Why Spain Became The American Southwest Essay

490 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Leading up to the louisiana purchase

There are several reasons why Spain wanted to colonize what later became the American Southwest. One reason is due to Spanish explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca stating on his reports about a seven cities of Gold or “Cibola” that contain rich resources. This brought the attention of Spain which made further explorations to the vast landscape. The Southwest exploration ended in disaster due to the lack of discovery for precious metals, so Spain turned their attention to international rivalry that led Spain’s settlement in the northern frontier. One settlement in particular was Albuquerque in 1706, with its rich resources, Spain required labor workers and this was a reason the Indians were valuable to them (Meier and Ribera, 20). Indians who …show more content…

The racial tensions soon turn to political and economically as a movement led by Father Hidalgo in the 1800s changed the future of Mexico. Hidalgo, the Indians and mestizos joined together to liberate Mexico from Spanish Rule and gain independence. Hidalgo and his militia went on to liberate town after town, but soon found himself defeated in 1810 by royalists. Hidalgo’s associates Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon, who have military and economical skills took the helm to liberate Mexico and gained their independence. Morelos and Pavon than began to write the Constitution of Mexico, but soon Morelos met his faith on the hands of royalists, which they captured Morales and put to death (Meier and Ribera, 28). This events caused revolts across the land, and indigenous and mixed revolutionaries soon found themselves in a prolong conflict that lasted until 1821 when the Spanish ended control of California and Mexico (Meier and Ribera, 30). The United States then took interest to the West and purchased Louisiana from France who reacquired it from Spain. Spain’s dominion of the New World soon collapsed as Mexicans rose up to achieve their independence and the United States population grew and took control of the western land through purchasing and

Show More
Related

  • Of The Mexican Experience In Tomas Almaguer's 'Racial Fault Lines'?

    1129 Words  | 3 Pages

    The conflict between European Americans and Mexicans was a struggle between Mexican rancheros and Anglo capitalists who bitterly contested control of the state’s best farm lands. Guided by Protestant values and a commitment to white supremacy, these free-labor advocates sought to rapidly undermine the society Mexicans had created in California (73). By the late 1860s the Mexican ranchero class was no longer the dominant economic force in the country. Once the Spanish race obtained the land by conquest, it secured it from all the people that showed little appreciation for its worth (90) (and soon constructed an anachronistic status designation were race became the key organizing principle)

    Read More

  • The Devastation of the Indies

    287 Words  | 1 Pages

    The gold and silver mines offered quick wealth to the Spaniards, and the native population was given out freely because of the repartimiento system. The Indians were given as a reward to the Conquistadors for helping the Spanish king in conquering Latin American.

    Read More

  • Treaty Of Guadalupe Hidalgo Essay

    1185 Words  | 3 Pages

    In February, 1848 Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the war with America, albeit under the threat of total domination by the United States. Although not agreed upon in a mutual sense, Mexico did work diligently to ensure the rights of its peoples still homesteading within the border region. Specific provisions were set forth within the document that guaranteed free passage within the region, respect for worldly possessions, protection under U.S. law, and the ability to make a decision pertaining to citizenship under Mexican or American rule. However, with as admirable of a document the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo appeared on paper, its practices were far less diligent in defending the rights of the Mexican-Americans caught

    Read More

  • Texas Involvment In Slavery

    2384 Words  | 5 Pages

    As more Americans moved west and into Texas it became evident. that there was going to be a continued clash between Mexico and the white frontiersmen who quickly flooded. certain areas of the world. The American government wanted to purchase this valuable land but eventually it was taken by Americans. frontiersmen where it was declared its own realm.

    Read More

  • The Squatter And The Don Analysis

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    In February 2, 1848, the final armistice treaty Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, through which the United States government got the access to entire area of California, Nevada, Utah plus some territory in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming. As a compensation, the United States government paid 18.25 million dollars to Mexico.( Pecquet, Gary M., and C. F. Thies. 2010) However, apart from the death of people, Mexico lost half of its territory in this war, which initiate Mexican’s hostile towards American. In addition, after the Mexican-American war, there was an absence of national sense in Mexican, which had a negative effect on the unity and development of the country.

    Read More

  • Spaniards Vs. English Colonization

    1358 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Reasons For The Mexican American War

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    With the end of the Mexican War, the United States absorbed one third of that nation’s total area. Even though American’s gained a considerable amount of land, it created great political sectionalism in America. Mexico was fighting to keep what they thought was their property and the U.S desired to retain the disputed land of Texas and obtain more of Mexico’s northern lands. This fast expansion of the size of America combined with a number of other military successes and improvement of the country’s infrastructure and communication powered ideas of Anglo-Saxon sovereignty, which merged with America’s pride to create a manifest destiny. Due to American Mexican war , Manifest destiny instilled nation building through territorial expansion, endorsed slavery’s growth, and promoted the notion of American racial superiority (Chavez, 3). The Mexican American War was mainly driven by the idea of Manifest Destiny, that instilled nation building through territorial expansion, endorsed slavery’s growth and promoted the

    Read More

  • The Spanish-American War And Spain's Struggle For Independence

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Spanish-American War allowed the United States to acquire large amounts of territories. The Spanish-American War happened in the year 1898, and was obviously between the United States and Spain. The start of the war was caused by Cuba’s want and struggle for independence from Spain. American sympathy for the Cuban rebels grew as Spain took to more hostile tactics to calm the rebellion in Cuba. The United States newspapers showed great anger and hatred towards Spain’s hostility towards Cuba during the rebellion. Because the United States became independent from another country, the people of the United States at that time must have felt a connection with Cuba, and wanted to help Cuba free itself of the struggle for independence, because the United States also struggled. The United States wanted to help Cuba so much, most likely due to the reason stated above. The entirety of the Spanish-American war began with Cuba’s struggle for independence, but some other countries and islands also got in the middle of the battling and bargaining. The Philippines and

    Read More

  • How Did The Spanish-American War Reshaped America?

    500 Words  | 1 Pages

    In choosing a war, I have chosen the Spanish-American War for it was reshaped the way America thought of itself as a world power. Although, America was finally established as a nation, they continue to gain land by going overseas to gain more land. I have also chosen this topic for African-American soldiers played a massive role in this war. Yet, the Spanish-American War shaped America before, during, and after in many new anticipated ways.

    Read More

  • Constitutionalists Vs Zapatistas

    1325 Words  | 3 Pages

    The United States decided to interfere with the mexican revolution to further their foreign interests and decided that they wanted to back the constitutionalists so the helped give them weapons and funds to support the against the Zapatistas and Vallistas. The united states plan worked and the Constitutionalists took control of the presidency in 1914. To bring some sort of stability Carranza decided to meet with the leaders of the 2 rebel groups to hear what they wanted but the Zapatistas and Villistas decided to join together to take over mexico city instead and it was successful. The unexpected happened however and the peasant forces were overwhelmed by the big city abandoning the army to retreat to the mountain land the called home. The

    Read More

  • European Bias In The Evolution Of Our Planet Analysis

    1492 Words  | 3 Pages

    Spanish expeditions took place before the country of Mexico was established, in order to establish what the area looked like and consisted of. The different plural communities such as the Aztec, Maya, and the Yucatan that made up parts of Central America were being heavily influenced by the conquistadors exploring what we now know to be Mexico and South America. Their influence had a major role on the indigenous people and changed the way they acted and thought. They have now adapted their lifestyles to look like the Spanish due to their outward appearance, and their belief that they were gods. The author says that “The best known of these are Dona Marina, who interpreted for Cortes in the Spanish conquest of Mexico(...)”(Curtin 214). Dona Marina was one of the essential few, who understood the impact that these Spanish people could have on their land. She attempted to protect her people, but it was too late. The Spanish had brought over diseases and other illnesses that were wiping out the different peoples. This affected Central America heavily due to the drastic deaths of many cultures. The impact that the expeditions from the West had been too much for Indigenous people to fight off. Eventually, the people's adapted to the Spanish’s mutated illnesses and started portraying the Spanish in a way that leads to their culture completely changing.

    Read More

  • Spanish Influence In North America

    236 Words  | 1 Pages

    Spain dominated southwestern and southeastern North America until the late seventeenth century. Within twenty years of that time, however, Spanish influence had gone into decline as a result of English expansion into present-day South Carolina and Georgia (see Chapter 4). Native Americans came to rely on English trade goods and formed alliances with the English settlers against the Spanish. During this time, France had been establishing New France in present-day Canada. Like the Spanish and English, the French were attracted to North America by promises of great wealth in gold, silver, and other precious metals. Like the Spanish, the French also wanted to convert the "pagan" (one who is not Christian, Muslim, or Jewish) Native Americans to

    Read More

  • The Spanish Mission

    392 Words  | 1 Pages

    During the 1600s to 1700s, the Spanish were settling Texas. They did this by building missions and presidios throughout the land. The purpose was to keep the French out and to change the Indians' ways of life. Some of these missions failed and some succeeded. All in all they were closed after years of trying to change the Indians.

    Read More

  • The Chicano Movement: The Los Angeles School Walkouts Of 1968

    820 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 1960s and ‘70s, as Chicanos not only pressed for equal rights and better educational reforms to better their communities lives, some began to question and seek out more ways they could take back their communities. Many Chicano activists began looking at the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, a 1848 agreement between the United States and Mexico that ended the Mexican-American War and resulted in the US acquiring territory from Mexico that currently comprises the much of the Southwestern US. in the

    Read More

  • Mexican American War Analysis

    867 Words  | 2 Pages

    The conventional histories of the Texas Revolution set the clash between Anglo-American pioneers and Mexicans inside the setting of a flexibility toting, Democracy-cherishing individuals and the incorporating thoughts of a tyrannical country illsuited to the administration of a plentiful area. Later elucidations consolidated the battles for the Southwest in ethnic or social terms, making full utilization of the idea of Manifest Destiny and the inescapability of American expansionism. Most as of late, researchers of the Texas Revolution and the Mexican-American War have added to the understanding of the clashes on Mexico's far north by showing the Texas Revolution as an expansion of American vote based system which impacted the Mexican government's

    Read More

More about Why Spain Became The American Southwest Essay

Open Document