“Compare and contrast the early colonial empires of Portugal, Spain, and England in terms of motives, economic foundations, and relations with Africans and Native Americans. What factors explain the similarities and differences in the two ventures?” Darwin proclaimed that when push comes to shove, only the robust characters would survive. Outfitted with an effective military, a divine hostility against competing faiths and diseases unknown to even the carriers, three powerful and greedy nations overpowered opposition to their company in Africa and the New World. Natives to these lands were no matches against Portugal’s superior methods of navigation, or Spain’s newly unified and powerful sovereign whom would undertake effortless …show more content…
Smallpox was the number one eradicator facing those who didn’t possess immunity to the rank disease. Over 90% of native peoples died from this illness. Spain constructed a system known as encomienda. Under this arrangement Indians could be traded to slave owners in exchange for the devotion of their Christian loyalty. The relationship between Indians and Spanish voyagers was not all horrific. They did
Due to the native’s total isolation from the rest of the civilized world, they had been prevented from developing immunities against many devastating diseases. These diseases were carried into the country unaware by the conquistadors from Europe and Africa. For example, smallpox reached Espanola by 1518 and was carried to New Spain in 1520. It then moved through Central America and entered Peru by 1527. Wherever the disease passed, it left a detrimental death toll in its wake. There are many accounts of villages that lost half or more of their population, some even lost as high as 90% of their population. Many more disease continued to slowly decimate the natives, such as measles typhus, influenza, yellow fever, malaria diphtheria and the bubonic plague. Within the next 100 year of disease, the native’s population became less than 10% what it was in the
With these motivations and methods, the Spanish, Portuguese, and French were able to play a role in the development of the New World. Sometimes, the effect of their roles would be negative as seen by the devastation of Indian culture and the introduction of African slavery to the Americas. However, their colonizations helped give the Americas the amount of diversity they display today. Yet, they didn’t understand what the true purpose of
It is a widespread belief that colonization of the Americas started and ended with the English and the 13 colonies, an exclusive and extremely condensed version of history. In American Colonies, Alan Taylor delves deeper into this condensed version of events to offer a more informative and truthful point of view on American history. In this document, Taylor presents the argument that American colonization was the result of the efforts of multiple cultures and races. He continues on to say that many of these groups of people were left out of the story of American history, which led to the English being established as the dominant force of colonization.[ Taylor, American Colonies, 1]
The three colonial empires of Portugal, Spain, and England were the most dominate in the fight for land in the Americas. While the motivations for these three colonial empires were similar and all of the Native Americans and/or Africans saw the Spanish Portuguese and English as one brutally similar people, economic differences between the three of them would ensure that their colonies would develop in dramatically unique ways.
Compare the experience of the French, Spanish, and English in colonizing the New World. What common perception of the region did they share? Discuss the differences in their relationship with Native
As Geoffrey Cowley said, “the native population fell from roughly 30 million in 1519 to 3 million in 1568.” (Doc. 6) This appalling number of lives lost, are because an indifference between the Spaniards and Natives. When the Spaniards arrived, they brought many disease which the Natives have never encountered. Not only was it the 15th Century, but the Natives were already set back from the rest of the world and did not have the technology or medicine to aid them with the disease they contracted from the Spaniards. Geoffrey Cowley states, “When the newcomers arrived carrying mumps, measles, whooping cough, smallpox, cholera, gonorrhea and yellow fever, the indians were immunologically defenseless.” (Doc. 6) The lack of resources the Natives had caused them to be helpless against all of these diseases
The Europeans brought about diseases that initially never transpired in the Native Americans communities. Indian [Native Americans] population of 10 million that lived north of Mexico when Columbus came would ultimately be reduced to less than a million. Huge numbers of Indians would the from diseases introduced by the whites. (Zinn 14). An example of such was smallpox associated with a Spanish called Herman Cortes and his army when they came to America in 1521. Europeans were also responsible for bringing about other diseases such as influenza and measles to healthy Native Americans.
The roots of, and reasons for the rebellion of the 13 colonies can be found in the 16th century. There have been several factors that have laid the groundwork for the colonies to rebel against England. The 16th Century was a significant time when exploring the New World. There were three reasons why exploration to the New World took place, God, Gold, and Glory (known as the 3 Gs) (Lecture 7). Throughout this essay we will explore events that led up to the rebellion such as Ysabela’s hope to spread Christianity to the New World, how the Spaniards treated the Indians upon arrival to the New World, the defender of the Indians Bartolome de las Casas, Spain’s significant decrease in power, The Battle of Laponto, the introduction of Elizabeth I, the two circumnavigators from England, and the English settlement of Jamestown.
Have you ever wondered where why the many different countries in Europe came to America to explore and colonize? There were two main concepts that drew the Europeans to America: the excitement and profit of the "New World", and the past histories of their countries. The English, French, and Spanish each came to the Americas in search of a new beginning; a fresh start in which they could escape past torment and capture new wealth. However, each motive defined the character of each settlement.
When people come into contact with new cultures, they do many positive things such as trading goods and sharing ideas. However, new people can also have a negative effect on the cultures that they are meeting. Along with violence and forced relocation, another one of the negative effects of the Indians meeting the Europeans was disease. Prior research has suggested that during the period of time from which the Spaniards were leaving Mexico smallpox had caused a mass number of casualties.
From the mid 1500’s to the 1700’s, people from all over Europe flocked to the vast lands of North America. Spain and England quickly became the most dominant European presences in the Americas. Citizens of the two countries had very different experiences in the New World. This was partially due to their different interactions with Native Americans, religions and their different motivations for coming to the New World. Although rivals at the time, Spain and England’s colonization efforts shared many similarities.
Imagine foreign men coming into your country, invading your land, and killing your people. In the late 1400’s, European explorers, mainly Spanish and Portuguese, in search of a new route to Aisa, found America. The impact of their discovery to the natives was immense, the explorers spread disease, made the natives lives miserable, but also showed the natives new ways of agriculture. The First reason why the explorers greatly impacted the natives was the spread of disease.
The trajectory of colonialism can be traced back to fifteen century conquest of Cueta by Portugal. But not until the seventeenth century did they establish their own overseas empire. The initial rational
The central point of this article is to discuss the relationships between the colonizers and colonized in culture and imperialism. Because the links between these two things (culture and imperialism) raise important questions about how, “power and knowledge works in colonial societies. In some ways this article even looks into race relations and why they are the way they are today. Arguing that, “British indirect rule effectively resulted in racial segregation” (Bush 225). We can see that racism can be linked to a cultural problem that still effects the race relations that we have today. The study of the indifference the British and French had when they colonized can be used to explain many aspects of racial relations and I am sure many
The author mentions that hostile Indians made travel dangerous, except for the brave and well-armed. Yet, the Natives would often cooperate by showing the Spaniards where the fresh water was, providing food, and helping their explores. The Indians were willing to welcome the Spaniards into the trading system.