Spencer Tyce

After a brief period as a music major, Spencer received his B.A. and M.A. in History from the University of North Florida in 2007 and 2009 under the direction of J Michael Francis. At The Ohio State University, Spencer is working with Dr. Kenneth Andrien and Dr. Stephanie Smith in the field of Colonial Latin American History. He is interested in the roles of non-Iberians in the Conquest and Settlement of Latin America, Slavery and the Catholic Church, and viewing the Conquest Period through the lens of Military History.

Currently, he is researching the German banking firm, the Welser Company, in the conquest and exploration of sixteenth-century Venezuela. Looking specifically at economic records and entrada accounts, Spencer is interested in seeing how a business carries out operations normally performed by state agents and officials. While previous historians have focused on the social and political aspects of the German "Black Legend" in Venezuela, Spencer is drawn to the difficulties in planning, funding, and carrying out invasion and conquest in this period. Spencer's work considers the nature of sixteenth-century contracts, Indian slavery, Early Modern European finance, and the roles of frontier secular and ecclesiastical officials during the conquest period. His research opens up previously ignored areas of history of the early Spanish Main by focusing on legal, economic, business, and military history in both the Latin American and Atlantic World fields. Spencer has presented his work in various venues including the Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies, the American Society of Ethnohistory and the Gulf South Historical Association.