Spanish and English Empires in America - Essay Example

Similarities between Spanish and English Empires in America British and Spanish empires colonised and shaped the greater part of America. They influenced the economic and the military power present in America today. This paper will examine the similarities between the Spanish and English empires in relation to the geographical, economic, administrative, social and cultural aspects. First, the Spanish and English empires in America were similar in terms of their geographical organisation. A great empire was a source of pride to both the Spanish and the English colonisers, which motivated them to acquire as much as possible.

Both empires took the lead in developing a new empire in the new world and subdivided their territories into subsections. The Spanish empire consisted of three viceroyalties including New Spain, New Castile, and New Granada. Its empire extended across most of America and into Asia in the sixteenth Century. The English empire had four subdivisions including the Indian empire, four self-governing countries, colonies, and territories. Secondly, the Spanish and the English empires in America were similar in their economic endeavours.

The leadership in both empires quite well understood the importance of a stable economy. The Spanish empire, which happens to be the largest in the world, depended mainly on silver and gold produced from Peru and Mexico. According to Scott, “the gold and silver of the conquered Aztec and Incan civilizations supplied the Spanish monarchy with centuries of mineral wealth” (Scott web). This wealth could sustain its economy. Indigenous people formed the workforce because they worked as slaves (Hansen et al 530).

To maintain its empire, the English empire endeavoured to industrialise using slaves from the colonised nations as cheap labour. The fact that English society contained a more developed and flourishing sector than its neighbourhood did attract settlement to its territories building a platform for commerce. Thirdly, both empires carry a history of poor administration. The management of the conquered colonies was inefficient and poor. For instance, Spanish monarchs had a problem administering large territories conquered during their raids.

There existed poor means of communication, which led the monarchs to formulate rigid rules, within layers of bureaucracy. Both empires endeavoured to civilize and colonise the natives, at times dehumanizing them by making them slaves or getting rid of them and replacing them with whites. Although both empires had poor administration, they influenced the globalisation of the current world. Fourthly, both empires had similar social and cultural aspects. The emperors constituted different classes of people.

For instance, the Spanish emperors have three classes of people including the nobility, clergy, and commoners (Hansen et al 513). The nobles had special privileges like exemption from direct taxation. In the English empire, most of their troops included white colonists and their descendants. In addition, troops included a few others from the colonised nations to lead the way. There existed a great hatred between the colonizers and the colonised nations. Both the English and the Spanish emperors used harsh bureaucratic leadership that did not honour any human rights.

Human beings were killed because they were of a certain race, colour, or ethnicity to enable them to occupy and rule their territories. This created great enmity and resentment between the colonizers and their colonies. The Spanish and English emperors had some beliefs and religions that they considered superior to those of the countries they tried to colonise. They tried to enforce these beliefs on their colonies. For instance, the Spanish were Catholics, which meant that any settler had to profess the faith.

According to a Yale University review by Todd, the English empire carried an aspect of religion although they professed different faiths (Todd web).