Mercantilism And New Spain

Any student of history has come to recognize the fact that history is written by the victor and in lieu of this, research becomes essential to uncover where the truth lies. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, so ironically named, is a personal account for historical events leading up to the conquest of New Spain, formerly known as the City of Mexico. The author, Bernal Diaz, was a soldier of the conquering army who composed the document well after the events took place sometime between 1552 and 1557. Though the document did provide insight in regards to the victor’s perspective, it also served as a tool to rewrite the account of the conquered people.

The Flow of cloth, grain, oil, wine, gold and silver greatly enriched Spain. This provided economic stability and caused a rise in Spain. In contrast, the Dutch and the English commenced trade with the Spanish colonies, which cut into profit made by Spain. In addition, Spanish colonies made industries in the Americas, which further lessened their need to buy from Spain. Spanish trade with the colonies fell 60 percent. This traumatized Spain’s revenues made from the New World and ended the period of Greatness. On top of it all Spain’s royal spending continued to exceed despite the fact that they were losing money so this eventually led to Bankruptcy. In all, Faith was completely lost in the Spanish which severely disabled their advancements.

Although the Spanish and the British started colonizing the new world relatively at the same time their colonization efforts we’re extremely different but had some overlapping similarities. The differences include the two nations different reasoning to explore the New World, their relationship with the Natives, and it types of governments that they attempted to set up. Although some of these differences might not seem as if they are very important, they helped one nation do you better than the other one when it came to colonization efforts.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, New Spain and New France came to the New world for two different reasons. New France came to the new world in search of a new west passage and Spain came in search of gold and religious freedom. They both wanted to spread their religious beliefs through missionaries. The Spanish were the first to establish large settlements. The Spanish had over 200 cities by 1570. The French didn’t start colonizing until 1604. The first French colony was Acadia and Quebec which came years later in 1608. The Spanish had a huge head start on colonization over New France but they both thrived in their own ways by using Natural Resources and slaves.

During the 15th century, many considered Spain insignificant. However, within a century it became a world-dominant power in Europe. Although Spain only took a brief time to rise, it was also short-lived. The rise of Spain was due to its flourishing culture, stable political system and successful voyages to the New World. On the other hand, its decline was due to religious control, resistance from other countries and inflation.

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.

In Victors and the Vanquished, Schwartz poses the question of “How can we evaluate conflicting sources” (ix)? Through reading historical events such as the “Conquest of New Spain” there is an undeniably large amount of destruction of cultural material and bias testimonies of events recorded several years after they occurred. After analyzing the Spanish Conquest of Mesoamerica there is a debatable amount of evidence from the Mesoamericans and Spanish explanations of this event in history. The intentions of each explanation created a conflict to historians, art historians and anthropologists on which viewpoint holds to accuracy. There is also the issue of not only inaccuracies, but the motives behind each bias account. As many of these aspects are taken into consideration, interpreting each justification between both sides of history in Mesoamerica as a clash of ethnocentrism between two different cultures that causes an uncertainty of what actually happened in history.

I am writing to you today in hopes of expanding Spain’s influence into the American territory of Mexico and Florida. I would like to sail to these new lands in hopes of finding resources such as: Cotton, Silk, Spices, Vegetables, Tobacco, Gold, Sugar, the list could go on and on. I know we will find these resources in these lands because of the Columbian Exchange which was created by fellow explorer Christopher Columbus. Exploring these new lands could strengthen Spain’s ties with the American colonies and could possibly be allies in trade and in war. We may face hardships like unpredictable weather and lack of territorial knowledge but I am prepared to take necessary precautions so that everything will go smoothly. This will also give Spain

The Mexican Revolution was completely just, but not too successful in the early stages. Spain during this time were a large power, they had many conquered territories that they had complete control over. Much like their rule over other colonies, Spain ruled all of New Spain extremely unfairly. For example, in Mexico, there was a large gap when it came to wealth. The rulers of New Spain were bathed in wealth, they had copious amounts of jewels and access to goods, whereas the people of Mexico, especially the Indian and Mestizos, lived in poverty. With New Spain’s rule over Mexico there was also a limited amount of representation regarding the majority of Mexico, the Indians and the Mestizos. New Spain’s governors were mostly rich colonists,

Cortés came not to the New World to conquer by force, but by manipulation. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, in the "Conquest of New Spain," describes how Cortés and his soldiers manipulated the Aztec people and their king Montezuma from the time they traveled from Iztapalaopa to the time when Montezuma took Cortés to the top of the great Cue and showed him the whole of Mexico and its countryside, and the three causeways which led into Mexico. Castillo's purpose for recording the mission was to keep an account of the wealth of Montezuma and Mexico, the traditions, and the economic potential that could benefit Cortés' upcoming conquest. However, through these recordings, we are able to see and understand Cortés'

Cuban insurgents considered the victory theirs, but it was obvious it was the Americans. Even the British correspondents who had once derided their American cousins esteemed differently. Spanish forces consolidated and resisted at Fort Canosa, then an American siege of the city happened, which was aided by Cuban forces. A much deadlier enemy came upon the Americans; malaria and yellow fever, which caused more deaths than Spanish bullets. Despite the Spaniards’ advantage in numbers and weaponry, because of the deaths of the disease, American forces pushed inland. The Spanish fleet only lasted hours on July 3.

Victors and Vanquished, through excerpts of Bernal Diaz del Castillo, The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, and indigenous testimonies from the Florentine Codex, shows the exchange of religious ideas between the Spanish and Nahuatl religions. During the Spanish conquest and exploration of Mesoamerica, religion became a focal point in Spanish observations of Nahuatl religions. Influenced by European biases and a colonial mindset, the Spanish criticized indigenous religion by condemning their practices and idols. Natives, on the other hand, hybridized elements of Christianity into their respective indigenous religions.

Around the late 1800s, Spain was having a hard time with preventing Cuban’s from fighting for their independence. The revolts led Spain to send over General Valeriano Weyler, to put a stop to the protests. Consequently, he had anyone suspected of supporting independence, removed from the general population, and sent to concentration camps. Newspaper publishers, William R. Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, gave the word out to the American people, with the use of a little Yellow journalism--journalism based upon sensationalism and crude exaggeration, in an attempt to create disgust towards the Spanish government's actions. The American people, with their moral beliefs, and pride in their military might, decided to put into action the long-dormant

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).