Pros And Cons Of European Colonization

The motivations of the European colonization were their greed to find new source of gold and used the new world as a dumping ground for convict and potentially dangerous lower classes. European came and brought diseases, which killed about 80 percent of the Indians. The Spanish arrived in the West Indies in 1492 caused the devastation if the Indians. They killed and enslaved the Indians and exploited the tribute in the form of gold taken from streams. In 1598, Onates created a Spanish foothold in New Mexico. There were three establishments: Pueblo (farming town by Indians and Mestizo), Presidio (military post), and Mission (church). They started to “cultivate human soul” because they believed the Indian were salvaged. The indoctrinated Christian baptism and assimilated

In 1621, the Dutch West Indies company claimed Newtherland.

There were two different styles of European colonization: the French and Spanish practiced the frontier of inclusion while the English practiced the frontier of exclusion. In other words, the French and Spanish were much more likely to include the Indians into their society as long as the Indians had a mix of their blood. On the other hand, the English considered the Indians as outsiders and excluded them out of the English society because the Indians did not have the pure English blood.

Before the settlement of Columbus, America was the home of millions of people unknown to rest of the world, the Indians. They spoke many different languages and built different social systems. Due to the diverse habitats, climate, and inability to domesticate animals, the Indians had developed a sophisticated agricultural system, leading to the rise of maize agriculture. In South America, the Indians grew potatoes and cassava. In Mesoamerica, people cultivated corn, squash, and beans. In eastern North America, inhabitants raised squash and sunflowers (Jones,