How Did Spain Prevent The Spanish?

139 Words1 Pages
By the 1570s, Spain ruled Mexico as a colony. Spanish pioneers cultivated and manufactured mines to discover gold and silver. Before long more Spanish soldiers, government authorities, and priests arrived. Throughout the following 250 years, the soldiers and ministers voyaged north and began missions. Priests needed to convert Native Americans to Roman Catholicism. Other European countries sent travelers and pilgrims to the Americas. The Spanish needed to prevent these countries from controlling any land. They constructed strongholds called presidios to guard Spanish claims and protect them from any attacks. In 1565, Pedro Menéndez de Áviles began St. Augustine in Florida. It was the first town constructed in present-day United States by Europeans.