The Spanish Sailing Captains: New Spain

Any student of history has come to recognize the fact that history is written by the victor and in lieu of this, research becomes essential to uncover where the truth lies. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, so ironically named, is a personal account for historical events leading up to the conquest of New Spain, formerly known as the City of Mexico. The author, Bernal Diaz, was a soldier of the conquering army who composed the document well after the events took place sometime between 1552 and 1557. Though the document did provide insight in regards to the victor’s perspective, it also served as a tool to rewrite the account of the conquered people.

Throughout history, as we study Spain we can clearly recognize high and low points in their success. In the fifteen hundreds Spain had no influence on European affairs, Spain essentially vanished out of Europe. However, within one complete century Spain had become not only a leading power but they also had a great sense of effectiveness in Europe. Spain experienced a Golden age with many social, economic, political aspects. On the other hand, within

The Spanish were the first European country to establish significant colonies in the Americas. By the 1570s, the Spanish had established roughly 200 cities and towns in the New World. They had also built many cathedrals, as well as the first universities in the Americas. New Spain refers to Spanish colonies in North and Central America and the Caribbean. At its height in 1795, New Spain included Mexico, Panama, several Caribbean islands, and most of the United States west of the Mississippi River. In these territories, the Spanish started large projects to get all available resources.

From the mid 1500’s to the 1700’s, people from all over Europe flocked to the vast lands of North America. Spain and England quickly became the most dominant European presences in the Americas. Citizens of the two countries had very different experiences in the New World. This was partially due to their different interactions with Native Americans, religions and their different motivations for coming to the New World. Although rivals at the time, Spain and England’s colonization efforts shared many similarities.

During this time period a nation’s wealth and power can be measured by the amount of land in which they possess. For example, Spain controlled a vast empire that stretched from modern California to Peru . The Spanish Empire was so vast that it had rivaled that of Ancient Rome. Although unlike the British and French, Spain established an empire of towns, and modern day Mexico City served as the center of Spanish control. Along with establishing the first university in the new world, Spain also established St. Augustine and Santa Fe as response to the British and French expansion efforts.

1). The Nations of Europe sought to expand their empire because they were on the verge of overpopulation.Between 1550 and 1600 the population grew from three million to four million people. Also, England and Spain were at a war for power. The Spanish attempts at colonizing the New World had been extremely successful, for they had gained both wealth and power. The English did not see such success, as their ships would crash, be lost to the seas, or their colonization efforts would cease to be useful. Through the Spaniards control over the Americas they had gained a massive naval army, noted as the Spanish Armada. The Spanish attempt to invade England in 1588 failed which lead to the beginning of the fall of the Spanish empire in the New World.

Empire: Spain’s empire relocated to Mexico and Peru from the Caribbean and Hispaniola regions due to more abundant minerals. The Spanish crowns also divided the American empire into regions known as viceroyalities which were governed by viceroy.

At Fort Hall, Captain Imus hired Caleb Greenwood, then eighty-three, to guide the party into California. Greenwood (1763–1850) had trapped west of the Rocky Mountains since the 1820s and had guided the 1844 Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party. On that earlier journey, Greenwood’s emigrants—with help from a Paiute they called “Chief Truckee” —blazed a new Sierra crossing over Donner Pass.

Spanish Colony: The very first Spanish person that arrived to the Americas was a conquistador by the name of Hernan Cortes who was there to take gold and make a name for the conquistadors. He did this by deceiving them about religion and two other enforced things. The first thing was advanced technology such as swords, horses and armor. The second thing was the disease he brought with him. Some say that disease killed up to 90% of the Indian population. In 1749 the spanish made their first colony named Laredo. But the Spanish first permanent settlement was in 1769 in California. At first the spanish grew very wealthy but due to some conflicts with the indians they weren't able to start a colony till later. At the time they were only concerned

Based on Lewis and Clark's entries on the topography, climate, and fauna of western North America, sustainable white human settlement is very possible. In several entries, Clark and other crew members portray the lands surrounding the river on which they travel as beautiful flat plains, which are important to creating and sustaining a settlement. Moreover, in the majority of journal entries, each member describes the navigating conditions as fairly simple, with only a few exceptions over the middle of April. Without navigability, any settlement created will have economic difficulty as trading with neighboring settlements will be impeded.

The Spanish Empire was one of the biggest empires in the world also known as one of the primary worldwide empires. Spain was an awfully capable nation in the 15 and 16th centuries. It driven European exploration of the world, building the biggest colonies within the New World at the time and it even made trade routes over the seas. The Spanish exchanged merchandise over the Atlantic Sea, between Spain and its colonies within the Americas. They too exchanged over the Pacific Sea, between Asian-Pacific nations and Mexico.

From the end of fifteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century, Spain, France,England and Dutch all focused on competing for colonies and trade around the world. Beginning in the late fifteenth century, a lot of explorers, conquerors, missionaries, merchants, and adventurers tried to seek new lands to colonize. Hoping to improve economic conditions in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, many Europeans sought new opportunities for trade and settlement overseas. Spain, Portugal, France, and England all want to grasp the political, economic, and religious domination in Europe, and their conflict also carried to the Americas (Goldfield, ed., The American Journey: A History of the United States, P4). Competition for land areas, settlement, trade, and exploration led to the growth of imperialism and the economic system of mercantilism.

First off, Spanish explorers were the first to start colonizing the Americas. They were in search of gold and silver, looking to make themselves rich. Spanish men found, plundered, and destroyed the great Aztec Empire city of Tenochtitlán, killing countless people, enslaving many more, and stealing all precious metals. Some men were content,

They established rule in Mexico and most of the Americas. The part where Mexico is was called "New Spain" Hernan Cortez defeated the Aztecs and claimed Mexico as Spanish land. They built the new capital, Mexico City, right on top of the old capital of the Aztecs. The Spanish converted the natives to Roman Catholicism. At its extent, New Spain owned much of the western US, Mexico, central America, parts of Canada and Alaska, the Caribbean, and even claims in the Philippines and Asia.Soon however, the Mexican people got sick of the Spanish rule, In 1810 they declared independence, and the Mexican revolution began. In 1821 they were recognized as a free country. By this point, they only had Central American, Mexico, and much of the America west. Central America later broke off, and in the Mexican American war, Mexico ceded much of its land to the US, becoming the Mexico we know today. However after this, there was political revolutions, and a French Invasion. Finally in 1911 a revolution occurred to bring more democracy to the

For Spain, Christopher Columbus motivated by economy competition and imperialism during that period, proposed to reach the East Indies, Spanish royalty saw the opportunities of spice trade with Asia countries so eventually supported him. The First voyage of Columbus he reached the New World which is Latin America. Spanish coveted one thing particular in this new world, gold. There was a silver mountain in Bolivia and mining produce 150000 tons of silver, making them the richest nation in Europe. This "Golden Age" allowed them to build one of the most modern societies ever, as well as the largest, most powerful military in the world. "There were also many other growing industries in the sixteenth -century Spain, such as the production of paper in Segovia, manufacture of leather of leather good in Cordoba and Ship building and iron founding in the Basque country". (Israel 1981, 174) "Rise and fall of Commercial Power in Spain History Essay." UKessays.com. 11