They would give them items such as alcohol, guns, textiles, metal tools, and pots in return for the elite furs. As the demand for furs rose, they began to corrupt the nature of animals that the Indians followed. Unknowingly the French also killed many natives through illness; the goods that the French offered to the natives carried diseases and led to the death of many Indians because of their lack of immunity. The relationship between the Spanish colonists and the Indians was a callous one and only benefited the Spanish. In the 1500s, the Spanish arrived in the New World with the intent to convert natives to Catholicism, trade, and discover riches.
For years people have debated the differences between how Europeans treated Africans and how they treated Native Americans during the exploration years of the Americas and the continent of Africa. It’s clear to see that Native Americans were treated far worse than the Africans were. This is due to the value that the Europeans saw in the Africans. When they looked at Native Americans they saw cannibalistic ruthless savages that would not accept christianity and were going to hell. Also the Indians eaisly succumed to the diseases brought over by the Europeans.
Companies that focused on trade were also introduced, such as the Dutch, English, and French East India companies. These trading focused companies were found toward the beginning of the 17th century. Around 1625, Portugal declared independence from Spain. Nearly a hundred years later, in 1702 the war of Spanish Succession began. This would mark the start of problems between mother countries and their colonies.
American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World The inhumane and sadistic behavior of Columbus’ men was influenced by both the inherent violence in European society of their time and the opportunity to subject a race of people they thought to be inferior to their control. During Columbus’ lifetime Europe was governed by fanatical religious Christians and greedy rulers who’s main concern was to acquire as much gold and wealth as possible. Slave trade was a popular business at this time. Men, women, and children were captured during raids on tribes throughout Africa and forced into slavery. The Spanish Inquisition occurred at this time as well, in which people that didn’t convert to Catholicism were tortured and killed or put into slavery.
There forced use was as translators for Columbus and his personal informants of the land, and where gold may be found. Second was the result that came from his arrival to the Americas, mass exchange of diseases foreign to the Old and New world. Next the Spaniards took advantage of the Naïve natives, and treated them “worse then animals in a slaughter home” as stated by Bartolomé de las Casas in his letter Hispaniola. Finally they used natives as slaves, they just called the name by something different so that the Indians would not realize, though the levels in slavery and this term were practically the same. As it is stated in “Christopher Columbus and the New World” when he first arrived in America he claimed the land immediately for Spain, then took seven Natives Prisoner in hopes they would lead him to there leader, as well as too all the gold there.
They witnessed their loved ones die from disease and the Spanish religious and political edicts encompassed their lives and led to generations of suffering and renewal into the onslaught of forced, oncoming European cultural assimilation. As the European Age of Discovery advanced, the colonization of the New World called for large amounts of labor. This was supplimented by the African Slave trade which was ongoing before the Age of Discovery happened. Even though black male slaves were usually favored over female ones, the lives of African slave women were affected in many ways. The overpowering forces in Africa which brought wars and famine and of course enslavement for the people there, lives for slave women started
Also demographically, the start of sugar plantations and silver mines was another major effect on the Native Americans. The population was starting to decrease even more as the labor systems began to increase its brutal and harsh working conditions. With the Europeans causing such a loss in the Native’s population slaves were being imported from West Africa. Agriculture within the Columbian Exchange introduced both regions to new crops and animals. New goods were being brought to each region, with the Americans introducing Europe to tobacco, corn and potatoes.
As for the Spanish, they had a very patriarchy type society; men dominated the legal system, religion, and house. Women’s life was especially changed because of the way the Spanish viewed women in Europe, to the way women were viewed to the natives living in the Americas. In Women in the Crucible of Conquest, Powers discusses how and why women suffered diminution of power in America. The difference between the two cultures was vast. Women in the Americas, who had once seen power and almost equality to men, were now going to lose respect in religious, legal, and cultural ways that they never saw coming.
After an initial wave of conquistadors, Spain advantages was that the military had aided and infected diseases that decimated the native populations and defeated the pre-Columbian civilizations of the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas. Spain organized a huge imperial system to exploit the land, labor, and mineral wealth of the New World. Their disadvantage was that when they were conquering Maya, because of the Yucatan jungle, their metal weapons would rust. Spain treated the Native American very badly like they were animals. For example, altogether, they execute a large group of people such as the Natives in Cuba, Dominica, and Mexico, and those who weren’t in the massacre was turned into slaves; and those whoever refused to convert to Christianity.
The Europeans looked down on the Native Americans and referred to them as “savages” because their society did not match their own. The many different Native American tribes had their disagreements; however they all could agree that the arrival of the Europeans lead to the destruction of their people and cultures. In this essay, I will discuss the arrival of the three major European powers (England, France, and Spain), their different ways in colonizing, and how the conquering of the Americas destroyed Native American societies. I will use evidence from the textbooks, Indians in American History edited by Frederick Hoxie and The World Turned Upside Down edited by Colin Calloway to support my argument. The Natives in America possessed all of the aspects that human beings all over the world incorporated into their societies.