Age Of Expansion Dbq

The lives of Native Americans were impacted by the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in 1492, changing their lives forever. Spain would now rule a vast empire for the next 350 years structured on factors such as labor and exploitation of the Indian population. The conquistadors had aspirations of bringing about Catholicism to non-Christian areas, while extracting riches in the process. With many Spaniards going over seas to find riches, diseases followed them causing problems for New World natives due to their lack of immunities. With the trouble caused upon natives, individuals like Bartolomé de Las Casas attempted to bring awareness and a halt against the oppression of the Indians.

, “ Therefore I removed the statues of the false gods, cleaned the temples, and taught the people our religion.” The Spaniards did not like the ways of the native peoples so they tried to instill their beliefs

The Spanish conquistadores were sent out to convert foreigners into Catholicism, though they did no such thing. The natives welcomed the Spanish with open arms when they arrived. They also were compliant with the Spanish and were incredibly generous. The Spanish took advantage of the hospitality and that allowed them easier access to almost fully eliminate the natives. De las Casas described it as, “During these eleven years, more than two million souls have perished and, in an area of more than a hundred leagues by a hundred leagues,only two thousand survivors are to be seen, and even this number is shrinking day to day as the survivors succumb to the rigors of a life of slavery” (de las Casas 56). They took what gold the natives had even though de las Casas said “They were among the poorest people on the face of the Earth” (de las Casas

They were not sure whether or not to call them “beasts”, “barbarians”, or “brothers” (Andrien 59). Columbus, being the pocketful of sunshine he is, forced the inhabitants to convert to Christianity to ensure that the land was for Spain, all of Spain practiced one religion. If the inhabitants did not agree to convert they severely punished, as mentioned before (Wallbank et al 482 ). The Catholic Majesties were smart to invest in Christopher Columbus. Without his exploration and “discoveries” of gold, slivers, spices and slaves, they would not have been able to replenish their wealth and rebuild the broken economy.

The Spanish and English colonies varied in terms of religion such as immigration and opinions on salvation. Starting in the late 1500s and early 1600s, conquistadors such as Vasco Nunuez de Balboa and Herman Cortes of the Spanish empire first started to make their way into the New World. Known for their mantra, “Gold, Glory, God”, the main reason for their expansion was for power and wealth. In the Spanish church, the Pope decided who went to Heaven. This

It had very specific instructions and everything had to be done by protocol. It had to be read aloud and acknowledged by the natives. The Requirement stated that if rules were not followed and the natives would not yield to the Spanish authority then they would be warred upon. As said in Chapter 3, “It set the aims of warfare not as mere surrender, but as submission to the Catholicism and its legitimate representative, the Spaniards.” Thus, the spoken speech was focal point in Spanish conquest. “It “requires” that the indigenous peoples of the new world acknowledge the church as superior of the world and therefore consent to have priests preach to them.” The speech then goes on to give a written disclaimer that if anyone were to not follow these guidelines they were subject to death that they themselves brought upon them. The Spanish also used taxes as a form of submission and humiliation to conquer new worlds. This came from the influences of “jizya-inspired Moslem and Jewish tribute payments to Christian rulers.” Under Christian rule the wealthy communities paid in cash while the poorer communities paid in hard labor. Although, eventually, natives would merge into Spanish society they were never thought of as actual Spanish citizens they were thought of as subjects living under Spanish rule. Most of the Spanish Requirements were influenced by the Islam’s concepts of beliefs on conquering and taking over new people. The Spanish used

Before the English ventured to Roanoke Europeans explored and settled the New World. The Spanish were the most successful in settling the New World. They conquered most of Central and South America. Their main objective was to convert all of the Indians to Christianity. “Spain’s claim to posses the Americas was based on discovery, conquest, and settlement, but even more important, it was founded on the sacred enterprise of extending the Catholic faith to (in Spanish eyes) “barbarous” native peoples” (Horn 12).

After observing local natives, the first Spanish conquistadors came to the conclusion that the Native Americans were barbaric and in dire need of Christian teachings. Thus, Spanish colonists made it their mission to convert the local natives to Christianity, using violence when there was resistance. In 1597, there were a series of uprisings by the Guale Indians in present-day Florida. They destroyed many missions, explaining that the Spanish missionaries had attempted to eliminate their religious practices such as feasts and celebrations. The Spanish also oppressed the Native Americans, and used them as a labor force under the encomienda system. The French, on the other hand, are known for their peaceful alliances with the Native Americans. Colonists established trade agreements with the local natives, obtaining raw goods such as fur and timber. Their peaceful relationship may in fact be attributed to the Spanish; the “Black Legend” of Spanish cruelty towards Native Americans made other European countries eager to prove themselves different. The French took pride in the fact that they treated the Native Americans more humanely than their Spanish counterparts. In addition, the French were not interested in expanding their territory, unlike the Spanish. They were simply looking for trade opportunities, and a mutual relationship with the Native Americans was advantageous. The primary goal of Spain

Spain’s goal of spreading Catholicism was undoubtable strengthened when the Pope sanctioned all Spanish efforts. Thus, slavery of Native Americans was justified, and would liberate them in the eyes of God. In effort to prevent British protestant influence, Spain declared that Non-Spanish citizens and Non-Spanish Christians were not permitted to settle in their borders.

Throughout the Spanish conquest and exploration of Mesoamerica, religion became a focal point in Spanish observations of indigenous cultures. Influenced by European biases and colonial mindset, the Spanish criticized indigenous religion by condemning their

The final Spanish conquistadors’ motive that greatly affected the people living in the new world was glory. This motive is plain to see in documents 3 and 5. In document three Cortez talks about how the war that he and his men are fighting in will bring them fame. In document five it’s the same thing it is Cortez who is plowing through the Indians land conquering everybody for respect in Spain. Now when you look at how did this affect the Native Americans you see that the Spanish conquistadors’ obsession with glory ended up harming Indians because the Spanish wanted conquer Indian lands so that they could win respect back in Spain.

This is clear in Document 2 of chapter two in The Major Problems in Mexican American History. In this document entitled, "Spain Asserts Control over the Indians of Nueva Galicia, Mexico, 1570," the king of Spain issued a royal order commanding the Spanish in Mexico to control the Indians, convert them, and use them as labor. The king did not’t like the fact the Indians were living in the mountains "preventing interference with their manner and custom of life" (34). By being away from the Spanish established towns, they were refusing to "be more advantageously converted and indoctrinated" (34).

The Spanish Conquistadors were deeply religious and wanted to spread their Christian values and beliefs across the new lands they had discovered. Document 1 records a proclamation read in Spanish to the Aztecs in 1512. The Spaniards

Before Columbus landed in the West Indies in 1492, The Spanish Inquisition made it known to anyone within Spain’s domain of influence that if a person was not of the Catholic religion, they were to be punished severely and sometimes even fatally. This influence would undoubtedly be brought over to the Americas a century later, as the colonization of the New World would begin by then. While it was very essential for the Spanish (as well as the Portuguese) to improve their economy by using the resources they found in Latin America, it seemed to a number of them as if that was the only reason for being there, or the main reason at the very least. During the Spanish Inquisition and from that point after, it was the Pope’s main goal, to

One of the favorite methods of terrorizing the natives of the indies the Spanish used was pillaging. The Spaniards would go onto a village, loot the village and leave. As shown in Casas’ writing, he claims that the natives are a peaceful and very gently people. This is a widely accepted fact that many Christian missionaries have conveyed in their writings as well. There tends to be a trend of the Spanish coming to a new world, taking over, killing off the natives and then where it all went wrong. This is a fact marked by many areas of the Spanish history. We can look at the Aztecs for one example. When the Aztecs met the Spanish conquistadors, they experienced much of which the natives in the indies experienced. After all history does tend to repeat itself quite often.