The Environmental Effects Of Latin American Colonization

In chapter one Conquerors and Victims: The Image of America Forms (1500-1800) Gonzalez talks about the impact upon the arrival of the Europeans to America. This arrival was categorized as “the greatest and most important event in the history of human kind”. Spain and England were two countries that had a big impact on our modern world and transplanted their cultures around the territories they took over. Both countries created their empires in which they established on their identities and viewpoint of their language and social customs. Upon their arrival the native population was outnumbered, many of which live around Mexico’s Valley and others populate the Central Andes region and Rio Grande.

An event that opens and gives way to the beginning of the history of our American continent is the exploration and colonization of Spain centuries ago. There were many generals and idealistic Spaniards who explored the American regions taking with themselves many of our wealthiest resources. The Exploration and colonization of the Spaniards did not only open the door but also and accounted for the early stages of the North American continent. The Spanish began getting involved with the different cultures that had already been living there. This would result in the suffering of the continent.

For decades, the history of Latin America has been shrouded in a cover of Spanish glory and myth that misleads and complicates the views of historians everywhere. Myths such as the relationship between natives and conquistadors, and the individuality of the conquistadors themselves stand as only a few examples of how this history may have become broken and distorted. However, in Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest Matthew Restall goes to great lengths to dispel these myths and provide a more accurate history of Latin American, in a readable and enjoyable book.

1) The book, 1491, by Charles C. Mann gives readers a deeper insight into the Americas before the age of Columbus, explaining the development and significance of the peoples who came before us. Moreover, Mann’s thesis is such; the civilizations and tribes that developed the Americas prior to the discovery by Europeans arrived much earlier than first presumed, were far greater in number, and were vastly more sophisticated than we had earlier believed. For instance, Mann writes, regarding the loss of Native American culture:

In the literature, Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America by Juan Gonzalez, we immediately jump into the development of how Latin America came to be about. Throughout the first part of Roots, Gonzales proceeds to discuss about colonization of Latin America. He not only mentions Latin America but also mentioned the colonization from the England to the New World which I found interesting because it seemed like he was comparing the two. I found it ironic when Gonzalez mentioned that Anglo Americans have changed the view that the Spanish left little to no impact is the history that we learn from our textbooks from the time we were able to learn anything in school. Agreeing with what he mentioned, not only I but students have come the realization that textbooks only seem to cover some aspects of history but never the entirety of what happened meaning that we have washed away with what really happened to what we want others to know.

It has been thought for many years that the Americas were a vastly unpopulated land until Columbus came. However new evidence disputes this previously thought notion. Archeologist, who have been studying the remains of Native American culture, have found evidence suggesting that the Indians were in the Americas for much longer and in greater numbers than what was believed. This new evidence shows us the impact the Europeans had on the New World and gives us insight into what the Americas were like before the Europeans and what they may have been had the Europeans never settled here.

In 1491: New Revelations of The Americas Before Columbus, Charles C. Mann attempts to rewrite the traditional narrative of the America’s before the arrival of the Europeans. By focusing on the mistakes of other writings, and creating a new concept of the New World, as well as explaining the life of Puritans in New England, and human intervention in landscapes, Mann does an impressive job at creating a readable, factual account of what life before Columbus was really like.

Europeans in the New World in 1492 changed the Americas forever. Over the course of the next 350 years,

In modern America, we often take for granted the natural world that surrounds us and the American culture which is built upon it. For many of us, we give little thought to the food sources that sustain and natural habitats that surround us because when viewed for what they are, most people assume that they have “simply existed” since the country was founded. However, the documentary ‘America Before Columbus’ provided this writer an extremely interesting record of how the America we know came to exist. In the documentary, one of the most interesting discussions centered on the fact that it was not merely the arrival of conquistadors and colonists that irrevocably changed the landscape of the Americas, but that it was also the coined term known as the “Columbian Exchange” that afforded these travelers the ability to proliferate so successfully. The basic definition of the Columbian exchange is one that defines the importation of European flora and fauna. It could also loosely represent other imports, both intended and unintended, such as tools, implements, and even disease. Armed with this definition, it takes little imagination to envision how differently the Americas might have developed had any significant amount of the native European flora, fauna, or other unintended import not been conveyed to the Americas through the Columbian Exchange. Beyond the arrival of explorers, settlers, and colonists to the New World, the breadth of what the Columbian Exchange represented to

The exploration of uncharted lands is how the modern world today came to be known. The United States even has a national holiday named after one of the world’s most famous navigators and colonists, Christopher Columbus. Columbus is heralded for his achievements in exploration as his explorations have paved the way for the colonization and development of previously unknown lands outside of Europe. On the one hand, finding new lands can be a wondrous event because it makes the world larger, opens up the door for new resources to be used, and bridges the geographical gap between mankind. On the other hand, it can be quite the daunting experience for the native inhabitants already present

The late 15th century marked the beginnings of a period of discovery and expansion for Europeans. During these years of discovery, great forces behind drive for expansion existed. The Spanish and Portuguese's main forces included: the lust for the wealth of gold and silver, the acquisition of new lands which brought nobility, and the spread of their Christian based religion. The Spanish and Portuguese conquest of Latin America provides us with insight of these drives in the ultimate search for power. Unfortunately, these motives caused a European-Indigenous syncretism that virtually changed the native peoples way of life. Ultimately, syncretism meant survival for Native Americans in a world where their way of life did not suit the life

The conquest and colonization of the Americas during the 15th century has moulded the 21st century Latin America. The idea of the new world was appealing to the Spaniards during the conquest of the Americas, yet, they only created a world where there was a clear distinction between the colonisers and the colonised. The conquest of Latin America increased the colonisers economic benefits as well as their ownership of land. The racial hierarchy constructed due to the offspring; mestizo, led to the creation of systematic racism. The concept of racism was perpetuated throughout the rule of the colonisation. This led to inconsequential repercussions in 21st century Latin America. This essay discusses the conquest, the events of colonisation, the

Christopher Columbus was a renowned Italian sailor, navigator, and explorer who accidently discovered the “New World” of the Americas in 1492 as the result of an expedition sponsored by the Spanish monarchy Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, in hopes of finding an alternate trade route to Asia, the source of luxury and wealth in the eyes of Europeans. Altogether Columbus commanded four expeditions under the Spanish monarchy between 1492 and 1504. Although Columbus never found an alternate lucrative trade route to Asia, Columbus’s encounter with America in 1492 forever changed world history, symbolizing the beginning of a new relationship between Western Europe and the rest of the world. Columbus’s discovery ended cultural isolation by bringing together people and ecosystems that had developed separately for

The Age of Exploration is characterized as a time when Europeans began exploring the world by sea in search of new trading routes, wealth, and knowledge. It is the discovery of the New World that opened doors for the European conquest of the Americas. The impact of the Age of Exploration permanently altered the world and transformed the culture in the Americas. As Europeans settled in large numbers in the Americas, their presence had a tremendous effect on the native people who were living there. The Europeans impacted the Americas in the following ways: they brought food and crops to exchange, religious beliefs to share, and social order.

Lasting from Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the “New World” in 1492 to the early seventeenth century, The Age of Discovery and Exploration led to colonization and the expansion of European empires. This conquest aimed to enrich the European colonizers, who wanted to expand their empires and wealth. Although the age of conquest is over, the age of expansion is not; globalization and economics have replaced conquest and territory in the quest for a world empire. Globalization has evolved from colonization to economic liberalism, a change that has begun to reverse the effects of the former, and bring hope to the Latin American people who have been devastated by European imperialism.