Colonization In America

Before Europeans had ever set foot on North America the continent was a vast land made up of various Native American nations that had their own distinct cultures, history and social hierarchies. The Natives here possessed all of the aspects that human beings all over the world incorporated into their societies. They had social structures, trade routes and relationships between various Native groups and were by no means a cluster of heathens waiting to be discovered by white Europeans who would come to claim the land they have lived on for thousands of years. Upon their arrival on the continent that was often tagged as The New World the three prevalent European countries that established colonies in North America England, France and Spain each took fundamentally different approaches to establishing their colonies and forming relationships with the native inhabitants. There were many various reasons for why each European country chose to participate in the colonization and their affairs with Indians in the ways they had. The country itself and the goals it had set for establishing settlements in the New World along with the location of the settlement and the Indians that they would be confronting as a result of their settlement are all interesting aspects that play vital roles in why each colonial society differed from one another in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Spanish in the New World landed their ships and set up Catholic monasteries in Florida as well as the area now known as New Mexico. The Spanish who have had a long history of coexisting in Spain with the Mores brought some of their conventional diplomacy with them when they attempted to establish permanent settlements in the New World. Although a large portion of Spain's reasoning behind occupying land in the New World was the conversion of Native Americans as well as gaining gold, wealth and power just like the Conquistadors had done in the past from conquering the Aztecs. Spain brought a sort of diplomacy with them when they tried to coexist their culture and peoples with that of the native inhabitants of Florida. This approach was probably just as much done out of necessity than modern European kindness, because the Spanish settlers who founded the string of settlement towns in Florida were vastly outnumbered by their Indian counterparts.