Compare And Contrast The Empires Of Spain And Portugal

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The Spanish and Portuguese two vast empires that took over the New World and made it their own for over three hundred years. Spain and Portugal were able to maintain their empire for over three hundred years due to the following resources and advantages. Financial stability, military superiority, and slavery, which both utilized in order to dominate the new world. In the age of exploration as Spain and Portugal were shipping out famous explores such as Christopher Columbus, Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, Pedro Alvares Cabral, and Ferdinand Magellan. Monetary funding had to be generated in order for these explorations to take place. Spain and Portugal both initiated financial endowments, partnerships between state enterprise, and private investment from different parts of Europe in order to explore and colonize the New World. Spain was also financially strong due to implemented taxes for the Spanish crown throughout Spain which generated monetary reserves that were also used to fund exploration in the New World. Many European countries …show more content…

Slavery became very beneficial for both Portuguese and Spanish colonies. They would utilize the system of encomienda which forced labor from the Indian inhabitants of an area in the new world. This system soon had to me replaced as a result of indigenous peoples dying from Spanish-imported diseases which wiped out many navies. The Portuguese had the solution to this problem. Slaves from Africa who were already immune to many European dieses. Portugal had control of the slave trade, something that made them very rich and which they utilized in Brazil. The Portuguese used slavery by Bandeirantes, forcing African men to work in sugar plantations in Brazil. Slavery brought the production of commodity to use in trade and as a result capital into the pockets of Spain and Portugal adding to their empires in the new