By the early 1500s, the crown had profited dramatically from Columbus’s exploration. In 1503, Isabella created the Casa de Contratación—a trading corporation that was essentially the Spanish version of the Casa da Guiné. Isabella put Vespucci in charge of its maps, pilot training, and ship licensing in 1508. Spain was mining copper and gold and farming sugar in their new colonies in Hispaniola, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and throughout the Caribbean. The conquistadors forced the indigenous islanders into servitude and killed those who didn’t submit. But in 1512, Catholic priests convinced King
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