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Essay the process of spanish conquest
Spanish effect on native americans
Essay the process of spanish conquest
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In his book, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus, Charles Mann introduces a controversial topic regarding the Americas prior its colonization. Contrary to what is taught in American history, Mann reconstructs our understanding of life in the Americas before Columbus as he exposes that there were large civilizations living at the time. The indigenous were not wild and untamed; rather they were highly civilized and complex. The author successfully shows that by the time that the Europeans arrived to the Americas they did not witness it in its primal form, as it had already been altered by the indigenous people that were living there. Among the highly civilized cultures that existed at the time were the Mayans and the Aztecs.
Some factors that best explain the success enjoyed by the 16th century conquistadors in conquering Native American empires include riding horses, wearing helmets, advanced weaponry, intimidation, strategy, and disease. Riding horses allowed the conquistadors to move fast and carry their weapons with them, causing fear in the Natives and their defeat. The conquistadors wore helmets that helped protect their heads from the Native American retaliation; this is a very vulnerable part of the body when not protected. Advanced weapons such as guns were terrifying to the Native Americans instilling fear in them and put them at a disadvantage in fighting off the conquistadors. Conquistadors were also armed with very perfected swords that were much
In the late 1400's, conquistadors started their first voyages to the “New World”. They sought gold, resources, and to convert any indigenous peoples they came across. The Spanish, the conquistadors were heroes for spreading Catholicism and returning new resources. Yet, from the point of view of the natives and Bartholome de Las Casas, they were villains. The conquistadors massacred the natives; enslaving those who escaped.
Latin America Essay 1 In 1521, Hernan Cortes captured the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, ending the reign of the Aztecs in what is now modern day Mexico. However, does the riches, land, and power gained by the Spanish justify the killing and looting? This vanquishment, as well as the ethical predicament it creates, considerably affected Latin America and Europe. Before we get into the ethical portion of Cortes' conquest, we must first explore the conquest itself.
Initially colonizing in the southern parts of North America and Mesoamerican regions with expectations of gold, the Spanish were not coming to the New World to make new friends. The name “conquistadores,” in English “conquerors,” is an accurate self-assessment
In the 1500’s spanish explorers called conquistadors started going out and conquering foreign lands. The conquistadors had three motives for what they did, the G's god gold and glory. They wanted gold and wealth for the lands they conquered. The conquistadors wanted to be remember for glorious things they did and they want to spread god's message and convert most people they encountered. Two of the most known conquistadors were Francisco Pizarro and Hernan Cortez.
After the Civil War, the second Industrial Revolution swept the US and the country began to flourish. Baring the economic prosperity, many Americans grew the urge to expand overseas. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, foreign policy was the hot topic among citizens and government officials. There were two sides to the argument; some Americans pushed for the aggressive foreign policy while others favored for the US to keep their nose out of foreign affairs. Notable figures in government took bold stands for and against foreign affairs.
For countless years, the Natives suffered under the hands of the Spaniards. Slavery, abuse, war, theft, and much more were the result of Spain taking over the Natives homeland and the Native people themselves. In the year 1542, Bartoleme de Las Casas wrote a manuscript called “Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies”, which held a very detailed account of how the natives suffered, and the actions of the Spaniards. This paper will be a brief summary and analysis of the destruction of the Indies. The Indians were said to be very moral people.
When thinking of the Spanish Conquest, two groups often come to mind: the Spaniards and the Native Americans. The roles of each of these groups and their encounters have been so heavily studied that often the role of Africans is undermined. As Matthew Restall states in his article Black Conquistadors, the justifications for African contribution are often “inadequately substantiated if not marginalized [as the] Africans were a ubiquitous and pivotal part of the Spanish conquest campaigns in the Americas […]” (Restall 172). Early on in his article, Restall characterizes three categories of Africans present during the Conquest – mass slaves, unarmed servants of the Spanish, and armed auxillaries (Restall 175).
Europeans had many effects on the area now known as Texas and on the Indians. Few if any of those effects were positive. The Conquistadors affected the people, the land, and caused the colonization of Texas. They had many motives for their deeds, converting the Indians to Christianity, finding cities of gold, or just claiming land. A Spanish conquistador named Cabeza de Vaca crashed into the mainland near Galveston in 1528 and began exploring the area now known as Texas.
European explorers and conquistadors during the age of exploration were motivated by three things: God, gold and glory. The two most prominent of the three between 1492 and 1607 were gold and glory. Beginning in 1492 gold motivated many explorers, from Christopher Columbus’s voyage to the New World to the Virginia Company’s colonization of America. Gold is a symbol for wealth, and many explorers soon realized the New World’s potential for wealth. The Spanish’s interest in wealth inspired Columbus’s expedition in the first place, as he was sent to India to trade for spices.
The English were more concerned with finding gold rather than building functioning societies; which were primarily built around biblical teachings, while the Spanish intended for European national power to extend to western civilization beginning with Catholicism and influence of the pope. English settlers were driven from England due to religious practices and perceived themselves as saving the Indians from the Spanish and their tyrannical ways. For the English, owning land would give men control over their own labor and the right to vote in most colonies, and this land possession would show wealth. This new obtained wealth would not only have demonstrated power, but it could also be used to influence a society a certain way to convince others to follow suit. The English believed that their motives for colonization were pure, and that the growth of empire and freedom would always go together, unlike the Spanish.
Since 1492, Spain recognized Christianity as its official religion because there was no distinction between Catholicism and Protestantism. Most of the Spanish population practiced Christianity due to Jews being banished and Muslims being converted. In 1517, the Protestant Reformation divided the Christian religion half - into Catholicism and Protestantism. Spain supported the Catholic religion, and they saw the New World as an opportunity to convert others to Catholicism. They believed that religion gave them the right to conquer new land, because they “came to serve God and to get rich, as all men wish to do,” which Bernal Diaz del Castillo said while working with Hernán Cortés in the conquest of Mexico.
In the 16th Century, Spain became one of the European forces to reckon with. To expand even further globally, Spanish conquistadors were sent abroad to discover lands, riches, and North America and its civilizations. When the Spanish and Native American groups met one another, they judged each other, as they were both unfamiliar with the people that stood before them. The Native American and Spanish views and opinions of one another are more similar than different because when meeting and getting to know each other, neither the Spaniards nor the Native Americans saw the other group of people as human. Both groups of people thought of one another as barbaric monsters and were confused and amazed by each other’s cultures.
This power imbalance and these payments are key in the subjugation of the natives. Furthermore, the paternalism of the Spanish toward the Indigenous peoples is obvious: “Captain [Cortes] stared at him [Cuauhtemoc]…then patted him on the head” (p.117). Post-conquest, and still today, “difficult relations” between the descendants of the Indigenous peoples and the “others” (p.117) still exist. The European view of the natives “as idolatrous savages” or, on the contrary, as “models of natural virtue” (p.175) demonstrate the versatile and often contradictory views held. Similarly, the Aztecs at times saw the Spaniards as gods, and other times as gold-hungry savages who “fingered it like monkeys” (p.51).
