Hello, I'm Mr. Marchin, and it's a real pleasure to have you joining me today.

I'm really looking forward to working together on our history lesson.

Welcome to today's lesson, which is part of our unit on the European conquest of the Americas, where we've been asking ourselves, why was that conquest so devastating for Native Americans? By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to describe some of the consequences of European colonisation on Native Americans.

This lesson will be building on some of our prior knowledge about how Europeans arriving in the Americas we're motivated to make money, to spread their religion, and to increase the amount of power that they had.

And we'll be thinking in a broad sense how this affected Native Americans themselves.

We have five key words that are gonna help us navigate today's lesson.

Those are dispossess, indigenous, conquest, immunity, and convert.

To dispossess someone is to take their land away.

Indigenous people are the original inhabitants of a specific area.

Conquest involves taking an area of land by force.

La Conquista is the name for the Spanish conquest of the Americas.

If you have immunity to a disease you will not catch it.

And to convert someone is to change their beliefs.

Today's lesson is split into three parts, and we're going to begin by thinking about religion and the Americas.

In the 14th century, remaining Muslim lands in Spain and Portugal were conquered.

Spain and Portugal intended to spread Christianity as they conquered these lands from Muslim control.

And they were supported by the Pope, the head of the Catholic Christian Church in Europe, as they did so.

The Pope declared that it was justified to dispossess non-Christians.

So it was justified to take land away from non-Christians.

Now, it's really important that we check our understanding of that first bit of information we've taken on in today's lesson.

So who told Christians that it was justified to dispossess non-Christians? Was it the Pope, the Portuguese king, or the Spanish king? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, really well done to everybody who said that the Pope told Christians it was justified to dispossess non-Christians.

It was really important that the Pope said this, because he was the head of the Christian Church, of the Catholic Church in Europe.

So it had a big impact on how Europeans behaved and acted towards non-Christians.

In 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed by Spain and Portugal.

The treaty, an agreement between the two countries, divided the non-Christian world between Spain and Portugal.

So a line was effectively drawn across the globe, and that divided the two halves of the world into a Spanish sphere and a Portuguese sphere.

This treaty was approved by the Pope.

Most of the Americas belong to Spain's sphere according to the Treaty of Tordesillas.

A range of indigenous religions and belief systems existed in the Americas.

There was no Christianity in the Americas before European settlement began there.

Okay, so let's just check our understanding of the Treaty of Tordesillas and of religion in the Americas.

According to the Treaty of Tordesillas, which country's sphere did the Americas belong to? Was it Mexico's sphere, Portugal's sphere, or Spain's sphere? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to hear the correct answer.

Okay, really well done to everybody who said the correct answer was C.

The Treaty of Tordesillas said that the Americas mostly belonged in Spain's sphere.

That meant the non-Christian lands in the Americas, according to the treaty, could be colonised by Spain.

Which outcome of Spanish settlement in the Americas was more likely for indigenous peoples? Was it that Spanish settlers in the Americas would respect indigenous land ownership, or that Spanish settlers would dispossess indigenous Americans? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to hear the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer is B.

It was more likely that Spanish settlers would dispossess indigenous Americans, but we need to be able to justify our answers, so two justifications have been added to the screen.

That the Pope approved of dispossessing non-Christians and that Spanish people had previously owned the land.

Which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play once you're ready to hear the right answer.

Really well done on that task.

So the correct justification was A, the Pope approved of dispossessing non-Christians.

And because of that, Spanish settlers were more likely to dispossess indigenous Americans than to respect the indigenous people's land ownership.

So now we're ready to attempt our first practise task of this lesson.

I want you to complete the following sentence.

European beliefs about religion were a problem for Native Americans because.

Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to check your response.

Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.

So you needed to complete the following sentence.

That European beliefs about religion were a problem for Native Americans because.

You may have considered that European beliefs about religion were a problem for Native Americans because indigenous land rights were not respected.

You may have developed your answer a little bit further by saying that Europeans believed that it was justified to dispossess non-Christians.

You may even have added that because Native Americans were not Christians, this meant their control over land was not always respected by European settlers.

So really well done on your answers there, especially if you developed yours and had the extra detail and explanation included.

Now we're ready to move on to the second part of our lesson today, thinking about La Conquista.

In the century after Columbus arrived in America, over 80% of Native Americans died.

I want you to discuss the following question.

What might have killed so many Native Americans as Spain conquered the Americas? Pause the video here and press play when you are ready to reflect on your answers.

Okay, that was a really big question for us to think about and we're gonna come across the answer in just a second.

The Spanish conquest in the Americas was known as La Conquista.

La Conquista led to such widespread indigenous deaths, remember, 80% of the Native American population, for three main reasons.

Because of conflict and war, mistreatment, and also because of disease.

And we are gonna look at each of these in turn.

We'll begin by thinking about conflict and war and how that helped to devastate the Native American population.

In 1521, Herman Cortes, a soldier and explorer, led a Spanish military expedition, so an armed group, to Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire.

Cortes planned to conquer the city and the Aztec Empire.

However, the Spanish did not fight alone.

Cortes was supported by 200,000 indigenous allies who resented, they disliked the power of the Aztecs in Central America.

The Spanish and their allies surrounded Tenochtitlan and attacked the city for three months until it surrendered.

By the time that Spain's conquest of Tenochtitlan and the Aztec Empire was complete, between 100,000 and 240,000 Native Americans had died.

Spanish military expeditions were launched against other indigenous societies, such as the Incan Empire, leading to hundreds of thousands of additional deaths from conflict.

By the end of the 16th century, Spain controlled more land in the Americas than anyone else.

So let's check our understanding of conflict and war and its place in La Conquista.

How many Native Americans died during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire? Was it between 1,000 and 2,400, between 10,000 and 24,000, or between 100,000 and 240,000? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was C.

That between 100,000 and 240,000 Native Americans died in the fighting that occurred during Spain's conquest of the Aztec Empire.

Now we can think about a second key reason that led to so many Native Americans dying as Spain conquered the Americas.

That is mistreatment.

Spain hoped to make a fortune from conquering the new world.

Spanish settlers founded many mines to extract precious metals, especially silver.

The most valuable Spanish silver mine was established at Potosi in the mountains of South America in 1545, Native Americans were forced by the Spanish to work in the mine at Potosi and in others like it.

By the end of the 16th century, 13,000 Native Americans were being forced to work at Potosi each year.

Conditions for indigenous workers in the mines were terrible.

Falls, poisoning, and overwork were all common.

Because Potosi was located in the Andes Mountains, it could become very cold, which made many workers vulnerable to diseases like pneumonia.

Some historians estimate that more than a million indigenous workers died working in the Spanish mine at Potosi, alone.

So let's check our understanding of how mistreatment affected Americans during La Conquista.

What did the Spanish set up at Potosi in 1545? Was it a church, a silver mine, a fortress, or a university? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to hear the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said it was a silver mine.

The Spanish were hoping to extract silver from the mountains around Potosi to build up their own wealth.

Now we can consider the third and final major reason that led to so many Native American deaths during the European conquest of the Americas.

And that reason is disease.

When Europeans travelled to the Americas, they unknowingly brought diseases along with them too.

Smallpox first reached the Americas in 1518.

In Europe, many adults were immune to smallpox because they'd caught the disease as children and survived.

Native Americans lacked this immunity.

In Mexico alone, approximately 8 million Native Americans died in the decade following the first arrival of smallpox.

The disease quickly spread from Mexico to other parts of South America and later spread into North America too.

Some historians estimate that smallpox may have killed up to 50 million Native Americans.

The spread of infectious diseases from Europe not only killed many Native Americans, but made it harder for indigenous communities to resist European conquests.

For example, at the time when Herman Cortes was attacking Tenochtitlan, the city was suffering from its first smallpox outbreak.

One Spanish writer at the time claimed that it was impossible to walk along the city streets without stepping on the bodies of Native Americans dying from smallpox.

In other words, diseases like smallpox not only killed Native Americans, but reduced the amount of them who were still around to continue resisting Europeans.

So let's check our understanding of disease in La Conquista.

Is it true or false that European diseases were more deadly than conflict between Europeans and Native Americans? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to hear the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was true, but we need to be able to justify that answer.

So, there are two justifications on the screen now.

That Native Americans lacked immunity to European diseases, so millions died, and that there was virtually no conflict between Europeans and Native Americans.

Which of those justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to hear the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was A, Native Americans lacked immunity to European diseases so millions died.

Because they'd never caught diseases like smallpox before, their bodies mostly were not ready to fight it when Europeans unknowingly brought it to the Americas and that killed millions, far more than conflict was ever able to kill in the Americas.

So, now we're ready to put all of our new knowledge about La Conquista into practise.

I want you to explain two reasons why La Conquista was so deadly for Native Americans.

To help you, I've already completed one example, which we'll look at together.

So an answer could look like this.

One reason why La Conquista was so deadly for Native Americans was because of conflict with Europeans.

For example, up to 240,000 indigenous people died in fighting during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.

Now this is a really good answer because it gives a clear reason for the deadliness of La Conquista.

It says it was because of conflict.

And the answer's also really good because it provides a detailed example.

It shows how conflict led to devastation.

It talks about 240,000 indigenous people being killed in the fighting during the conquest of the Spanish Empire.

So that's what you are aiming for in your answer.

Remember, you need to explain two reasons why La Conquista was so deadly for Native Americans.

Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your responses.

Okay, some fantastic work on that task.

A lot for us to think about, to explain two reasons why La Conquista was so deadly for Native Americans, but your answers may have included that one reason why La Conquista was so deadly for Native Americans was because of silver mining.

The Spanish force Native Americans to work in dangerous silver mines like Potosi, leading to over a million deaths.

You may also have talked about La Conquista being so deadly because of diseases.

Native Americans lacked immunity to European diseases like smallpox.

Up to 50 million indigenous deaths occurred as a result of European diseases.

So really well done to everybody who worked so hard on that task.

And now we're ready to move on to the third and final part of our lesson for today, where we are gonna think about the limits of La Conquista.

La Conquista was never complete.

Indigenous communities were able to protect some aspects of their life from Spanish control and change.

That's why we can say La Conquista was never complete, because that resistance meant Spain never had complete control, even if that's what it was trying to achieve.

Spain hoped to convert Native Americans to Christianity.

Spanish settlers wanted Native Americans to give up their indigenous religious practises and beliefs.

The Spanish believed that Native Americans should accept Catholic beliefs and practises instead.

Indigenous temples and places of worship were often burned down by the Spanish.

Some Native Americans were even executed for failing to change their beliefs.

However, indigenous religious and cultural beliefs continued to exist despite Spanish restrictions.

Despite the risk of punishment, records show that many Native Americans continued to worship non-Christian gods, especially in difficult moments like times of drought.

Many indigenous writers also translated Spanish texts in ways that blended the mixed Christian teachings and indigenous beliefs.

For example, the Maya altered the story of creation from the Bible to include their preexisting belief in a World Tree as a source of all life on earth.

In these ways, there was never a complete spiritual conquest of the Americas.

So let's check our understanding of some of the limits of La Conquista.

We've got a statement, Spain respected indigenous religions in the Americas.

Is that true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to hear the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that statement was false.

Spain did not respect the indigenous religions that existed in the Americas, but we need to justify our answer.

How can we tell that statement is false? Well, there are two possible justifications, now, clear on the screen.

That Spain expected Native Americans to convert to Christianity, or that Spain executed all Native Americans who were not already Christians.

Which one of those justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that A was the correct justification.

Spain expected Native Americans to convert to Christianity.

There were certainly some Native Americans who were executed, but not all were executed just because they weren't Christians.

So now we're ready to put our knowledge of La Conquista into practise.

There's a statement clear on the screen.

Spain never achieved a complete spiritual conquest of the Americas.

I want you to write one paragraph to explain why this statement is correct.

In your paragraph, you need to include an example.

So I'm looking for some specific factual detail to support your answer.

Pause the video here and press play when you are ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, so we have the statement, "Spain never achieved a complete spiritual conquest of the Americas," and I asked you to write one paragraph to explain why that view was correct.

Your answer may have included that it is correct to argue that Spain never achieved a complete spiritual conquest of the Americas because many indigenous communities held onto their previous beliefs.

For example, the Maya blended some of their existing beliefs about the World Tree with Christian teachings about creation.

This meant that indigenous cultures were not completely abandoned for Christianity.

So really well done on that task.

Lots to think about, but we put some great answers together there.

And that brings us to the end of today's lesson, thinking about the impact of European settlement.

To summarise our key learning points, Europeans believed it was justified to dispossess Native Americans because they were not Christians.

80% of Native Americans died within a century of Columbus' arrival in the Americas.

Most Native Americans were killed by European diseases, but many also died in wars and as a result of forced labour.

The European conquest of the Americas was never complete.

Indigenous communities resisted European control in many ways, such as keeping some of their own religious beliefs and practises.

So thank you very much for joining me in today's lesson.

We've had lots to think about and it's gonna set us up well as we continue to consider why the European conquest of the Americas was so devastating, in our future lessons.