Intro: It is the end of the 14th century. Christopher Columbus has discovered the New World and has returned with stories of abundant islands full of resources. As the news reaches the citizens, people start to prepare for their own journeys across the Atlantic. Spanish conquistadors, such as myself, have been hired by the Crown to colonize the New World. I had many questions but I swore to complete the mission and bring glory to my family.
The glorious Queen Isabella told me that it is essential that I do this for a few political and economic reasons. The first being that Spain discovered the New World by accident looking for Asian trade. Spain needs to establish trade in the Americas if they are not going to Asia anymore. The second being…show more content… ople and the eastern Mediterranean, and controlled the land routes to Asia, a sea route was needed.”1 When Spain found that they basically owned all of this new land they realized that they didn’t need these…show more content… A way of displaying their wealth was by having a lot of gold. Gold was a symbol of power and a main reason for colonizing the Americas was for this reason. When Columbus reached the island of Hispaniola he demanded that the natives bring him gold. Howard Zinn provides an excerpt from his book, “In the province of Cicao on Haiti, where he and his men imagined huge gold fields to exist, they ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death.”2 The way that Columbus made the natives work proves the fact that Spain’s economic attitude towards gold and gems was a very serious one. From the natives ethical point of view this was badly received. Although there are no direct descendants that have exact stories there are Caribbeans that celebrate Columbus Day as a day to remember their ancestors perils. Colonizing the area meant the genocide of thousands of natives but was worth it in the eyes of the Europeans because gold at the time was worth more than anything in the