Spanish Leadership and Cruelty in An expedition by Miguel López de Legazpi

Every artist's dream is to create something that leaves a lasting impression. The Last Conquistador follows the story of a sculptor who does exactly that. John Houser spent nearly a decade painstakingly crafted a 34-foot tall equestrian statue featuring the infamous Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate y Salazar. Following in the footsteps of his father who assisted in the carving of Mount Rushmore, Houser's fantasy of leaving his mark in one of the largest bronze equestrian statues in the world finally became a reality (Valadez). However, what an artist attempts to express and what message is truly received may not be one and the same. While the Hispanic elite of El Paso praised (and funded) the magnificent piece, the Acoma were horrified by the towering symbol of oppression and genocide looming overhead. This film not only provides a window into the conflict and controversy surrounding Houser's work, but also showcases several aspects of Texas political culture and highlights the dismissive attitude toward Native American culture that is still prevalent today.

Before 1453, Europe was in a period of time often referred to as the Dark ages. Critics claim that they had little access to any kind of trade, wealth or ideas that traveled along the Silk Roads. Meaning that the Europeans economy was based largely off of agriculture and they lived very difficult lives in poverty. This was until daring and courageous men decided to pull Europe out of the Dark ages and into the Renaissance (A Golden Age). The many voyages of European explorers and conquistadors are what brought Europe into what would become known as The Age of Exploration. This connected Europe to trade and cultural ideas along the east. Although the Europeans and conquistadors did conquer the natives and spread the base of slavery, these men did bring new ideas, technology, science and culture that ultimately result in a huge impact on history.

The Conquest of Mexico and the conversion of the peoples of New Spain can and should be included among the histories of the world, not only because it was well done but because it was very great. . . . Long live, then, the name and memory of him [Cortés] who conquered so vast a land, converted such a multitude of men, cast down so many men, cast down so many men, cast down so many idols, and put an end to so much sacrifice and the eating of human flesh! —Francisco López de Gómara (1552)

Upon McKinley’s assassination, a (relatively) young Theodore Roosevelt found himself in the position of President of the United States. A man of action – perhaps unnecessary action- Roosevelt was unafraid of the political consequences of his bold and often unilateral decision making, both domestically and abroad. U.S. governance in the Philippines had already

1899 marked the year when America set its sites from the Spanish to the First Philippine Republic plunging American into yet another war ending with the temporary annexation of the Philippine Islands spreading American imperialism to the Far East. Within one year of winning their independence from

“We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious effort." 1899, from his book, The Strenuous Life. On December 10,1899 in the treaty of paris the US buys the Philippines for $20 million. Then on July 4th of 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt declares victory in the Philippines. The United States should have annexed the Philippines because the U.S. educated, civilized the Filipinos, the Philippine land brought recourses and economic gain, and the U.S. led the Philippines to a self-government.

In mid April 1898, congress authorized McKinley to use armed forces to expel the Spanish from Cuba. On April 20, 1898 the United States went to war with Spain. George Dewey then decided that he wanted to leave his mark in this war. So, on May 1, 1898 he destroyed a Spanish flotilla in the harbor of Manila in the Philippines. The

The rise of a powerful government and the enforcement of religious orthodoxy were factors that help established the Spanish Empire.

Conquistadors descended on America with hopes of bringing Catholicism to new lands while extracting great riches. Religion and self-interest combined to create a potent mixture that drew hundreds of thousands of Spaniards across the ocean with hopes of finding riches and winning souls for God. Along with the Spaniards came diseases to which the New World natives had no immunities. What followed was one of the greatest tragedies in human history as smallpox, influenza, and other communicable diseases ravaged the native populations, killing millions. Spanish conquistadors, who were primarily poor nobles from the impoverished west and south of Spain, were able to conquer the huge empires of the New World with the help of superior military technology,

Similar to the insurrection in Cuba, the Philippines had a loosely organized resistance led by Emilio Aguinaldo, who was ebullient to see the American fleet roll into town. Aguinaldo rationed that as a former colony itself, the United States would understand that as soon as the Spanish were gone, the Filipinos should be left to their own vices. This of course was not the case.

Spain during the 16th century has been described as a time of oppression, a time of exploitation of the subordinate class. For example, in the text of The Life of Lazarillo De Tormes a gluttonist priest offers Lazarillo scraps of an Eucharist bread, that was nibbled by mice. The priest tells Lazaro to take the bread, stating “There, eat that. The mouse is a clean animal.” This shows the how the higher class sees the lower class, it shows how they believe in offerings coming from them should be taken as a gift, even if a literal rodent has tampered with it. Most who could live during this this time usually were those who held high levels of intelligence and were also devious. Due to this, Lazarillo, being a man who holds the fore told

 1942: Occupied by the Japanese  1945: Liberated by American and Filipino forces  1946: Attained independency and founded a democracy

Their reign began to end after Ferdinand was blamed of Benigno Aquino’s murder in August 21, 1923, by the EDSA revolutionists. During his first few steps off the airplane he was murdered. No one really knew who murdered Benigno Aquino, but all the blame was on Ferdinand Marcos. Ferdinand and his family left the Philippines on February 25,

The assassination of opposition leader Benigno (Ninoy) Aquino upon his return to the Philippines in 1983, after a long period of exile, coalesced popular dissatisfaction with Marcos and set in motion a succession of events that culminated in a snap presidential election in February 1986. The opposition united under Aquino's widow, Corazon Aquino, and Salvador Laurel, head of the United Nationalist Democratic Organization (UNIDO). The election was marred by widespread electoral fraud on the part of Marcos and his supporters.

Many government officials despised Ferdinand Marcos because they consider him as a dictator, fraud, plunderer, and a deceitful man. He served as the president of the Philippines for two decades, and he was labeled as an autocratic ruler. Some senators and other bureaucrats believed that he had nothing to do with World War II. In addition, his terms as a president were considered epitomes of a corrupt government. He was also accused as the person behind the assassination of the former senator of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino Junior. All these accusations provided by the mass media in the country resulted to protests from many Filipinos and it also lead to the downfall of the late president. A lot of Filipinos have forgotten all the achievements and projects accomplished by Marcos for his country and just focused on the bad things that he was accused of.