Negative Effects Of Spanish Colonization On Latin America

This text scratches the surface of the real issues in Latin American history but does not help the reader take the next step in understanding it. The UNC scholar falls flat in organizing the mess that is Latin American history but does an admirable job in setting up readers for more advance text

Braford E. Burns began writing The Poverty of Progress as a historical essay arguing against the “modernization” of nineteenth century Latin America. Burns argues that modernization was preformed against the will of the majority and benefited a small group of Creole Elite, while causing an exponential drop in the quality of life for folk majority. Burns supports his research through a series of dichotomies. Within the first twenty years of the nineteenth century the majority of Latin America gained independence from Spain.

The Columbian Exchange occurred when Columbus arrived in the new world and disease, culture, crops, and animals were traded. This swap caused the great biological exchange. When the Spanish and later English came over to the new world along with crops and animals they also brought disease. Europeans, living among many diseases, had built immunity to the ailment, but since the natives had never been exposed to the illnesses they had no immunity and the disease quickly spread. The Europeans, unintentionally, started an epidemic that would spread throughout the Americas and single handedly kill millions of Natives.

The Native Americans were seen as weak willed, for they barely resisted the conquest of their homes. If the Native Americans showed no incentive of retaliating and were better at manual work, it seemed natural to the Spanish that they be enslaved. The Native Americans, on the other hand, saw the Spanish in a different light as well as they watched many Spaniards become obsessed with gold. The Spanish were given Gold as gifts and went crazy just holding it and lusting for more, like savage monkeys. The Spanish, by nature, couldn’t help but become greedy monsters for gold, because in Europe riches were equivalent to power.

When the settlers went to start up the agricultural industry in the rural areas of Latin America, there was obviously a smaller population of both natives and Europeans in that region. Colonisers needed workers and locals needed work; both parties had no choice but to interact with one another. Ortiz states that everybody was “snatched from their original social groups, their own cultures destroyed and crushed under the weight of the cultures in existence here” (Ortiz 1947: 98). As the Europeans needed to raise funds in order to pay for their transportation costs from home, they required gold, silver and sugar for export. For the workers gathering these resources, the indigenous people supplied them food and clothes.

The Catholic Church and Latin America The Catholic Church was a great power ruling many civilizations in Europe during the period between 1492 and 1830. Therefore, the role of the Catholic Church was of utmost importance to the colonization and development of Latin America as it was a great force in Spain and Portugal. Despite the peaceful teachings of the Church, greed and a hunger for power led them to make decisions harming Latin America and Christianity, rather than thriving it. In this paper, I will show that the Catholic Church is significantly responsible for the colonization and development of Latin America through, the Christianizing mission, the Treaty of Tordesillas, and the Spanish Inquisition.

The Europeans were able to conquer the Americas because even though it was by “accident,” they were still more prepared for what was to come. Jared Diamond calls the European “accidental conquerors.” Diamond calls his theory geographical luck and concludes that the only way the Europeans were able to dominate the Americas was because of the way the ocean patterns happened to flow. The geographical wind patterns caused the ships to sail towards the Incas and the Aztecs and when the Europeans arrived they tried to conquer the Aztecs and Incas, they succeed for a number of reasons. One reason that they were able to conquer the Americas was because of their technological advances.

Among the many things spread and shared in the Columbian Exchange, the trading of diseases is perhaps the most significant. The natives of the Americas had never experienced the serious diseases that European explorers carried over to the New World. From smallpox to influenza and malaria to cholera, Native American populations were drastically decreased due to their poor immunity. Between the numerous amounts of European diseases, though, measles was the most remarkable in that its effects were both widespread and enduring. Measles, also known as rubeola, is a respiratory infection caused by the measles virus.

The Columbian Exchange between the new world and the old world significantly change people’s lives. After 1492, Europeans brought in horses to America which changes the nomadic Native American groups’ living from riding on buffalos to horses. This interchange also change the diet of the rest of the world with foods such as corns (maize), potatoes which are major diet for European nowadays. 
Besides all the animals from old world to the new world, Spanish also brought in the diseases that Native Americans were not immune of, such as smallpox which led to a large amount of Native Americans’ deaths.

Spain began to introduce new foods into Mexican cuisine, such as wheat, meats, and olive oil. Spain was able to take techniques from mexican cuisine and blend it into their own. Native americans were also looked as like lower class people. Higher social groups like the europeans were trying to convert Native Americans to act and become civilized. Civilized meaning participating in traditions that the Spanish did.

Throughout the late 1400’s and the 1500’s, the world experienced many changes due to the discoveries of new lands and peoples that had been never been visited before. The new-found lands of the Americas and exploration of Africa by the Europeans led to new colonies and discoveries in both areas. It also brought different societies and cultures together that had never before communicated, causing conflict in many of these places. While the Europeans treated both the Native Americans and West Africans as inferior people, the early effects they had on the Native Americans were much worse. Beginning in the late 1400’s, many different European explorers started to look for new trade routes in the Eastern Hemisphere in order to gain economic and religious power.

During the late 15th and early 16th centuries, eExplorers from Europe had made vast advancements on traveling methods and shipbuilding and had new methods to travel the world. Due to needs for faster trade routes or access to new markets, most powers, starting with Portugal, had started sending Explorers to find different ways to trade and navigate. This would eventually lead them to the New World where they would meet people of different culture. Explorers during this period have many positive and negative effects on the natives. Europeans indirectly killed off native with diseases, enslaved natives with cruel slave methods, and tried to completely erase the native cultures in place of the typical European cultures and religion.

The benefits did outweigh the consequences. To start off, I have three topics to support/back up my conclusion that the benefits did outweigh the consequences. Next, the Columbian Exchange. The Native Americans gave the Europeans gold and silver. They also gave them corn, potatoes, beans, vanilla, chocolate, tobacco, and cotton.

The Spaniards made a big impact in the Americas. They killed many Incas,Tainos, and Aztecs. These populations lost many including their emperors. On the Spaniard 's side they had power by killing Atahualpa and Montezuma they could create colonies and take riched back to their country. The Spaniards weren 't the only ones to look for riches in the New World.

In his examination of Latin America, he notes that bringing “Old World” knowledge and technology does little to improve a region if the geography is counterproductive. In the chapter on the Arctic, Marshall examines the Arctic’s unforgiving environment and the indisputable effects of global warming in the region. Marshall’s main point through the chapter on Latin America is that Latin America is proof that Old World’s knowledge and technology is not a guarantee for success if the geography doesn’t allow it. He notes that geography helped the United States become a great power and geography also ensured that the Latin American countries would never rise to become a threat. Marshall also mentions that early politics further hindered the development of Latin America.