European Exploration And Conquest Of Latin America

Before European exploration and conquest in Latin America the indigenous people lived off the land working mainly to support themselves. Despite having conflicts of their own, most Latin American tribes would coexist peacefully relative to what was to come. Some, more advanced civilizations, such as the Aztec, did have conditions somewhat similar to those that would soon spread to the rest of Latin America. When European settlers started to take over the Americas, however, conditions got markedly worse. With more land than they knew what to do with and abundant valuable natural resources, greed quickly became the driving force behind most of the settler’s actions. Slavery became a tremendously important aspect of both society and economics in Spanish, English, French and Portuguese colonies through the encomienda system of forced labor. Although European settlers had nearly identical goals, slavery had distinct roles in their individual colonial economies and societies. Europe an settlers began to travel to and colonize Latin America in the late 15th century searching for wealth and new opportunities. Around the same time both North and South America were being colonized by Spain, Great Britain, France and Portugal. The main goal for all of these nations was to obtain wealth from valuable metals such as gold and silver. From the very beginning colonization was driven mainly by greed. This greed was somewhat satisfied for nations that colonized areas which had gold and silverShow MoreRelatedEffects Of The Age Of Exploration1195 Words   |  5 PagesThe age of exploration is a period of time from the 15th century to the 18th century where exploration and new discovery grow rapidly for the Europeans. It represent a time of both good and bad when the Europeans founded new lands and colonize them, such as the New World. To them, they had greatly benefited as their power grew but for others, their land were invaded and lost many lives. The Spanish and the Port uguese are two main leaders of Europe that began the movement of exploration and colonizationRead MoreThe European Expansion and Its Impact on Indigenous People774 Words   |  4 PagesBurlingham 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 andRead MoreThe Age Of Exploration By Christopher Columbus1358 Words   |  6 Pagesseventeenth century is known as the â€Å"Age of Exploration†. Europe began to colonize the countries they had â€Å"discovered†. A major part of the world that they colonized was Latin America. Spain was the first to colonize, and the United States started to take interest in Latin America towards the 19th century. Europe and The United States both took interest in Latin America, but for different reasons. Spain was the first European nation to colonize Latin America, beginning with Christopher Columbus voyageRead MoreMeztisos: People of Idigenous and European Blood Essay1647 Words   |  7 Pagesand expansion for Europeans. During these years of discovery, great forces behind drive for expansion existed. The Spanish and Portugueses 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 syncretismRead MoreCcot Europe 600-1750 Essay1003 Words   |  5 Pageseconomic alteration was the decline of feudal manoralism, prevalent in the early medieval era, as a result of the restoration of commerce following the Crusades. Another major change was the socioeconomic impact of the Age of Explora tion circa 1500, which would establish European Hegemony. While economic transforma-tions occurred throughout Western Europe, the influence of the Roman Catholic Church was continuous despite fluctuations in its authority. After the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 CE,Read MoreEssay God and Gold: Spanish Exploration1126 Words   |  5 PagesSpanish Exploration Spanish exploration and settlement of the western hemisphere lasted from 1492 until 1898, from Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to the loss of its last colonies in the Spanish-American war. As with all major seafaring European nations, they were in pursuit of the fabled Northwest Passage, a direct route to Asia. This was how Christopher Columbus stumbled upon the Americas, on his quest for this route. The Spanish were after more though, specifically gold and spread of the ChristianRead MoreLatin Americ The Era Of Colonization2711 Words   |  11 PagesLatin America as continent is a very diverse, culturally, geographically and in the people who inhabit the land. Some are ancestors of the indigenous people to the land, some are African Americans whose ancestors were brought over during the slave trade, others are of European descent, specifically Spanish and Portuguese who’s ancestors came to Latin America during the late 1400’s to either acquire land through the encomienda, capitancy or intendancy system; or to follow the â€Å"Spanish Dream† of comingRead MoreThe Transatlantic Slave Trade And Africa801 Words   |  4 Pagesthat an older â€Å"romantic school of historians maintained that Europeans undertook this exploration for the pure joy of discovery or to break the Moslem stranglehold on the eastern trade.† While Thornton correctly asserts this point, he fails to explain the different cultural aspects of slavery in Spain and Spanish America compared to the rest of the Atlantic World. For instance, Mark Burkholder and Lyman Johnson’s work on colonial Latin America starts in with the Spanish Reconquista, but traces the originsRead MoreDBQ-Mongols,Spanish,India1054 Words   |  5 Pagescenturies. However, the assimilation of much of the Eurasian landmass into the Mongol empire as well as the later European exploration of the Americas contributed to the creation of prolonged global connections in which the worldà ¢â‚¬â„¢s major continents were connected. Two of the most notable developments include the caravel, which aided European explorers in their conquest of the Americas, and the stirrup and composite bow, which the Mongols used to conquer Eurasia and eventually led to the Pax MongolicaRead MoreResearch Paper - Is Christopher Columbus a Hero or Villain2022 Words   |  9 Pagesnew world and jumpstarted an age of exploration like no other. After he found the Americas there was massive colonization, giant trade increases and more resources such as gold and silver were being surfaced. Europeans learned new agricultural techniques from the indigenous people, the Europeans also acquired a large number of new crops to farm such as potatoes, tomatoes, corn and cocoa. With all of the pros that the age of exploration brought to Europeans it is hard for one to imagine that Christopher