Inquiry – British colonial expansion of Latin America in the early modern period
After Columbus sailed to the Americas, Britain followed in the footsteps of Iberia and embarked on the path of colonial expansion. In 1763, the British defeated France in the Seven Years' War.
At this time, British colonies had spread all over the world, calling itself the "Empire of the Sun Never Sets", and it can be said that Britain was one of the most important colonial powers in the history of the world at that time.
Beginning in 1560, the British explored the entire west coast of the Atlantic and attempted reclamation in parts around 1600, but most of these settlements were temporary.
It was not until after the 17th century and the 20s that the British began to establish a solid colony in Latin America. Britain's approach to expansion into Latin America stemmed first and foremost from considerations for the extension of the European international order in the Caribbean.
After the opening of the new sea route, European countries engaged in a frantic struggle for colonies for centuries.
Portugal, the first to embark on the path of colonial expansion, was granted the right by the Pope to "enslave all infidels" in 1455, but Columbus's new route to the Americas was carried out in the name of the King of Spain, so the Spanish and Portuguese sides insisted on their ownership of the Americas, resulting in sharp contradictions.
In 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued an edict delineating the famous "Papal Meridian", which stipulated that the meridian of 100 leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands was the dividing line, and all land west of the line was assigned to Spain and all land to the east to Portugal.
In 1494, Spain and Portugal concluded the Treaty of Todesiras, which moved the meridian 270 leagues west. Under the treaty, Spain took sole possession of the Caribbean, but other European countries never renounced their claims to the New World.
In 1497, King Henry VII of England sponsored Capot to explore North America, which was a direct response to the division of territory between Spain and Portugal.
At the same time, the Reformation, which began in 1517, added significance to the struggle for colonies among countries.
In 1523, the Frenchman Jean Fleury sacked a fleet of Spanish ships from Cortés in the Azores, setting in motion an endless campaign of pirate raiding and smuggling in the Caribbean.
In order to ensure that the struggle for the New World did not affect the international order in Europe, in the Treaty of Cato-Cambreca, signed in 1559, Spain unilaterally declared "refusing to renounce the right to exclude all foreigners from the West Indies"; France, for its part, declared that it "refused to renounce its right to enter the West Indies."
The two sides tacitly acquiesced that the struggle in the Caribbean had nothing to do with peace in Europe, a principle known as "no peace beyond the boundaries." But that doesn't mean Spain has loosened its grip on the Caribbean.
For Spain, although the Caribbean did not produce gold and silver and was much less economically valuable than mainland regions such as Mexico and Peru, which had gold and silver mines, it was strategically a necessary transit point for ships from Spanish America and Spain itself.
Therefore, Spain has long tried to resist the encroachment of other European countries on the Caribbean islands and will operate in the waters of the New World
The ships of the country were treated as pirates and smuggling vessels, and dealt a strong blow to the colonization of other countries in the region.
In 1565, Spain conquered a French Huguenot colony on the Carolina coast, and about 200 French were killed. That incident demonstrated Spain's determination and strength to defend its Caribbean territories against the reach of others.
In the face of Spain's crackdown on the establishment of colonies by other countries, Britain learned the lesson of France by avoiding open competition, encouraging commercial companies composed of private and civil society to operate, and participating in Caribbean affairs in an unofficial manner, such as smuggling and piracy.
From the beginning of its colonization of the Americas, the Spanish government forbade its colonies to trade with any other country and required the inhabitants to buy only Spanish products and to sell the products produced by the inhabitants only back to Spain.
In the process, the Spanish colonists bore high taxes, which stimulated the desire of some people to smuggle. For smuggling merchants, although fixed colonies were easily attacked, the Spanish fleet could not access every body of the Caribbean Sea for active smuggling ships.
In 1562, the Englishman John Hawkins sold a group of black slaves on the Spanish island of Hispaniola and bought "animal skins, ginger, sugar, jewelry, and other goods", and the wealth of this trade made Hawkins famous in England.
But smuggling has not been all smooth sailing. In 1568, the Spanish fleet attacked Hawkins, most of the ships were destroyed, and more than a hundred were captured or executed.
This provoked extreme discontent and retaliation from the British, and from 1571 Francis Drake and others began endless attacks and plundering of Spanish America.
In 1586, Drake led 30 pirate ships to sack Santo Domingo, Cartagena, and St. Augustine, Florida. Smuggling and piracy brought huge profits to Britain.
In 1611, smugglers shipped 200,000 pounds of tobacco to England and France, while only 6,000 pounds went to Spain. During the Anglo-Spanish War (1585~1604), British pirates plundered the Spaniards of sugar, leather, logs, indigo, silver, gold and pearls by as much as 100,000 pounds a year.
The high proceeds of smuggling and looting were favored by capital markets, and London investors poured more money into these two activities in the Caribbean.
Since 1560, the Dutch, British, and French piracy and smuggling trade has challenged Spain's monopoly in the Caribbean and weakened its monopoly in the region.
In addition, Spain suffered great losses in the Anglo-Spanish War (1585~1604) and no longer had enough maritime power to maintain its hegemony in the Caribbean.
In 1602, the Spanish government approved a petition by the official of Santo Domingo, Baltaze Peros de Castro, to move the population of northern Hispaniola to the vicinity of Santo Domingo in an effort to end smuggling.
