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Spanish and english colonization of america
Spanish colonialism in north america
Native american before european colonization
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In chapter nine (The Columbian Exchange) of his book, The Unending Frontier, John F. Richards argues that the “Columbian discovery and colonial rule in the West Indies brought drastic changes to the people and natural environment of the Greater and Lesser Antilles.” For instance, the biological exchange of diseases such as smallpox and swine flu to which the indigenous peoples had developed no antibodies for “thinned (the native’s) numbers, destroyed their institutions, and broke their resistance to Spanish aggression.” In fact, after only a century after European contact, the indigenous population in the New World shrunk to one tenth its previous size from 53 million to 5 or 6 million people. Spanish rule, therefore, only expedited the eventual
On October 12, 1492, an Italian merchant by the name of Christopher Columbus landed on an island in the New World. With him he brought three ships and a small crew of Spaniards. After exploring other islands, Columbus came one that he called Hispaniola; here, they found seemingly primitive and naϊve natives that they immediately began to take advantage of. However, little did they know that this first meeting would bring exploration of South and Central America that would wreak havok among the Natives. Throughout the period of European Expansion, Natives were ripped from their home and forced to work day in and day out.
As a young conquistador coming to a strange land that has a large pyramid with thousands of people surrounding it as they were chanting and yelling while looking toward the very top of the stairs that led to the top of the pyramid. You see people at the top and notice how they are cutting out the hearts of these human sacrifices and tossing them down the stairs. You stare in horror and notice what a terrible and cruel place you have come across. There was human sacrifice going on and gruesome wars over land that ultimately led to more and more death. But then you take another look around and see their agriculture and all the amazing irrigation systems they have set up and you 're completely shocked about how well their farming systems are.
Modern Warfare and Technology has evolved to many different levels and is thought of as the most superior, but do not brush off the 1500’s Aztecs. They had a massive army and was virtually unstoppable. The Aztecs religion was such a strong part of their way of life, so much so that they killed thousands of people in one day. Only a brick wall could stop them, and their name is the Spanish and their small army of voyagers with Hernan Cortes. This Spanish group had an advantage with the way of their religions, the way of their technologies and their way of warfare, here is the supporting evidence.
During the time of exploration of North America, questions arose of the Native people that inhabited the land, if they were or not capable of learning European cultural values, government, and converting to the faith of Christianity, and if not they should be enslaved to the Europeans. The primary document of “In Defense of the Indians” focuses on the argument between Bartolomé de Las Casas, an advocate for Native Rights, and Juan Gines de Sepulveda, a Spanish humanist, with opposing opinions on the enslavement and conversion of the Amerindians. The document focuses primary on Las Casas response and argument towards Sepulveda, Las Casas opposed his position and fought for his beliefs that the Natives deserved rights, protection, and were civilized beings. Las Casas often refers to Aristotle’s notions, as he believes that the Native people are capable of learning, are willing and able to convert to Christianity and should not be enslaved. Sepulveda argues that the Native people are “barbaric”, are lesser beings than the Europeans and should be enslaved for these very reasons.
essie Sisavat Professor Duarte History 40 September 21, 2015 Reaction One 1. How effective or not was the Spanish conquest of the Maya Indians and why? Explain.
Although unable to read and understand them, the Spanish demonized these writings as works of the devil and destroyed them. Native American’s across Mesoamerica suffered greatly at the hands of Spanish colonization.
The idea that 1491 marks the beginning of the New World simply because it is the last year in which the Americas were untouched by Europeans is lacking in perspective. If one were to only consider the beginning of the “New World” from a European perspective,
Historians differ on what they think about the net result of the European arrival in the New World. Considering that the Columbian Exchange, which refers to “exchange of plants, animals, people, disease, and culture between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas after Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492,” led to possibly tens of millions of deaths on the side of the American Indians, but also enabled agricultural and technological trade (Henretta et al. 42), I cannot help but reflect on whether the effects should be addressed as a historical or a moral question. The impact that European contact had on the indigenous populations of North America should be understood as a moral question because first, treating it as a historical question is difficult due to lack of reliable historical evidence; second, the meaning of compelling historical claims is contestable as the academic historian perspective tends to view the American Indian oral history as invalid; and finally, what happened to the native Indians is morally repulsive and must be discussed as such. The consequences of European contact should be answered as a moral question because historically, it is hard to be historically objective in the absence of valid and dependable historical evidence.
Historians who practice historiography agree that the writings from the beginning of what is now known as the United States of America can be translated various ways. In James H. Merrell’s “The Indians’ New World,” the initial encounters and relationships between various Native American tribes and Europeans and their African American slaves are explained; based on Merrell’s argument that after the arrival of Europeans to North America in 1492, not only would the Europeans’ lives drastically change, but a new world would be created for the Native Americans’ as their communities and lifestyles slowly intertwined for better or worse. Examples of these changes include: “deadly bacteria, material riches, and [invading] alien people.” (Merrell 53)
As a result, This created warfare and disease across the new land, where Native culture was destroyed and tribes being wiped out after the conquistadors defeated in battle. The discovery of the “New World” created the rise of populations,
Before the Spanish ship that changed it all, which arrived in the “New World” in 1492, thriving organized communities of native people had centuries of history on the land. That ship, skippered by Christopher Columbus, altered the course of both Native American and European history. 1492 sparked the fire of cultural diffusion in the New World which profoundly impacted the Native American peoples and the European settlers. Prior to European contact, Native Americans lived as hunter-gatherers, living and traveling in groups of typically less than 300 people. These Native Americans spoke over 400 languages and practiced a myriad of different religions (The American Pageant).
The conquered had to deal with loss of population and destruction of political structure. The loss of population was caused by European disease. Their political structure was demolished and replaced with European institutions, religion, and culture. On the other hand, the conquerors were faced with new land and riches. Many people left Spain to go to Mexico to find new land.
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.
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.
