How Did Spain Colonize The Americas?

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African Slaves were originally sold by other African slave traders. Slaves were a large portion of the populations of each settlement when colonization was starting. The Spaniards really started to cultivate the slave trade as a way to colonize faster. The other settlements like the Dutch, France and Great Britain soon followed. Each nation was colonizing the Americas for different reasons. This in tern made the idea of land different for each nation. One obstacle that each nation faced was the the native tribes already living in the Americas. All four nations that originally colonized the Americas all ran into the same obstacles and had over come them all in their own ways. Spain was the first nation to try and colonize the Americas. …show more content…

They needed this first step of contact with the native people so they could establish proper relations with them. The Dutch along with the Spaniards and the French and Great Britain all brought their religions to the new Americas. All of these nations had people who where running from religious prosecution of their main State Church. For example; “One of those who had suffered for his religious beliefs was Albertus van Raalte. After being imprisoned for holding unauthorized church services, van Raalte decided to emigrate to America”(Simkin). With so many people coming to the Americas because of religious prosecution there was a melding pot of religions. All four nations had come to the Americas with different tactics to colonize the Americas and the first step in colonizing the Americas was to create positive relations with the natives. Spain came to the Americas with brute force and resistances from the natives in Americas. France had seen how the Spaniards where failing in their conquest of the Americas and went the other way about colonizing. The French knew that if they went the same route as the Spaniards they would not get very far. Therefore, the French went the route of trade …show more content…

When they did not get the gold they where looking for the Pope decided to still colonize the Americas to further spread Christianity. France wanted to colonize America because they wanted to furtherer their trade routes and increase their profits. Great Britain also came to America for the same reason for furthering their trade routes and making larger profits. All four nations where looking for a passage that went through the Americas to the Asian content. They all believed the first to find this mythical passage was to become the wealthiest nation. All four nations believed that to have complete control of the Americas they needed to acquire vast amounts of land. The Spaniards viewed the land that the natives had been living off of as theirs and that the natives where so un human that they did not have the rights to the land they lived on. They also believed that God was the reason the natives where giving up their land, for example in the essay called The American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World written by David E. Stannard he sates “The admiral “took possession” of it – and of all the people it contained. And “nobody objected.” Clearly, God was on the Spaniards’ side” (Stannard, 7). Stannard is pointing out that the Spaniards believed in their conquest so much that they actually believed that God was on their

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