Spanish Empire Vs Ottoman Empire Research Paper

During the 1400-1800’s, there were two fierce, conquering empires: the Ottoman Empire and the Spanish Empire. These were two powerful states that prioritized expansion. Each empire successfully used the sea through their naval resources to obtain additional territories. However, the Ottoman and Spanish Empires had significant differences due to the different governing systems of each empire and how they ruled the people they conquered. The Spanish were devoted to Christianity, while the Muslim Ottomans allowed freedom of religion through their Millet System. While both the Spanish and Ottoman empires relied on naval power and commerce for territorial expansion, they approached their conquests differently, especially when it came to managing

This fortress was used to prevent European vessels from reaching Constantinople (WTWA). Not only did he use the sea as a strategy for speed, but also as a strategy for protection. From Istanbul, the Ottomans sailed the Mediterranean and eventually seized Greece and the Balkan region. This resulted in the Ottomans controlling sea lanes throughout the eastern Mediterranean, which they used to reach European trade ports containing many goods (WTWA.) The Ottomans utilized the Mediterranean using it as a mode of transportation, protection, and increasing wealth (through trade) to carry out conquests. The sea helped the Ottoman’s economy, and expansions, and was a substantial part of the Ottoman Empire. Similarly, the Spanish used the sea to their advantage to control states in Asia, America, and Europe. The Spanish funded Columbus's voyage to the Americas, which opened up sea lanes in the Atlantic and set the stage for many more Spanish voyages (WTWA.) The Spanish used the strategy of traveling by sea (like the Ottomans) to lead them to the Americas where they obtained gold, cotton and other resources which helped boost their

Bartolomé de las Casas, a Spanish historian from the 15th-16th century, compared the Spanish actions to wild beasts who lacked food for many days. He described the Spanish soldiers as acting like “ravening beasts, killing, terrorizing, afflicting, torturing, and destroying the native peoples, doing all this with the strangest and most varied new methods of cruelty, never seen or heard before, and to such a degree that this island of Hispaniola once so populous, has a population down to 200 persons.” The Spanish clearly had almost no respect for the lives of the people they