Prosperity for the Spaniards in the New Wold was the Downfall for America

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It is hard to believe that even the Spaniards imagined that one journey in 1492 will change theirs and world’s history so dramatically. The moment that Spanish foot stepped on American soil started years of prosperity and glory for the Spanish empire but at the cost of the destruction of American societies. The encounter with the new world was controversial historical moment that created one united history instead of two world histories. The discovery led many Spaniards to the new world with the intention of settling the lands but eventually this was the start of devastating of cultures, human populations and traditions. Using power and coercion they spread fear and destruction in the aim of gaining wealth, social precedence and Christian conversion. The justification for the massacres of the indigenous people in the name of religion was no more than greed to gold, fame and status. The actions of those who claimed to be “the most humane and excellent nation” was no more than cruel actions made by savages that had no moral sense. There was and still is a conflict about if the Spaniards brought Modernity to the “New World “or they brought only destruction upon the indigenous people. Since the fifteenth century and still presently, it is considered controversial issue. This controversy started by one man who was one of the most vocal opponents of the Spaniards due to his criticism of the Spaniards actions. Bartolome De Las Casas was a brave man who stood against the actions of the Spanish Empire in a time that doing so is not taken for granted. His focus on equality and indigenous rights was decades before the world started to see those as basic right to each man and woman. Las casas claimed that the indigenous people are fully hum... ... middle of paper ... ...both the European and Americans. The resources that Spain got from her colonies were a key factor for empire’s power and expansion. The Spanish Empire prospered thanks to the gold, silver and slaves that brought Spain to its golden age. In era that race saw himself superior over another race, we can understand how those massacres could happen in the name of religion and faith. They justified all their actions in the name of god and will to spread Christianity but it is obvious that all their actions were to serve themselves and the empire. The justification for the horrors that the Spaniards did was always the religion but as soon it clashed with their interests they knew how to abandon it. Religion justified actions that until today considered horrors that shame the Spanish history but in the same time it made the Spanish empire one of the greatest seen on earth.

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