In the history of Native Americans the discovery of gold on their land caused great tragedies and devastation and became a significant factor of Native American history. Native Americans were invaded by European explorers who took their land and built the United States we have now. Europeans were driven to North American to seek freedom from the European rulers. They went through the many struggles of long travel, adapting to new environments and dealing with the native populations. As a result of European settlement, many populations of Native Americans were brought to near extinction.
A small colony was established in Hispaniola (modern day Haiti and The Dominican Republic) consisting of thirty-nine of his crew, the rest returned to Spain with Columbus along with gold, spices and natives taken as slaves to be given as gifts for his royal patrons. The following year, he led a second expedition comprising of seventeen large ships and one and half thousand new colonists, arriving in the Americas a month later. By the time he got back to Hispaniola, his men there had been slaughtered by the locals and a second colony was founded. Columbus punished the local tribe, known as the Taino, severely. He enslaved many and executed many more; according to Ward Churchill, former professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado, by 1496, the population had been reduced from as many as eight million to around three million.
The Aztec’s Fall From Greatness The Aztec people created a mighty empire in Mexico. The ingenious Aztec society possessed a powerful military. According to u.s.history.com, “They had to conquer powerful rivals to control the region and establish Tenochtitlan as their capital city.” (Aztecs) It was the beginning of the end for the Aztec people when Hernan Cortes, a Spanish conquistador, intruded on the east coast of Mexico. How did Cortes and his soldiers defeat the mighty Aztecs? Many factors influenced the conquering of the Aztec people by the Spaniards including the Aztec’s religion, Spain’s superior weapons, alliances, and disease.
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.
What effects did the discovery of Gold have on California and the USA? The Gold Rush changed almost every aspect of California and the USA for better and for worse. The majority of people that came to California were brave souls willing to trek mostly uncharted territory, but now the Gold Rush attracted many people from other parts of the world. Towards the beginning the early settlers received the best luck in finding gold and unfortunately, those who came later had a much harder time finding free space to mine and pan along with any gold left to collect. This extreme rush of money not only inspired people from all around the world to come to California, but also invited many businesses.
The Mycenaeans had a strong military and were in several wars in their history, because they believe that power was essential. On the contrary, the Minoans worshiped the natural things in the world and didn’t get in to as many wars but still had a solid navy. Minoans got their name from King Minos, King Minos was in charge of the Minoans. The Minoans were highly advanced and very smart people, and were also very peaceful. Minoans were very well in connection with Egypt, Asia Minor, and Syria, they trade copper, tin, ivory, and gold with them.
The Gold Rush started at Sutter's Mill, near Coloma. California Gold Rush was during 1848–49 in the Sierra Nevada, which attracted tens of thousands people, especially young men from Latin America, Europe, South Africa and Asia. No part of California would be the same after the gold rush. Throughout the gold rush, people moving to California from abroad have added to the size of the native population and have greatly impacted the state’s technology, agriculture, geographic and economic structure. The sudden diversity in California gave people both acceptable and unacceptable effects in terms of opportunity, development, racism and human right.
The mixture unfortunately only yielded tragedy. The question-at-hand can be evaluated by examining two significant sources: Bartolomé de las Casas’ A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies to King Phillip II and Miguel León-Portilla’s The Broken Spears: the Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. Las Casas wrote his account as an appeal to the Spanish king to reassess the situation and cease the conquests, while León-Portilla seeked to
Christopher Columbus - Criminal or Hero? In my full opinion I believe that Christopher Columbus was a Criminal. One of the reasons why I have this personal thought is because of his ill treatment to the Native Americans. An example would be his first arrival to the Americas, he immediately enslaved seven natives. There forced use was as translators for Columbus and his personal informants of the land, and where gold may be found.
How it affected their people and some of the surrounding people and justification by the Spanish for war against the Aztecs. Secondly, what the Aztecs believed to be the return of the god Quetzalcoatl, the Spanish conquistador, Cortes and his Spanish army. Disease played a huge part in the fall. Small pox brought upon the Spanish spread quickly to the people and no cure for the disease was known therefore leading to many deaths. Lastly, the skillful tactics used by Hernan Cortes that leads to the surrender of the last Aztec emperor.