This episode provides a lightning fast run down of Iberian history up to the 1400s. We will also start to unpack how this history influenced the Spanish and Portuguese cultures and national characters. These influences would go on to determine how they behaved in the new world. ...
Being the first new world colony that the Spanish established, Hispaniola was a grand experiment. Today we take a look at how it was turning out under the rule of its third governor Nicolas de Ovando. His rule was a time of rapid growth, despite the fact that he had to deal with both a hurricane and an earthquake. This was also a pivotal time for the indigenous Taino. Ovando would go on a campaign of pacification which involved numerous massacres and which saw the population drop by as much as 90%. The remaining Taino also became subject to the new encomienda system which governed their role in this new society they found themselves forced into. ...
This episode takes a look at how Inca society was organised. As we will see, theirs was a highly developed state with social structures which draw comparison with our own. One in particular is interesting, as it could be argued that they created a form of proto-socialism complete with communal land use and a welfare state. ...
