The Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation: Crash Course World History #25

In which John Green explores how Spain went from being a middling European power to one of the most powerful empires on Earth, thanks to their plunder of the New World in the 16th and 17th centuries. Learn how Spain managed to destroy the two biggest pre-Columbian civilizations, mine a mountain made of silver, mishandle their economy, and lose it all by the mid-1700s. Come along for the roller coaster ride with Charles I (he was also Charles V), Philip II, Atahualpa, Moctezuma, Hernán Cortés, and Francisco Pizarro as Spain rises and falls, and takes two empires and China down with them.

Chapters:
Introduction 00:00
The Aztec Civilization 0:45
An Open Letter to Human Sacrifice 2:00
The Inca Civilizaiton 2:52
Spanish Conquistadors in South America 3:44
Spanish Silver Mines in the Americas 5:21
Charles V and Sons 6:09
Silver in China 7:43
Credits 10:03

Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet?

[MustafaKulle]

I miss crash course world history. I've learned so much from them. Season 3 please.

[craigharkins]

There is only two things certain in life.

Death
and taxes.

[davidmb]

This video is full of economy, which I don't understand at all. Now i am going to Economic's Crash Course. Well played at keeping me watching your videos.

[zold]

It's interesting how your tone changes when talking about human sacrifice vs slavery.

[keineAhnungSi]

Just a correction, Fernando was the youngest Emperor brother, not his son. Felipe II (or Philip, werever you prefer) was his son.

[briancastillo]

Crash course makes history so simple and amazingly easy to understand, It's awesome!

[sandradevries]

6:49 'You guys know nothing about economics!' This is absolutely true, my dad (who is Dutch) said that to my aunt (who is from Spain) today.

[Immaculate]

Please do another episode related to the Spanish Empire. I feel that this era is probably one of the most over looked in the study of history. This is ironic because its also one of the most fascinating.

[ghostreconphils]

The Spaniards were no saints.But compare former spanish colonies to former English colonies. In most of Latin
America except for maybe Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, Native Americans are a large chunk of the population
and they are very integrated.Their presence is certainly felt. In Nicaragua for example ethnic spaniards are rarely
seen and almost completely Native. The monarchs of spain encouraged integration and mixing with natives to
integrate them as subjects of Castile.

Compare that to Australia, Canada and USA. What remained of the natives who were mostly killed off were isolated from society and put into "reserves" without say in their own land. Not to mention the white only policy of immigration to Australia and Canada in the early 50's.

[PanzerIVAE]

Also another fun fact on the Philippines thing

The reason why people in the Philippines are called "Filipinos" despite that it should obviously be "Philippinos" or something is because of the US. The name given by the Spanish was Las Islas Filipinas (Since for the Spanish it was FELIPE not Phillip) or something of the sort and when the US "freed" us from Spanish Imperialism *Cough* Usurped *Cough*

USA changed the name to a more English term or something of the sort and boom, You have a country called the Philippines while the people are called Filipinos which is hilarious

[scottferguson]

Love to Spain. Your old friend Scotland

[vinzlinardobnimaga]

Seems like the Philippines is always invisble when it comes to history... 🙃

[LuisGarcia-ergm]

Soy latinoamericano, y como la mayoría de nosotros, no tengo muy claro mi proceder étnico y genealógico hasta esos siglos. Pero me siento de alguna forma orgulloso con los logros de las civilizaciones prehispánicas. Creo también que la historia y nosotros mismo nos debemos algo de este lado del continente.
También soy Venezolano, y estoy deprimido por nuestra situación actual y sólo me queda ver videos de historia para tener esperanza de que en otras épocas estuvimos peor.

[codyhannigan]

I know that there is a million things that you guys could focus on in world history and 10 minutes is such a small amount of time, but the race between Portuguese and Spanish to South America/India would be a great latter addition. Or even making a 30 min episode that can be purchased by teachers to show that goes in greater detail on the era discussed. Luv you guys and everything that you guys do. keep up the good work!

[j.frankglinkowski]

Hey John, I love your mini lectures on world history. I am making notes on a lot of your videos, which is quite good for memory consolidation but it's quite time consuming. Is there anywhere a transcript available to download or would you be able to send me some of them? I am particularly interested in the Spanish Empire, Mexican history and the Quintana Roo area of Mexico. If you have any tips on books or resources otherwise I would love to hear them. Keep up the good work. I'll be sure to check out more lectures. Cheers, Frank :)

[EvoPulpPatriot]

This episode touches what I always thought about. How resources from the new world changed the entire world. Especially reminding us how much treasure the Armada cost and how the future narrative changed that day.

[WildBillCox]

One of my favorite relaxations is binge-watching Crash Course. Thanks, team!

[gandalfthegrey]

Ferdinand I wasn't Charles V's son, he was his younger brother.

[brolin]

At leats, you Mr. Green, know that "America" is the name of our continent, not just your country. I'm going to read TFIOS now.

[BrianMontesQ]

I wish more people looked at history objectively. Looking at the comments, I see people making good points but theres too much pride. Don't get feelings hurt and judge history accordingly.