St Augustine's Claim To The Spanish American Empires

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.

In the Confessions by Saint Augustine, this great philosopher experiences many problems and emotions related to sin and evil. As a boy, he often felt darkness, blindness, and confusion while attempting to find rest in God. Augustine started out in childhood with a restless heart because he had to live in two different worlds. These worlds consisted of his mother’s Christian faith, and the world of everything else. These two worlds confused and disturbed Augustine as a child. Augustine’s father was pagan and his mother was Christian, and they both wanted him to be very successful in the world. As he became confused, he began asking questions that could not be answered such as, “Humans often feel restless, but what is it they need to feel at

Saint Augustine, The City of God,tr. J.W. Leedom; reprinted in C. Warren Hollister et al., eds,

Even though the Spain had ruled for a longer period time. The British had one advantage they were able to recruit permanent settlers. Most of Florida's officials were looking to save money to keep public services going. The Proclamation of 1763 outlawed settlement west of the appalachians to the newly acquired Florida. The Britishers partners were the French. The French had strong desires to develop trade within their new colony and also outsiders around it. Each pioneer settler was given 100 acres of land and 50 acres per family member, i mean who could complain about that. Soon after this the British went to war against the British. After the war with France it nearly bankrupted the British government.

Henry Morrison Flagler; The Man Who Invented Florida, is a useful resource in the fact that it discusses how Flagler gained access to the land to extend the East Coast Railroad down south in Florida, into the Keys. It also covers some of the spectacular hotels built in St. Augustine and south

When the Spanish and the Portuguese established the colonies in the Americas, not only did they bring their material culture of technologies, clothes, cuisines, architecture, crops, and animals but they also brought their intellectual traditions such as that of honor. The history of colonial Latin America gives many questions related to the understanding of honor. The culture of honor during this period of time was pivotal as it provided a set of values that organized society and individual lives. Legal codes, social gatherings, seating arrangements were all mixed in with cultural meanings, which helps define status within a system of honor. Honor is also seen within fiction produced from the colonial Latin American period with the production of work such as Don Juan Tenorio and Don Quixote. These dramatic works glorify the chivalric tradition of honor, romanticizing it and creating a flattering fiction that the elite of colonial Latin America found convenient to strive for. Literary critics and cultural historians have studied the structure honor code of this period closely and in this book it can also be seen that honor can be irrationally inflexible, cruel and especially oppressive toward those of lower class, “tainted” lineage and female gender during this time. In this book, The Faces of Honor: Sex, Shame, and Violence in Colonial Latin America, scholars Lyman L. Johnson and Sonya Lipsett Rivera take on the difficult but exciting task of trying to define the idea and

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'

Life was not easy for the Spaniards who tried to live in Florida. It was in fact, very difficult; and they had no time to convert any of the Native people to Catholicism. However, once they did get settled and started to become acclimatized to Florida’s environment they

The Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León is the first known European to visit the region and he called it 'La Florida' (Spanish for "land of flowers"), when he visited it in 1513. It is thought that he chose this name because he was impressed by the many colorful flowers of the region and because he visited it during the Easter season, which is called 'Pascua Florida' in Spanish ('Pascua Florida' is a Spanish term that literally means 'flowery festival', but usually refers to the Easter

Soldier and conqueror Bernal Díaz del Castillo in his book The True History of the Conquest of New Spain labeled Hernán Cortés “a valiant, energetic, and daring captain” and compared him to the likes of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Hannibal. Hernán Cortés was an ambitious conquistador and eventually defeated the mighty Mexican empire. A problem, however; emerges when distinguishing between the rational and romanticized versions of Cortés’ exploits. Bernal Díaz was present during the conquest, but his account was written much later and cannot be expected to be unbiased. Modern interpretations of Cortés can piece together all document and find that he stretched the truth to further his own gains. Cortés’ personality, goals, and actions have been interpreted differently since the days of the conquest, and have changed the way the conquest has been understood.

Before Columbus landed in the West Indies in 1492, The Spanish Inquisition made it known to anyone within Spain’s domain of influence that if a person was not of the Catholic religion, they were to be punished severely and sometimes even fatally. This influence would undoubtedly be brought over to the Americas a century later, as the colonization of the New World would begin by then. While it was very essential for the Spanish (as well as the Portuguese) to improve their economy by using the resources they found in Latin America, it seemed to a number of them as if that was the only reason for being there, or the main reason at the very least. During the Spanish Inquisition and from that point after, it was the Pope’s main goal, to

The Spanish back then were a “hungry for land” type of country. They would take any land that they could get their hands on and then fight for it. The Spanish made a bold move and conquered Florida from Great Britain. Then the Spanish split Florida into two colonies, East Florida and West Florida. What didn’t help was that the Americans controlled the land right next to Florida, and they were planning on taking Florida, that lead to conflict between the countries.

Because the Indians and Spanish lived in different areas in Latin America, the Indian culture and society did not change significantly. Or did there society change?

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

Before submitting himself to God, Augustine lived a life controlled by various sinful tendencies such as theft and lust. Surrounded by strong believers of Catholicism, such as his mother, St. Monica, Augustine grew up questioning Christ and the faith and rather explored other religions. Two religions that Augustine devoted himself to were Manichaeism and Neoplatonism. While both religions had strengths and flaws, neither truly satisfied Augustine’s spiritual emptiness. Before devoting himself fully to the Catholic faith, Augustine is seen as an honorable saint because of the significance of his works and teachings. Augustine’s conversion from Manichaeism to Neoplatonism to Catholicism as noted through Confessions, transformed his life from being powered by sin and immortality to a life dominated by rectitude and devotion.