Spanish vs. English colonization of America - Essay Example

Spanish vs. English colonization of America. The Spanish and the English colonized America in different ways. The paper studies the relationships between Native Americans and colonizers — policies of newcomers and responses of the indigenous people to the new order. The first phase of modern European activity in this region began with the oceanic crossings of Christopher Columbus (1492-1500), sponsored by Spain who was trying to find a new route to India and China. Later John Cabot, sponsored by England, came in search of the riches the Spanish had found, Francis Drake arrived in the Americas to plunder the wealth of the Spanish settlers (Cook 27, 31). Spanish conquest and colonization. There were millions of people living in the Americas when Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492. In the following centuries the population of the Native Americans decreased steadily (Brading 48). The writings of the Dominican friar Bartolomé de Las Casas vividly depict atrocities committed on the natives by the Spanish conquistadors. “It was a general rule among Spaniards to be cruel; not just cruel, but extraordinarily cruel so that harsh and bitter treatment would prevent Indians from daring to think of themselves as human beings or having a minute to think at all.” (Las Casas 70). At the same time, the Spanish rulers in America were unhappy at the high mortality rate of the natives, since they wanted to exploit the Indians laborers. The Spaniards were committed to converting their American subjects to Christianity, often by force. However, as Cook mentions (94), “American groups simply blended Catholicism with their traditional beliefs, which could not have been regarded as a success”. Nowadays, among many scholars it is believed that epidemic disease was the main cause of the population decline — the figure of 80% is mentioned related to those who may have died due to European diseases, such as chicken-pox and measles (Cook 94, 212). One should not forget about the fact that the Europeans brought with them gunpowder and metal weapons and also contributed to an increased number of wars between displaced native groups. Although according to demographer Russell Thornton, “… though conquistadors imported new methods of war, it was not the main cause of population decline” (Thornton 44, 47-49). Brading (23) mentions another peculiarity of this period: “New cultures were born, mixed communities involving African slaves appeared but from the aboriginal point of view it was far from good, warriors and traders lived with native women; the children were often lost to their maternal tribes”. Spanish colonies in North America comprise (sometimes called New Spain): Mexico; Spanish Florida: modern-day Florida including parts of modern-day Alabama and Mississippi; also what today are parts of U.S. states of: California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming, Louisiana. Most of the north and interior was not inhabited by Spain. (Brading 19-24, 102). Snipp (21) argued that it was only “British American Empire that came to rival the Spanish American colonies in extent”. English colonization began in the late 16th century but all these ventures failed. One of the more nearly successful of these was the Lost Colony, established in 1586 on the outer banks of modern day North Carolina, then part of Virginia. England made its first successful efforts only at the start of the 17th century. According to many historians, at the first stage the English government had no ambition of creating a colonial empire. For example Snipp writes: “… certainly, the issue of power was important, but it was less important than practical matters, such as commercial enterprise, over-population and the desire for religious freedom”. To summarize the areas of development in colonial America, historians typically recognize four regions in the lands that later became the eastern United States: New England, the Middle Colonies, the Chesapeake Bay Colonies and the Southern Colonies. Some historians add a fifth region, the Frontier (Nichols 12). In 1610 the Cupers Cove settlement was founded in Newfoundland. The Plymouth Colony was founded in 1620, and after the 1620s a series of colonies were established along the northeast coast of North America (the often mentioned Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded in 1632). The Dutch colony of New Netherland, including the New Amsterdam settlement (renamed New York) was taken over in 1664. With New Netherland the English came to control the former New Sweden which the Dutch had conquered earlier. This became part of Pennsylvania. Great Britain acquired the French colony of New France and the Spanish colony of Florida in 1763. New France became the Canadas. In the north they actively traded for fur with the Indians. Colonists were recruited from among middle-class farmers, artisans, and tradesmen. Indentured servants, specialists in certain areas (i.e., sawmill workers, lumbermen), and convicted criminals were also brought over. Immigrants from other countries were welcomed. There were diverse economic activities, such as farming, fishing, and trading. Exports included tobacco, rice, timber, and fish. Tobacco was the main source of revenue in the Virginia and North Carolina colonies. There was a rapid growth due to liberal immigration policies. By 1627 Virginia had approximately 1,000 settlers. “…there were friends; early colonists relied on Indians for trade and for help with survival (we all know about the origin of the Thanksgiving Day). Conflicts were the result of greed – newcomers wanted to possess land” (Snipp 18-25). On the one hand, Historian David Stannard has argued that “The destruction of the Indians of the Americas was, far and away, the most massive act of genocide in the history of the world”. Stannard believes that the natives of the Americas were deliberately and systematically exterminated over the course of several centuries, and that the process continues to the present day, thus, almost 100 million Native Americans have already been killed (Stannard 151). On the other hand, Historian Stafford Poole wrote: “There are other terms to describe what happened in the Western Hemisphere, but genocide is not one of them. It is a good propaganda term in an age where slogans and shouting have replaced reflection and learning, but to use it in this context is to cheapen both the word itself and the appalling experiences of Jews and Armenians, to mention but two of the major victims of this century” (Royal 63). Let us look at the examples of relations among English and indigenous people. For example, the Indians living in the area where Jamestown was settled, were first hostile to the English who came in 1607 (the indigenous people had experience with Spanish explorers along the coastline). One of the English was attacked before the actual landing. Yet they soon began to offer food and traditional Indian hospitality to the newcomers, “… however, it was not enough for the colonists, they were searching for instant wealth, planting corn and other necessary was neglected. Because of that they were becoming more and more dependent on the Indians for food” (Nichols 34). In the following years, the colonists conducted search and destroy raids on Indian settlements. villages and their corn crops were burnt down (though the English were often starving). In early 1622 nearly 350 colonists were killed; Jamestown itself was saved only by the warning of an Indian Christian convert: “…the consequences were bloody, since that time, Indians were to be blamed in all the hardships of an early colonial life”. (Nichols 11-39). During the Pequot War, the Seven Years War, the American War of Independence, many tribes were exterminated. The Sullivan Expedition of 1779 destroyed more than 40 Iroquois villages. In the 19th century, as a result of this Indian Removal policy about 100,000 American Indians eventually relocated in the West. In 1876 the United States government ordered all remaining Native Americans to move into reservations or reserves (Stannard 97; Snipp 4-14). Another example of colonization and conflicts is Florida. In 1513, new North American lands for Spain were discovered and given the name of Florida. Native Americans fought back which resulted in death of many Spanish conquistadors. In 1565, San Agustín (St Augustine), the first permanent Spanish settlement in Florida, was established. The Spanish destroyed the existing North Florida French settlement of Fort Caroline, but as Henderson, Mormino, ed al. suppose, “they continued to feel threatened by both European competitors and native Floridians, such as the Timucuan confederation”. During the so-called Florida’s First Spanish Period (1565-1763), the Spanish used enslaved workers, among them were Native Americans who served on Spanish farms. After 200 years of colonization and despite the hard work of settlers, free persons and slaves, there were only 3,104 Spanish subjects in all of Florida. In 1763, Spain lost Florida to Britain under terms of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian War (Seven Years War). Spanish Florida was under the threat of the English colonization, because North and South Carolinas and Georgia had already been British. Thousands of Native Americans were enslaved and killed by English raiders — “Spain reacted immediately, the Governor himself offered sanctuary to English slaves (the first eleven fugitive slaves came from Charleston, South Carolina)” (Henderson, Mormino, ed. al. 76). In May 1740, the British governor of Georgia launched an invasion of Florida. Florida was planned to become successful like the Carolinas, thus plantations to grow profitable crops, including sugar, sea-island cotton, indigo, and rice were established. These crops required large numbers of workers: recently imported Africans worked together with “seasoned” slaves born in the West Indies, Carolinas, and Georgia. The British lost Florida to Spain under the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution (Henderson, Mormino, ed. al. 3-92). As a result, the problem of inappropriate treatment of the indigenous people of America was characteristic of both Spanish and English phases of colonization — though their approach at the initial stage was different: Spanish conquistadors started oppressing local people right from the start, while English co-operated with them much more willingly. As far as the main target of the newcomers was to explore these territories, to organize their own societies, to find resources for better living for themselves and to establish the colonies for their metropolitan states, the clash of economic interests and cultures was inevitable. Works cited. 1. Brading, David A. The First America: The Spanish Monarchy, Creole Patriots, and the Liberal State, 1492-1867. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993 2. Cook, Noble David. Born to Die: Disease and New World Conquest, 1492–1650. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. 3. Henderson, Ann L. and Mormino, Gary, ed. Spanish Pathways in Florida. Sarasota: Pineapple Press, 1991. 4. Las Casas, Bartolomé de. The Devastation of the Indies, a Brief Account. (Trans. by Herma Briffault). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974. 5. Nichols, Roger L. Indians in the United States & Canada, A Comparative History. University of Nebraska Press, 1998. 6. Royal, Robert. 1492 and All That: Political Manipulations of History. Washington, D.C.: Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1992. 7. Snipp, C.M. American Indians: The first of this land. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1989. 8. Stannard, David E. American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World. Oxford University Press, 1993. 9. Thornton, Russell. American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492 (1st ed.). University of Oklahoma Press, 1987. Read More