European Settlement Patterns in the Caribbean cont.
Countries
Settlement Patterns
Motives
SPAIN
Get gold
Establish permanent
settlements
Settlement Locations
and Start Date
1492
Cuba
Hispaniola (island of
Dominican Republic
and Haiti – the latter
eventually lost to
France)
Puerto Rico
Jamaica (Eventually
lost to British)
Trinidad (Eventually
lost to British)
Treatment of Natives
Encomienda System =
Like serfdom. Spaniards
didn’t want to work so
forced natives to work
in fields or gold mines
Native population dies
off slowly due to
treatment and exposure
to disease
Ex. 1509 = 60,000 Natives
1518 = 11,000
Summary of Government Policies and
Economic Products and Practices
In
theory King/Queen in homeland had ultimate power,
in reality it was held by local officials
Monarchy considered themselves free of any
constitutional constraints that limited their power in
Europe
To prevent pirating by other European countries, gov’t
ordered warships to protect merchant vessels – this
worked but protection of island cities was minimal.
For 3 centuries Spanish treated their Caribbean islands
as stations along the route of their treasure ships heading
to Mexico rather than trying to develop economy of
islands
Closed empire to foreign trade and repressed all
attempts by their Creole populations to trade with
foreign nations = also hindered economic growth
These policies were meant to keep other nations out of
the Caribbean but actually facilitated their settlement
Eventually with outside threats and losing some islands,
they began to invest in the islands they still controlled –
particularly Cuba and Puerto Rico
Result: created monopolies over tobacco production and
made a lot of money off of sugar.