The New World was founded and then ran with slavery, it would become the basis for the work that would be done on it. Through slavery, the Spanish Empire was able to expand its grasp and claims on the new world, thus resulting in the consequences, but also the discovery of the New World. Which whoever had control of this new found land, would become the world power of the time period. The consequences that slavery had on the Spanish Empire include the three motives gold god and glory, the belittlement of Native Americans, and the hatred of the Spanish by the Native Americans. Slavery influenced the Europeans discovery of America through the immediate thought that the natives were slaves as well as the perception that the Europeans viewed the …show more content…
The Spanish Empire, at the time were the first nation to arrive to, and truly colonize the New World. This colonization started as a quest for gold, power, and a want to convert a newly founded native people into Catholics. Because of these three motivators, The New World had something for just about everyone. The broad spectrum provoked interest into explorers, priests and friars, as well as regular peasants who had no hope of being successful in the European world they lived in at the time. The Spanish were able to establish such a grasp on America so quickly, by enslaving many Native Americans and forcing them to do labor as well as exploit their knowledge of the area due the European's superiority through weaponry as well as technological advancement. This enslavement lead to the general undermining of Native Americans by Europe, which would lead to the thought of them being a savage and simple minded group of people who needed the guidance of the Europeans to become sophisticated. This Spanish undermining of Native Americas would lead to the eventual "Black Legend" created by other European countries which would standardize the view of Spanish …show more content…
The Spanish, arriving first, would quickly enslave the Natives, which Columbus would bring back many on his voyage back to Europe after discovering the New World. This not only influenced Europeans view on Native Americans, but also would give the common perception that the Native's were slaves. Once in the New World, the immediate use of the Natives for a free and quite abundant labor source would allow for expansion of the Spanish Empire in America. Not only this, but Cortes' march on the Aztecs that would lead to their destruction and also the loss of all their gold influenced the want to expand so quickly and expansively throughout America. Other conquistadors as well as colonists from other countries would go to America strictly wanting gold and nothing else, while using the Native Americans as a way of building their towns and doing their work for them. All of this for the exchange of teaching them the ways of the white man and teaching them the Catholic ways and religion. Because of this the perception of the Native Americans was formed by the Spanish. They became a group of people that were fought over in order to further each Spanish movements progress. On one side the conquistadors and colonists would use the Natives as workers to expand the colony. On the other side there were people such as Las Casas, who was a retired encomienda and also a current
...ything and everyone that were there. At times they would work with the Natives at other times they would be at war with the natives. The Spanish had been engaged with the natives longer and over time felt the best way to control them would be to convert them or put them into same locations where they could “keep an eye on them”. The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was proof that no matter what they tried, when one man, country, or society tries to oppress another, war is almost always inevitable.
Looking back into the history of certain events affords the modern researcher the ability to examine a variety of documents and artifacts. It is important, however, to take into account biases, inaccuracies, errors in translation, and overall misinformation when examining primary sources, particularly historical documents. Examining the history of the conquest of the Aztec empire is no different, and in a scenario as tense as it was it is extremely important to consider the authorship of the text. Bernal Diaz’ The Conquest of New Spain and Miguel Leon-Portilla’s The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico offer two distinct looks into the same event in history. Both documents offer differing takes of the same events, so when
The discovery of the new world is what led to the fall of the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas. The Europeans were greatly outnumbered when they arrived in the New World, and could have easily been squashed by the warriors of these mighty Pre-Columbian civilizations. Lack of knowledge and trickery were what lead to their down-fall. The "Indians" were left dumbfounded as they tried to figure out what horses were and how it was possible that a man and horse were not the same creature. La Malinche led the Aztecs to believe that the horses could talk and think for themselves and that Herenan Cortez was really a god.
The Spanish began their movement to Southwest America in the late sixteenth century. From that point on, their influence both on the Native Americans and the environment was extraordinaire. The goal of the Spaniards with regards to the Native Americans was to transform them “into tax-paying Christians.” This is in contrast to the idea that their goal was to eradicate the Indians form the Americas. Consequently, the Spaniards took many Indians so that they may plant their religion in the Natives and to use them as cheap labor. This led many Indians to learn the customs and language of the Spaniards so they could to be able to thrive in the Spanish culture. Thus, some Natives acquired Spanish, which was the main source of their Hispanicization; this was the notion of Indians becoming encompassed by the Spanish society. Furthermore, Indians gradually learned skills, obtained land, and sometimes found Hispanic spouses, thus furthering their Hispanicization. They now began to live in a Spanish manner and blend into the bottom of the Spanish societal ladder. This “acculturation” of the Native Americans was in contrast to the models of early English colonization. Spanish goals and plans sought to involve the Indians so that they may live in their society even if at the lower end of it’s ladder. English colonies viewed the Natives as savages and looked to them for slave labor or to rape their women. They did not plan to take the Indians into their society as the Spaniards did so throughout this era.
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.
The Black Legend and White Legend: Relationship Between the Spanish and Indians in the New World
When the European and Spanish Empire came to America to seek land, they brought more than just diseases, people, and conflicts. Their hunger for wealth and power forced them to set sail in search of new land that they can call their own. Although they believed to have discovered a ‘New World’, they discovered a land that was already dominated by the Native Americans. Colonialism brought great trauma which heavily impacted the foundation of the culture and events that took place during this time.
The Spaniards utopian goals were to envision Catholicism in the Native Americans community and prohibit France from any economic prosperity. Although the motive was economic gains within Florida and New Mexico, religion was the essential factor for permanent settlement within these two regions. With that said, Indian resistance and conflicts began to arise due to the Encomienda System the Spaniards placed among Pueblos (Native group in New Mexico). The cause of an enormous dynamic between the Natives and the Spaniards was religion. The Spaniards “took away their idols and forbade their sorceries pertaining their ancient customs,” and due to this Catholic priests concluded that the Natives were inferior to them and they were incapable of understanding Catholicism. The indigenous persecutions that took place degraded the Natives population due to religious reasons. It wasn’t until the Pueblo Revolution and one of successful rebellions against the Europeans, Native Americans shortly received their
The Spaniards arrived at the Americas prior to the English. The Spanish mainly wanted to explore in the first place because after the Black Death, the population increased, and thus, so did the frequency of commerce. There was a sudden new interest in new products and the new strong monarchs who sponsored the journeys wanted to be more affluent. Therefore, explorers such as Christopher Columbus attempted to go west to target Asia. However, he ended up on Cuba and called the natives Indians. The Spanish soon started to consider the Americas less of a blockage and could now see it as a source of resources. In 1518, Cortes arrived into Mexico with his group of conquistadors, or conquerors, which is a proper name because the men after gold exterminated native areas using their military skills, brutality and greed to turn the Southern America into a vast Spanish empire. The smallpox the Spanish unknowingly carried also helped wipe many people out. When they saw the religious ceremonies of the Aztecs that produced many skulls, they thought of these people as savages and not entirely human. This of coarse was quite hypocritical because the Spanish have killed before during the Inquisition for their faith. It was this contempt that made them think it was all right to slaughter the natives. Spanish colonies were established when conquistadors had gotten a license to finance the expedition from the crown to fixture encomiendas. These encomiendas were basically Indian villages that became a source of labor. The Spanish dreamed of becoming wealthier from South America, but they also wanted a profitable agricultural economy and to spread their Catholic religion (the Pueblo Indians converted to Christianity), which became very important in the 1540s.
The conquest of the America's started with, basically , the pursuit of better trade and possibly more lands. When they found the Natives, friendly and wonderful, word got back about the Paradise which the men had found. However, word spread that such a place could be almost Satanic. Therefore, soon they started to see the Natives as demons which either had to be converted to had to be destroyed. By reading the "Requirmiento" in Spanish to the non-Spanish Indians, basically bypassed the conversion part and went straight to the "destroy" stage. Many of the leaders of these expeditions felt that it was God's will that these people were so easy to kill and take over to make them slaves. Since the American Indians opened their arms to the Europeans, it showed that they were weaker and more naive.
“The Conquest of New Spain” is the first hand account of Bernal Diaz (translated by J.M. Cohen) who writes about his personal accounts of the conquest of Mexico by himself and other conquistadors beginning in 1517. Unlike other authors who wrote about their first hand accounts, Diaz offers a more positive outlook of the conquest and the conquistadors motives as they moved through mainland Mexico. The beginning chapters go into detail about the expeditions of some Spanish conquistadors such as Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, Juan de Grijalva and Hernando Cotes. This book, though, focuses mainly on Diaz’s travels with Hernando Cortes. Bernal Diaz’s uses the idea of the “Just War Theory” as his argument for why the conquests were justifiable
Conquistadors came over to get all the gold they possibly could. The Spanish were cruel and took advantage of the Native Americans who were living there. Not only did the Spanish want the gold but they also wanted the land. The Native Americans were enslaved by the Spaniards and were forced to mine for gold. The Spaniards gave the Natives extremely high gold quotas to meet. Most were unable to do so and because of that they were punished. Natives would have both of their hands cut off(Document 1). The other reason was so that the Spaniards wouldn’t have a problem with resistance from them. The Native Americans were majorly taken advantage of for gold.
The Native Americans also believed they were one with nature, and that the gods of land and water controlled what they got if they didn’t sacrifice and worship them. The Europeans however, viewed the natives to be a region inhabited by salvages, who did not how to live. They believed the natives had no laws, no religion, no property (for they all shared it), no kingdom or king because they have no system of government. All these two explorers saw was new land, with plants, and animals to be discovered. As well as, new people with fascinating lifeways that Europeans have never seen before, that would soon be conquered and governor to help personal ambitions, like the Spanish monarchs who also wanted to strengthen their legal claim on the New World, in case the Portugal’s decided to send ships across the Atlantic and eventually become a
The Conquest of New Spain Cortés came not to the New World to conquer by force, but by manipulation. Bernal Daz del Castillo, in the "Conquest of New Spain," describes how Cortés and his soldiers manipulated the Aztec people and their king Montezuma from the time they traveled from Iztapalaopa to the time when Montezuma took Cortés to the top of the great Cue and showed him the whole of Mexico and its countryside, and the three causeways which led into Mexico. Castillo's purpose for recording the mission was to keep an account of the wealth of Montezuma and Mexico, the traditions, and the economic potential that could benefit Cortés' upcoming conquest. However, through these recordings, we are able to see and understand Cortés' strategy in making Mexico "New Spain." He came as a wolf in sheep's clothing and manipulated Montezuma through his apparent innocence.
Immediately following the war with Spain, the United States had both the political will to pursue imperial policies and the geopolitical circumstances conducive to doing so. But the way in which these policies would manifest was an open question; was the impulse to actively remake the world in America’s Anglo-Saxon image justified? Hence, there were several models of American imperialism at the turn of the twentieth century. In the Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Samoa, the United States asserted unwavering political control. In Cuba, and later throughout most of the Caribbean basin, the economic and political domination of customarily sovereign governments became the policy. Ultimately, the United States was able to expand its territory