Why The Spanish Came To The New World

The background of the Spanish?s journey to the new world is one of personal gain, exploration, and religious conversion of the natives. In the 1500?s the first Spanish settlers set sail for the New World in search of the opportunity to start a new life. What they encountered was a friendly welcoming from the natives. Amongst the reasons Spanish settlers left their own country to go to a foreign land was in search of treasure, expansion of their empire and conversion of the natives to the Spanish version of Roman Catholicism.

The Spanish were in a race with the English, French and Dutch to claim the New World and extend their empire. As it is, the Spanish landed first because Christopher Columbus discovered the New World whilst searching for a westward passage to India on behalf of the Spanish Crown. The first permanent settlement in the present day United States was St Augustine, Florida, founded by the Spanish in 1565. It is the oldest city in the United States of America.

The Spanish sent anyone who wanted to go to the New World, but mainly soldiers of fortune looking for gold or any money making activity and missionaries initially went. The Spanish were also accompanied by many members of the clergy intent on converting the natives to Spanish Catholicism.

A centaury after Columbus?s landing some 200,000 Europeans, mainly Spaniards had settled in the New World, and another 125,000 Africans had been forced to travel from their homeland to work on Spanish plantations. This dreadful act of disrespect for human life and freedom was the slave trade. This non-selective process which the Spanish used was probably to their advantage, but also came with disadvantages. The main one being with all the soldiers of fortune and clergy present, there was very limited knowledge in the community, and once they discovered that not much was being found, they didn?t have a backup plan. Many Spaniards took up farming from scratch; this did not prove to be the best way of doing it, but they survived.

The impact that the Spanish had on the natives was huge and underestimated at the time. The Spanish brought many diseases from Europe, as well as many of the common viruses, e.g., colds and flu. Many of the diseases brought by the Spanish would prove to be deadly to the natives because they never encountered such diseases, and their immune system could not protect them against the new diseases. The diseases the Spanish brought to the New World eventually killed off half the native population in 125 years. However, the Spanish brought more than just diseases: they brought the institution of slavery, which would lead to hostility.

Not all the Spanish induced impacts were bad. The Spaniards brought new foods, grains, livestock, firearms, and a host of other things. All these items could be used to trade with the natives, and proved to be a good way of obtaining what they needed. Also, with the introduction of firearms to the natives, food from the hunting of animals became more plentiful and easier than with bow and arrow and trapping.

The Spanish did not set out with the right intentions, but they were successful even though many of them had to resort to making a living doing things they had never done before. The Spanish should have sent more people of different abilities and skills with the explorers, soldiers of fortune and clergy. In so doing, they would have had an alternative settlement/survival plan to fall back on if the original one did not prove viable. As history shows, they managed, but it is also obvious the Spanish were not prepared for the tasks of survival and colonisation that lay ahead.

The natives, although severely disadvantaged by conquest and many deaths due to diseases brought by the Spanish, were eventually able to gain some advantage when they could trade whatever was needed by the Spanish for weapons which they could use against other, tribal enemies.