Compare And Contrast Spanish Vs English

Spanish Vs English Who shall conquer…more

“Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves” Albert Einstein
“I want the world Chico and everything in it” Al Pacino (Scarface 1983)

Wealth, prosperity, resources the “New World” promised all this and more. The Europeans and the Spanish knew their intentions when setting sail, gather as much gold and land as possible. However, upon landing both soon realized there was more to be had.

Hernando Cortes came from Spain and invaded the Aztecs of Mexico in 1518. His voyage was funded by merchants and was blessed by the deputies of God with the promise of him returning with gold. When he arrived in Vera Cruz with a fleet of ships, the Aztec God, Montezuma knew there was something wrong with Cortes. Yet, the benevolent Aztecs greeted Cortes. “…he (Montezuma) sent hundreds of runners to Cortes, bearing enormous treasures, gold and silver wrought into objects of fantastic beauty…”(Zinn 11). That was all the proof Cortes needed. He began a
crusade of killing Aztec, going from one town to another. Turning Aztecs against each other and luring them into death traps. By the time Cortes was done, he had destroyed the Aztec society and put an end to their evolution into our history. Similar to Cortes, are many other conquistadors who ravaged the New World. All of them came to the New World and destroyed an important piece in our cultural past, for wealth, riches and prosperity. However, what I really believe it was for was power. They were conquistadores; it is in the name, conquer. I deeply feel this was the cultivation of male dominance. Many, if not all of these “New World” cultures viewed men, women and children as equals and instead

of the Spanish absorbing and learning to compromise their ways with the “New World” culture; they mutilated and dissected till there was nothing left.

However, the Spanish were not the only one to enforce their views upon the New World. Let us start with the definition of a squatter: an illegal occupant of land or property, especially somebody who takes over and lives in somebody else’s empty
house.
Funny, that sounds a lot like the Europeans to me. Zinn writes, “Jamestown itself was set up inside the territory of an Indian confederacy…” The European settlers invaded the Indians land and set up their colonies in 1607. Chief Powhatan observed this and wrote a letter to John Smith, a plea of sorts, asking him to come in peace. Informing him of their ways and the English are welcome to enjoy the Indian way of life. Telling them if they do not cooperate then they will have to kill them. Fifteen years later the Europeans had not left, actually they had colonized in great numbers. The Indians wanted the squatters gone and tried to wipe them out completely, they killed 347 English men, women and children. The Europeans knowing they could not enslave the Indians on their own land, decided to eliminate
them.

The Europeans used religon as justification for the genocide that was occuring in the “New World”. They felt they had a “natural right” to the land and the Indians needed to obtain a better understanding of the Purtian way. I feel the
Europeans were scared of the Indians way of life and instead of try to make some understanding of it, they wanted to appear superior. Superiority entailing spread of diease, introdution to rape and other hideous acts of violence. So the Indians had no choice but to obey. When the Indians were mentally and physically tired of the abuse thats when the Europeans felt dominant.

Fear, greed and ignorance funded these expeditions. Not money or religous enlightment. Meanwhile, we as a country are still exposed to this money equals power ponit of view. So maybe history does repeat it self and the only way we can break the cycle is a complete moral revolution.