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The European Expansion and Its Impact on Indigenous People

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James Wong
Prof. Kate Burlingham
History 110B
02 October 2012
The European Expansion and Its Impact on Indigenous People 15th and 16th century European conquest in Africa and Latin America was significant for global expansion. Important areas such as the West African coast and Mexico were explored, making this period of time momentous. However, what was even more noteworthy were the similar methods that the Europeans used while intruding upon both the foreign lands. The Europeans showed little respect towards African and Native American people and their values; they resorted to inhumane tactics such as a creating a slave trade through Africa and committing a massacre to decolonize the indigenous people of Mexico. The exchange of …show more content…

They planned to attack the Aztecs while they were celebrating the fiesta of Huitzilopochtli. The excerpt reveals just how cruel and inhumane this massacre as the Spaniards began the slaughter by targeting a drummer and “[cutting] off his arms. Then they cut off his head….attacked all the celebrants, stabbing them, spearing them, striking them…split their heads to pieces” (Bernal Diaz, “The Conquest of New Spain”, 613). The Spaniards then “ran

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