Colonies In The Spanish Colonies

There were initially two to ten million natives in the United States prior to European contact. Those numbers dwindled down drastically in the years that Europeans came and started colonizing. The Europeans came to explore the New World in search of land, spices, gold, God and glory. Among these colonists were the Spanish and they colonized most of the southwest of the United States. Evidence of their settlements can still be seen today in the missions scattered across the land. These missions were started with the purpose of converting the Native Americans to Christianity. Now, imagine living your entire life with a particular set of beliefs, based on your ancestors and culture, and a group of foreigners come and proclaim that your views are all wrong and that you must follow their beliefs for the salvation of your soul. This is exactly what the Spanish did to the Natives. The relationship between the two parties were strained and rife with tension due to the conversion of the natives and the constant abuse doled out by the Spanish. This subsequently led to the disintegration of native life and culture.

Throughout the 17th century, many European countries sent explorers and settlers to America. The two most eminent countries that colonized area of America were Spain and Great Britain. Britain began to establish colonies in the northeast; in the area they called New England. The Spanish interest lied in the southwest. Living in two unassociated areas caused the Spanish settlements and the New England colonies to be quite unlike each other. When faced with the task of finding similarities between the two, not much can be found. It is the differences that stand out when studying the English and Spanish, from religion to politics to ideals.

The Spanish came to the New World with the idea that they were going to practically enslave, convert, or kill the natives. Because of this the Spanish’s treatment for the natives was terrible and very early on. They would use natives to help them find gold and do other manual labor activities. The missionaries would attempt to convert them to Christianity and because a lot would not comply they would end up killing them. Early on the British settlers’ relationship with the native Americans is very different. At first, they were friendly. The first British settlers in a way to live on the Native Americans. North America them was very different from Great Britain, and the Native Americans had lived there for very long time. So, the British settlers took advantage of that and began to trade with the Native Americans and use them in order to help their new settlement survive. Although the Spanish and British relationship with the natives differed at first eventually they both ended up doing the same exact thing. They both killed the Native Americans and cause their societies to be displaced. Even though there and goals were different they both used the exploitation of Native Americans in order to achieve these goals.

Throughout the sixteenth century, the Spanish established sugar plantations in the Americas. The Spanish considered using Native Americans as their labor force but, eventually relied on slavery. Though American Indians were utilized in the Mexican gold mines, European diseases had decimated the American Indian population, and the Spanish considered Native Americans too savage to be good workers.

1). The Nations of Europe sought to expand their empire because they were on the verge of overpopulation.Between 1550 and 1600 the population grew from three million to four million people. Also, England and Spain were at a war for power. The Spanish attempts at colonizing the New World had been extremely successful, for they had gained both wealth and power. The English did not see such success, as their ships would crash, be lost to the seas, or their colonization efforts would cease to be useful. Through the Spaniards control over the Americas they had gained a massive naval army, noted as the Spanish Armada. The Spanish attempt to invade England in 1588 failed which lead to the beginning of the fall of the Spanish empire in the New World.

African people began to attack opposing tribes and taking captives, and then would sell the captives to the Europeans to use for slaves. They would be placed on slave ships, where they would be packed in, forced to sit with sicknesses, death and whippings. “I feared I should be put to death, the white people looked and acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner; I had never seen among any people such instances of cruelty”(Equaino, Document D) The slaves were whipped on ships and treated like animals. The statement above was a quote from a previous slave. When slavery was brought to the New World, places with large agricultural based economies had many slaves. Sugarcane slaves were slaves that worked in the fields, planting, taking care of, picking and processing sugar cane. Life expectancy for these slaves was five years. The Silver mining slaves worked in conditions that would have them underground with poor ventilation, almost complete darkness, and natural disasters. They lived longer than Sugar Slaves, and most of the time could buy their freedom. The Columbian Exchange expanded the Atlantic Slave trade, which killed too

1. (1607) Jamestown was formed: This event was significant because it was the beginning of the English colonies in the New World. Jamestown the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. The colonization was funded the by Virginia Company. After this colony was formed, more people started to come over from England. Without these colonists the Virginia colony would be much different. It also helped them learn about what kind of people they needed to send over. At first they sent over gentlemen who did not work, but then they realized they needed farmers.

In the 1680’s most Africans were working on plantations. As Mintz explains how black slavery become the dominant labor, “ 1680’s that Black slavery became the dominant labor system on plantations ” (2, Mintz). The colonists wanted the africans because they would work the best on plantations. This quote demonstrates the colonists gained power because more slaves were sold and The colonists gained more profit. In the Colonial America the slaves were being carried to the New World. As Olaudah Equiano illustrates how the slaves were brought to the new world, “ These filled me with astonishment which was soon converted into terror ” (1, Equiano). He was scared and like he never experienced slavery in his life. This quote demonstrates that the colonists gained power because the slaves were afraid of them and if they were afraid of them they wouldn’t

The Spanish Settlements and the English colonies were different in many ways. They were different in politics, religion, and economic development.

In early America, there were two main competitors who had made colonies in North America. These two countries were Spain and Britain. Although the two were geographically close, the way they chose to live out politics and religion was completely different.

The Spanish Colony was located in the eastern coast of what is also known as the state of Florida. Following soldiers in the Spanish colony heard that England had established a new land . A couple of months later the Spanish and English were at war and the Spanish were planning to kill and hold hostage the English colonists. A rumor also has been going on where an expedition has been led by Ralph Lane. Along his expedition Ralph Lane and the colonists stumbled upon some angered indians. The colonists and the indians fought back and forth until the English colonists planned to kill them and also hold them hostage. Their plan failed and the indians heard about their plans and decided to kill and hold the fellow colonists hostage. Who really

Spanish Colony: The very first Spanish person that arrived to the Americas was a conquistador by the name of Hernan Cortes who was there to take gold and make a name for the conquistadors. He did this by deceiving them about religion and two other enforced things. The first thing was advanced technology such as swords, horses and armor. The second thing was the disease he brought with him. Some say that disease killed up to 90% of the Indian population. In 1749 the spanish made their first colony named Laredo. But the Spanish first permanent settlement was in 1769 in California. At first the spanish grew very wealthy but due to some conflicts with the indians they weren't able to start a colony till later. At the time they were only concerned

If we take time to look back into history we would see that around the 1500s – 1600s the attitude of mankind was exactly the same as it is today when it comes to all nations trying to appear superior to others by doing things like aggrandizing their economy, or by going to war with other nations and winning. This thing called pride was the sole reason why every nation was motivated to be the greatest. Two of these monarchies within the eastern hemisphere were Spain and England, which at the time, had the biggest most powerful fleets the earth has ever seen. Due to this thirst for superiority, the two nations butted heads causing many conflicts. Even though both nations had their differences, both had an eagerness to explore and expand their

1. Three arguments’ that Juan Gines de Sepulveda used to justify enslaving the Native Americans were for gold, ore deposits, and for God’s sake and man’s faith in him. 2. Three arguments that Bartolome de las Casas gave in attacking Spanish clonial policies in the New World were the Indians eating human flesh, worshiping false gods, and also, he believed that the Indians were cowardly and timid. 3. For comparisons that Sepulveda used, in lines 1-7, to express the inferiority of the Indians was their prudence, skill virtues, and humanity were inferior to the Spanish as children to adults, or even apes to men. Comparisons he used to dismiss the significance of the Indians

Lower down on the map of North America were the Spanish colonies. After Columbus discovered the New World, the Spanish Crown began governing the area. With the arrival of various explorers and colonizers like Columbus, there were rivalries for the land within the South. By the middle of the 1500s, Spain organized themselves politically and economically in the Southwest and the Spanish gained a tight hold on their land of New World. Until the 19th century, Spanish America was divided into viceroyalties and governed through a Council of the Indies in Spain. The viceroys were not just governors, they were the king of Spain’s representative and therefore, were treated as royalty. This system of “under-kings” was developed by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. He also organized judicial courts of appeal throughout the Spanish lands with appointed judges to ensure justice was dispensed throughout the New World, the King's rights were upheld, and that taxes were collected. There was a vast military presence in the Spanish colonies to protect them intrusion by other world powers (Politics in Spanish Colonization).