Essay God and Gold: Spanish Exploration

Convinced of the superiority of Catholicism to all other religions, Spain insisted that the primary goal of colonization was to save the Indians from heathenism and prevent them from falling under the sway of Protestantism. The aim was neither to exterminate nor to remove the Indians, but to transform them into obedient Christian subjects of the crown. To the Spanish colonizers, the large native populations of the Americas were not only souls to be saved but also a labor force to be organized to extract gold and silver that would enrich their mother country. Las Casas’ writings and the abuses they exposed contributed to the spread of the Black Legend-the image of Spain as a uniquely brutal and exploitative colonizer. This would provide of a potent justification for other European powers to challenge Spain’s predominance in the New World.

The Spanish began exploring America with “gold, glory and God” large in their minds. Cortes and the

In the readings, the authors mentioned the explorer’s goals for God, Gold, and Glory. They entered the soils of new land that was already occupied by the natives with the goal of gaining lots of gold to bring back to their country, sharing their beliefs in god by converting the Native Americans, and returning their homeland to be congratulated for their work. The readings all talked about how Columbus’s main goal was to convert the the natives of the new land to Christianity. Another similarity was a mass murdering of the people living in the new discovered country occurred. The texts explained that how the epidemics and wars that began to form only occurred when the explorers arrived.

1492 was a turning point for the Spanish, Columbus’s successful settlements in the new world encouraged further expeditions to discover resources and spread Christianity abroad. As we learned last week the

The determined adventurer wasn’t going to give up, so he traveled all the way back to Spain and ask the king. The abundant treasures, gold, and silver that came from the land convinced King Charles V to allow the expedition. He sponsored Pizarro with 250 men, priests to convert the natives and he named him the new governor of the land. Pizarro’s contact with Peru brought a lot of negative consequences as well as positive consequences to the territory. At the time of his arrival, the Inca Empire was at a civil war between two Indian brothers fighting for the throne. The Spanish soldiers captured Atahualpa, the Inca Emperor and asked for rooms filled with gold and silver for his liberation. The Incas paid for his freedom but he was still convicted for opposing the government. Driven by power, Pizarro killed Atahualpa, in order to claim the territory for

Around the 14th century A.D., many European countries sent explorers to discover the world surrounding them. The myth of the “New World” stands as a land full of promise, wealth, hope, and riches: the Garden of Eden. For Christopher Columbus, discovering Española meant greatness. In an effort to brownnose the Spanish monarchy, Columbus wrote a letter detailing the magnificence of his discovery. Written in 1493, this letter —also known as probanza de mérito—highlights Columbus’ findings.

He accomplished this by ambushing and capturing the Inca ruler Atahualpa. Pizarro invited Atahualpa to a "peaceful gathering", but when Atahualpa arrived, he was captured, imprisoned and ransomed. Atahualpa's ransom was paid by the Inca empire with what would be equivalent to 50 million dollars worth of gold today, or, better stated by Pizarro, as "enough gold to fill a room". Unfortunately, this ransom was paid to no avail; in 1533 the Spaniards strangled and beheaded Atahualpa. The Spaniards extended their control over Inca territory in the following years. In 1572 they overwhelmed the last of the Inca forces and captured the last emperor, Túpac Amaru. In beheading him, they ended the Inca dynasty.

When Christopher Columbus first came to the Americas, his intent was to take ownership of the land. This endeavor was done for the king and queen of Spain which was granted because the universal laws of Western society of Christians. This was allowed through the religious based doctrine “Doctrine of Discovery”. Today, United States government still uses this Christian based doctrine to repudiate certain rights of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas. Therefore, in this paper I will highlight the following three main points; what the Doctrine of Discovery is, what have churches done to repudiate it, and my personal views on the Doctrine of Discovery.

Francisco Pizarro, Diego de Almagro and Hernando de Luque lead the discovery and conquest of the Inca Empire. Francisco Pizarro arrived at the Pacific coast of the Inca empire in 1531 via the Panama Canal. He gained support from indigenous peoples who resented Inca dominance. At the time the Inca ruler, Atahualpa, had recently murdered a brother to obtain the throne and was in the midst of attempting to consolidate political power. Atahualpa first encountered Pizarro on November 16, 1532 and was promptly taken prisoner while 180 Spaniards kept an Inca army of 40,000 at bay with cannon, firearms and swords. The Inca were forced to compile upwards of 39,400 pounds of gold and silver to ransom their leader and pay the invaders to leave. When the bounty was assembled Atahulapa was simply ordered to choose his method of death; burning at the stake or strangulation. He chose the later and Pizarro proceeded to conquer the former empire. Although the Spanish conquered the empire with relative ease rebellions by indigenous peoples would plague the Iberian authority throughout their reign of colonial dominance.

Since the King Charles II, King of Spain was a very greedy man, he needed all the wealth so he could pay for the wars. King Charles II also kept 20 percent of the gold and jewels for himself as he wanted to be astonishingly wealthy. This was also another reason for why Spaniards fought so many wars. The Spanish were known for having an eye for gold, and Cortes would do anything to get it, so when Moctezuma offered Cortes gold and jewels, he and his crew were attracted and wanted to stay. Cortes wanted to take over this land and take all the gold for himself and his country, so when the Spaniards saw all the gold there was nothing to obstruct them from having the conflict with the Aztecs to get a hold of the precious jewels. The Native tribe

The Spaniards had the opposite kinds of thoughts and actions. They wanted gold, and saw that the ‘kings’ or Native American tribe leaders had some jewelry made out of gold. Known for being ruthless, the conquistadors took over the land. They took over the Aztec Empire, killing off thousands of Aztecs. When the conquistadors traveled through todays Texas to what is now today Florida with the Pueblos Indians, they took over their land and forced them into Christianity. The laws enforced by the Conquistadors caused for a revolt back against the Spaniards, the Pueblos started to practice their old religion, causing for the Spaniards to have a counter reformation killing off thousands of the Pueblo Indians. As Langston Hughes says in his poem Let American Be America Again “I am the red man driven from the land,” this particular piece of his poem ties in with what happened to the Native Indians being driven from their home lands when the settlers came and

Spanish first came to America looking for a Gold, Glory, and God and the Europeans came to

        Christopher Columbus was the first to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. He was born in Italy, 1451, but he sailed for Spain. Columbus was well educated, and soon became a well known young man. Like many sailors, he wanted to be the one to find the route to the Orient. On  the first his expeditions he sailed on the Nina, the Pinta and the St. Maria. On October 12, 1492, he sighted land after a threat of mutiny from his crew. Columbus thought he had reached the Orient, but he had actually reached an island, which he claimed for Spain and called it San Salvador. He met the people there and made the well-known

For the Spanish colonies, conquests gained riches for Spain leading to the expansion of its empire. The Spanish claimed most of the southern and southwestern regions along with the California coast. Some of their settlements include St. Augustine, Florida (1565); Santa Fe, New Mexico (1610); and many cities in Texas and California. There were three primary goals for the Spanish to expand to America they are called the three “G’s” consisting of God, gold, and glory. The Spanish wanted their religion to have an emotional bond, to portray loyalty, and for it to establish authority, so missionaries were then sent to convert Natives to Christianity. The Spanish expanded to also benefit from gold or wealth that America had. They searched for resources like gold, silver, and precious metals. The Spanish wanted glory meaning for them to construct an empire for them to dominate. Colonies were governed by crown-appointed viceroys or governors, settlers had to obey the laws given. Spanish settlers include conquistadors, soldiers, and missionaries while farmers and trades came later. The growth of their population was slow due to

In the 15th century, the Europeans set sail from their home countries in hopes of finding new routes to use for trade. After a few wrong turns, the Americas were discovered and the rumor of the wealth the Mesoamerican civilizations had attracted the Europeans. The Spanish were the first to set out on an expedition to conquer this New World every one was speaking of. Henando Cortez was the Spanish conqueror that led the expedition to the Americas, where the Spanish would encounter the Aztec empire.