Latin American History
November 20, 2000
Throughout history and during alternating time periods,
countries have grown from feeble entities, defeated by or ruled
by the governing structures of foreign nations, to powerful
nations. Between the fifteenth and the sixteenth century, Spain
ruled as a great power among other nations. Its empire began
when, in 1492, Spain financed Columbus's expeditions and
explorations to conquer territory in the New World. Once it held
its new established territory, Spain relied on the influx of
gold and silver from the New World. When it was an empire, Spain
had control over many countries, including South America,
Mexico, and Latin America. This however wasn't all a negative
aspect of European colonization in the America's. European
colonization in the America's also brought many positive,
social, cultural, and economical, changes that make up what we
are today.
If we look at the encounters between Europeans and Native
Americans during the fifteenth century and beyond, it is obvious
to see a trend of invasion, conquest, slavery, and eventually
death lurking about the historical documents describing that
time. The expeditions into the New World by Europeans during the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries can't be easily labeled as
invasions. If one looks at the end results of the conquests by
Europeans, it is evident that the most of the native tribes who
made contact with Europeans were in most cases worse off than
they were before they made contact. However, the barbaric
overtaking of territory and culture by the Europeans is a far-
fetched myth as these conquests were more a sort of cultural
exchange than anything else. An example of this cultural change
was the increasing amounts of settlers from Spain including
soldiers and Franciscan priests that were assigned to work...