The arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese in the Americas has been widely debated. Was it a pleasant encounter, or an attack on the native peoples’ way of life? The truth is that the Portuguese and Spanish had a dramatic negative impact on the lives of Native Americans. Their harsh attempts to Christianize the Americas changed the Native Americans forever.
The Spanish empire gained control of much of the Americas and sent Spanish colonists there to enlist the help of encomiendas, or Native American laborers. The natives had to be profitable to the Spanish in the eyes of the crown. The Spanish worked them to the bone growing crops, and made sure that only the Spaniards held power. It was the beginning of the destruction of one culture by
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Once an area had been conquered, it was separated into encomiendas and covered in representations of their new faith including numerous catholic visual reminders. The natives were continually surrounded and questioned about their faith. Missions were established to create peaceful Indians and the Jesuit missionaries were the most behind it. The establishment of Christian missions aligned with the colonizing efforts of European powers such as Spain, France and Portugal. Indigenous people were hardly considered human beings. Spanish missions also shaped massive population decline, food shortages, and increased labor demands.
The layout of the community was never in the Natives’ favor. The grid outline of the landscape lent itself to a very divided community. In the center of the town sat the plaza, and there resided the most high status members such as the tetrados and correigidores. The proximity to the plaza defined honor. Trade work with low honor was found on the periphery of the village. Much like the towns we have today (Chicago, New York City, etc.) the wealth lived at the center and the farther you were the less status you held. The indigenous weren’t even found toward the center because they were always on the outskirts being converted to Catholicism.
As covered in lecture, the Catholic Church established the schools and universities. This inhibited natives to go to school and become more intelligent
A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, is a historical novel about the Spanish conquistadores coming to the Americas in the early 1500’s. Its author, Bartolome de las Casas, saw the account first hand. De las Casas revealed that the Spanish were arrogant and violently mistreated the indigenous peoples. That unveiling, showed that they couldn’t actually live up to their Catholic expectations and they weren't devout Catholics at all. On the other hand, the indigenous peoples were what de las Casas said “They are neither ambitious nor greedy”(de las Casas 10). They didn't want to give up their ways and land, but the Spanish had other plans and deliberately destroyed them as a population.
Spanish colonization areas where missions were constructed in order to educate the native people about Christianity; commonly NOT to their own will
Spanish Colonization- Beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 Spanish Colonization continued for centuries. The Spanish Empire eventually would include half of South America, most of Central America, and a lot of North America. The Spanish used the Encomienda System to control and use Native Americans. Spaniards received grants of Native Americans from the Spanish government who they could take tribute from in the form of goods or labor as long as they tried to convert the Native Americans to Catholicism. This system worked out horribly for the Native Americans with many treated harshly and forced to do hard physical labor. The Natives were not willing slaves though and rebelled numerous times which contributed to African slave labor replacing the Encomienda System. The Spanish intermarried with the Native Americans leading
The Spanish began to enslave and colonize the Native Americans and controlled many of the cultural development that populated the continent. As a result,
The Spanish came to the New World with the idea that they were going to practically enslave, convert, or kill the natives. Because of this the Spanish’s treatment for the natives was terrible and very early on. They would use natives to help them find gold and do other manual labor activities. The missionaries would attempt to convert them to Christianity and because a lot would not comply they would end up killing them. Early on the British settlers’ relationship with the native Americans is very different. At first, they were friendly. The first British settlers in a way to live on the Native Americans. North America them was very different from Great Britain, and the Native Americans had lived there for very long time. So, the British settlers took advantage of that and began to trade with the Native Americans and use them in order to help their new settlement survive. Although the Spanish and British relationship with the natives differed at first eventually they both ended up doing the same exact thing. They both killed the Native Americans and cause their societies to be displaced. Even though there and goals were different they both used the exploitation of Native Americans in order to achieve these goals.
The Spanish were conquering the Americas in a really violent and brutal way. The Spanish were taking Native Americans’ lands and pushing them to the west.
Spain, England, and France led the colonization of the Americas having distinct missions, and using different approach. By the mid 1960’s, all these great nations were in a race to establish American colonies. Like in every expedition, the primary purposes were to gain wealth and riches, which was the main reasoning behind all of the colonization’s. On their way to building these settlements, the colonials encountered the Native Americans and had to deal with them in very different ways.
When Jesus Came, The Corn Mothers Went Away gives an in-depth history of the Pueblo Indians before and after the Spanish conquest. It describes the forced changes the Spanish brought to the Indians, and also the changes brought to the Spaniards who came to “civilize” the Indians. The author's thesis is that the Pueblo Indians and other Indians were treated cruelly by the Spanish, who justified their crime by claiming they were civilizing an
This primary source explains the Huron Indian was trying not to be influenced in a religious way by the Jesuit missionary, because the beliefs, lifestyles, and areas are totally different between the Indians and Europeans. Therefore, the Indians wanted to be save their own culture. The Jesuit missionary was the biggest intended audience from the Indians, because the Indians’ purpose was to keep their religious independence in the area. The Indians also tried to show their pride by refusing the missionaries’ ideas and suggestions. This document demonstrates that the relationship between the Indians and Europeans were not ideal since there was a conflict which the Indians avoided to take the belief of the Jesuit into the area, although the missionaries
The motivations found for the missions were founded upon colonizing the newfound territory. Instead of sending settlers, the Spanish catholic missions were used to convert the Native people to the Catholic faith. There were many expectations the Franciscan padres had on the natives. Through the conversion, the Spaniards were to “civilize” the natives in order to make them work in building and maintaining the missions. In order for the natives’ souls to be saved the Franciscan padres believed that the native people needed to be baptized and educated. Upon doing so, there was a cross-cultural clash in which the padres disrupted native traditions, which included religious beliefs. The catholic leaders saw the religions the natives practiced as pagan, and tainted with evil, and were therefor to be rid of (California
As stated before, the conquistadors traveled to the new world, claimed land, and captured native tribes. While claiming the land, the conquistadors also built churches. But, the conquistadors formed colonies around the churches, in favor of the Catholic religion. Because of the fact that religion was required for newly established colonies, the conquistadors were determined to convert the Natives to the Catholic religion.
The greed for gold and the race for El Dorado were the main inducements of the Spaniards who, at the peril of their lives, crossed the ocean in unfit vessels in a mad pursuit after the gold and all other precious property of the Indians” (Peace 479). The royal rulers of Spain made it a rule that nothing would jeopardize their ability to rob the land from the native people of Latin America. The missionary process, “had to be encouraged, but the missionaries could not be permitted to dominate the colony at the cost of royal rule” (Gibson 76). The European governments established missionaries to cleanse their minds of any guilt aroused by the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children. When European “ships arrived in the 16th century to colonize the land and exploit its natural resources, they killed indigenous people and brought black slaves from Africa. Millions of indigenous people were slain and their cultures completely destroyed by the process of colonization” (Ribero). The overall devastations caused by the Christianization of the native inhabitants created a blend of cultures within the indigenous civilizations which gradually isolated old native ways into a small population of oppressed people. The Christianized people became a symbol of loyalty to the European powers and were left alone simply on their religious status. This long term mission of total religious replacement caused very strong and advanced
When the Spanish arrived, they made immediate impacts on the natives’ ways of life. hey brought new economic activities, such as ship making and farming. Spain nearly ruined the
The Spanish colonizers had a huge influence on the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Peru’s, culture, language, traditions, religion, even on their native food. One can say that this came into being shortly after Columbus discovered the New World. The Spanish conquistadors, who sailed with Columbus to the New World, were the first to leave their mark on the new territory. We still see some of these traditions in today’s society. The Spanish taught the Indians of their oral traditions of legends and jokes, music, food, beliefs, and customs. The Indians even picked up on their native tongue, Spanish, and used it as their own and still do to this day. There are many things in the Mexican culture which have contributed to the shaping and molding of the modern Latino society, such as the Mexican history, culture, language, religion, and traditions.
Not only did the conversion of religion affect the natives’ religions, but also their cultural customs. In pursuit of teaching Christianity to the natives the Spanish also taught the natives new skills. According to Document Three the Spanish taught the natives how to do smith work, breeding of animals,