Compare And Contrast The Spanish Vs English Colonization
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The Spanish Vs. The English in Models of Colonization
Spain was an important factor in the colonization of America. As one of the chief naval powers of that time, Spain funded Christopher Columbus’ planned voyage to the East by traveling west, never expecting that there was a whole new continent between the Spanish coast and Southeast Asia. Modern historians now deny the claim that Columbus discovered the New World, although they do give him credit for bringing this area to Europe’s attention. Even though explorers from France, England, and The Netherlands aided in mapping and settling the islands and coasts of the New World, Spain commanded the exploration front. At one point, almost one-half of the Americas were dominated by the Spanish. From Florida to California, and from Mexico to Cape Horn, Spain controlled all of what is now the American southwest, not including Brazil and small French and Dutch settlements.
The way the Spanish colonized differed sharply from the English’s, and that difference had humongous after affects. There was little to no attempts to modernize the Native Americans in England’s North American colonies.…show more content… Historians point out the Spanish’s brutal suppression of the inhabitants of the New World, and the slash and burn strategies of conquistadors, like Cortez, who stole from and killed the tribal peoples for gold and other precious metals. Just like the conquistadors, the Catholic missionaries of Spain are seen as annihilators of the Native cultures. There is a fair amount of truth in these outlooks, but as conquest settled into colonization, the natives of Central and South America were incorporated into the Spanish traditions. Intermarriage was common, and developed a new race called the Mestizos, which was a mix of Spanish and Native