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The Mexican Conquistador

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Natural resources such as minerals and precious metals are commodities, sold by those who own land in which they are mined or extracted. Gold a precious metal that has held high monetary value for centuries and has been the means of attaining great wealth and forming great empires. Water, a natural resource has a very different value, that of sustaining life. It is a commodity like other natural resources, to the landowner, in which it is sourced. Water sources are managed by individuals and by the state (government). In urban civilizations, water sources are pumped through a network of pipes into citizen’s homes. Citizens are then required to pay a premium for distribution and usage of the water. Water obtained and distributed by the …show more content…

Once the conquistador’s acquired the necessary information they commandeered the region and its inhabitants as property of the crown. Indigenous natives were then forced to serve as slave laborers, search, pan, and mine the gold. Gold financed the rise of great cities, churches and Emperial expeditions. (Thomas, 2005, 137) The Spanish conquistadors seized, stole, pillaged, and murdered in pursuit of gold. (Thomas, 2011, 240) In the filming of Columbus, gold is the essence that brings tragedy and conflict. First, Columbus offers gold to the natives as bribery in agreement to accept Christianity as their religion and the Spanish crown as ruler of the land. The natives accept the gold, perhaps not understanding what they had agreed, for which Hatuey speaks to the natives and warns them not to turn on their traditions. The conquistadors forcibly make the natives and their lands the property of the crown and the natives must pay taxes in the form of gold, thus proliferating the natives further as slave …show more content…

The Water authority had confronted the citizens on two occasions, the first, Daniel and his colleagues are digging a trench for the water to travel to their, well and homes, this time they were able to drive the authority away by approaching and vandalizing their vehicle. The police accompanied the water authority to the well, taking claim of the water well and breaking off the padlock and replace with another padlock. The indigenous women come running and pleading for the right to their well, crying out to the authorities that clean water is essential for the children. Water is required for life and is a basic human right to have access to clean drinkable water. This was the start of the social demonstrations leading to the historical Cochabamba ‘water war’ which led to the dissolution of privatization of water and deeming it to be a legalized matter pertaining to basic human rights. This movement opened the pathway for legal reform and challenged government policies pertaining to human rights of Bolivia’s indigenous citizens. (Baer,

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After sending them on a search for gold, the ones who found nothing had their hands cut off, and they ultimately bled to death. If some tried to defy his laws, they were hanged or burned at the stake. Columbus and his men literally had total control over the natives, which led to complete domination. With their lack of weapons, they were unable to fight back. Some of his soldiers were so despicable, they rode on the backs of the natives, like they were horses.

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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.

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