Effeciency of Spanish Conquest

The centralization system could not function effectively in an era of rapid change which came about in the late 16th century, especially after 1588 when the English defeated the Spanish Armada and became more bold in exploring the Caribbean which, up to that point had been considered a Spanish ‘lake’. By 1600, these complaints were a point of concern for the Spanish crown and its centralizing institutions. However, the many inconsistencies of the various rulers and governors of the many colonies could be added to their list of failures. To many colonists this seemed to suggest that the authorities in Spain were indifferent towards the colonies and colonists.

However, the Spanish-American governance cannot be considered a complete success for a few reasons. The pirates had earlier breached the Spanish colonial defense system and by 1600, the convoy system and the ‘Guarda Costas’ were as much under attack as were the ‘Floatas’ with their heavy cargos of gold and silver. It suffered from inability of administrators to properly govern the islands and make logical decisions. These attackers came from various European nations such as England, France and Denmark. During the heyday of the Spanish empire (1500-1650) many monks became major cogs in the Spanish political machinery, defining the ideology of the church, identifying the heretics, administering the inquisition and eliminating non-Catholics from these societies while indoctrinating the Indians with Roman Catholic religious beliefs. Over the period 1500-1650, the Spaniards introduced, the system of monopoly which excluded all other Europeans from the ‘New World’ and also encompassed all aspects of trade and government in a rigid beaurocratic system which consolidated power in the Spanish court. According to the mercantilist philosophy, an exclusive trade policy would enable a nation to develop domestic industries, reduce its imports from competitors and expand its exports by virtue of monopolizing commodity flows.

Inevitably, this system could not be efficient, although in the early days of the empire, there was some semblance of discipline and order in the activities of the governors, the cabilldos, the captaincies-general and the Audiencias. These attacks drove killed many of the colonists and those who survived were driven away to other islands or mainland territories such as Panama, Mexico and other Central and South American countries. The Spaniards followed the right idea in beginning by trying to monopolize the region under their control and by exploiting the natural resources, which they were looking for as much as possible before other settlers from other regions of Europe disrupted them. The inconsistencies caused many problems for the Spanish crown.