established missions, presidios (forts), and pueblos (towns) throughout the Southwest in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Spanish Franciscan missionaries, such as Father Eusebio Kino, played a significant role in converting Native American populations to Christianity and establishing missions in places like San Xavier del Bac in Arizona and San Juan Pueblo in New Mexico. In 1680, Native American Pueblo populations in what is now New Mexico revolted against Spanish rule in an event known as the Pueblo Revolt. Led by Popé, a Tewa religious leader, the Puebloans temporarily drove the Spanish out of the region. Spanish forces returned in 1692 and reasserted control over New Mexico, but they were more accommodating to Native religious practices in the aftermath of the revolt. Spanish colonization efforts in Texas involved establishing missions, presidios, and towns along the Rio Grande and elsewhere. Notable missions include San Antonio's San José, San Juan, and Concepción.
Examples Of New Spain In Fiction:
- Even The Rain (2010) involves a film crew trying to film the Spanish Conquest Of America during the Cochabamba Water War.
- A 1995 Bolivian-made film is in some ways similar to Even the Rain is To Hear the Birds Singing, with a modern film crew going to an indigenous settlement to shoot a film about the Spanish conquest and end up replicating aspects of the conquest.
- The Other Conquest (1998) which focuses on a Nahua in the post-conquest era and the evangelization of central Mexico.
- Cabeza de Vaca (1991) involves the life of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, who spent eight years traveling across what is now the US Southwest where he became a trader and faith healer to various Native American tribes.
- Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) which involves the long and dark journey of Lope de Aguirre.
- The Mission (1996) involves a Jesuit mission to the Guaraní in territory disputed between Spain and Portugal.
- The life of seventeenth-century Mexican nun, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, renowned in her lifetime, has been portrayed in a 1990 Argentine film, I, the Worst of All.
