Sir Humphrey Gilbert And The Irish Of The New World

One extreme change for the Indians was the arrival of Anglo-Europeans. Native peoples’ lives were changed at the blink of an eye while new ideas, practices and beliefs were shown to them. The arrival of the Europeans changed the way the Indians viewed their world and manipulated their resources. This new change could be viewed as positive as well as negative, for while some tribes entered into trade relations with the Anglos, others were used as slave labor and all were subject to disease brought on by the European newcomers. However, despite all the advantages and disadvantages, no other introduction changed the lives of the Indians more than firearms and horses. West outlines one of the most important evolutions for Native life and how it represented a new way to harness resources and gain power. In just a few chapters, we are able to see the great advancements the Indians made in hunting and trade due to these new technologies and how they allowed the Cheyennes to rise to a new purpose as the Called Out People.

Slavery, like Portugal, was crucial for Spain. Unlike Portugal Spain used Native Americans as their slaves. (Mainly because of geography) Spain also believed in Encomienda. Which is basically there way of “giving back” to Native Americans, they would teach Native Americans their religious views and in return Native Americans would be forced to work to death. So it would appear that converting people (slaves) to Catholicism was an important reason why they went to the “new world”. Needless to say relations between Spain and the Native Americans spoiled just like the relationship between Portugal and Africans did. A lot of Native Americans believed that Spain gave them nothing. Most if not all of Spain’s economy was based on mining silver and gold and sugar plantations. At the time of this colonization and for the next 200 years Spain is extremely rich.

Spain’s goal of spreading Catholicism was undoubtable strengthened when the Pope sanctioned all Spanish efforts. Thus, slavery of Native Americans was justified, and would liberate them in the eyes of God. In effort to prevent British protestant influence, Spain declared that Non-Spanish citizens and Non-Spanish Christians were not permitted to settle in their borders.

Because of this the pope require Spain to spread Catholicism around the Americas. The Spanish say that their main goal of colonization was to rescue the Indians from their barbaric ways, and to prevent them from becoming Protestants. They did not want to eliminate the Indians, instead they wanted to help change them into obedient Christians. Along with Spain's goal of

Then Christianity expanded and hundreds of thousands of people were converted and baptized during the period of a few years of the conquest. 12) I think that the Spanish and Portugal needed to justify their conquests because it was important that they convert America's native peoples, which would expand Christianity on a similar scale to when it expanded in Europe. 13) In the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in America, the Catholic Church played a role of redirecting most of its resources from native regions located in the countryside, so that it could grow colonial cities and towns with a large population of Europeans.

Before the English ventured to Roanoke Europeans explored and settled the New World. The Spanish were the most successful in settling the New World. They conquered most of Central and South America. Their main objective was to convert all of the Indians to Christianity. “Spain’s claim to posses the Americas was based on discovery, conquest, and settlement, but even more important, it was founded on the sacred enterprise of extending the Catholic faith to (in Spanish eyes) “barbarous” native peoples” (Horn 12).

The Spanish immigrants arrived to the Americas and established their colonies in the islands of Caribbean. The Spanish established their settlements in warm, or tropical areas such as Mexico and Southwest America. During their time of settlement, there was three distinct periods: Age of discovery and exploration, Age of conquest, and the Spanish laws-the Ordinances of Discovery. The Spanish began their settlement in the early sixteenth century; their reason to settle in the Americas was to gain wealth. According to American History Volume 1: To 1865, Alan Brinkley states, “ Spanish America yielded more than ten times as much gold and silver as the rest of the world’s mines put together” ( Brinkley 15). Soon enough, Spanish immigrants changed the landscape and social systems in America. By doing so, the immigrants spread Catholicism faith. The reasons for the settlement of Spanish immigrants was to gain wealth, adapt to the landscape to their needs of survival, and spread the Catholic faith.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Europeans started to come over to the new world, they discovered a society of Indians that was strikingly different to their own. To understand how different, one must first compare and contrast some of the very important differences between them, such as how the Europeans considered the Indians to be extremely primitive and basic, while, considering themselves civilized. The Europeans considered that they were model societies, and they thought that the Indians society and culture should be changed to be very similar to their own.

British colonies began with less interest in natives altogether than their European rivals. The British preferred to focus on their own settlements and goals without regard for the natives that had lived on their land before them. There was a centralized focus on establishing a permanent settlement; therefore, the British, like the Dutch, did not attempt to convert many natives to Christianity as it was a lesser concern. From the very start of Spanish and French colonization, one could see that religious conversion is a pressing goal for both empires, beginning with Columbus’s initial assessment of the natives’ ability to be converted to Christianity. Columbus wrote, “...in order that they may conceive affection, and furthermore be made Christian; for they are inclined to the love and service of their Highnesses...” (Columbus 6). He emphasizes that they are easily convertible and that they already hold affection for the Spanish. This is similar to the French colonization method in theory but not in practice. Both France and Spain had large mission systems, France through close-proximity Jesuit missions and Spain through

were looked at as savages to the Anglo- Americans because opportunity and fortune were at

Spain focused was on converting the peoples in their Latin American empire to Christianity. This is because of Queen Isabella's commitment to her catholic faith. While others worried about the potential riches of the new world, Isabella concerned herself about the Indians. This resulted in an early perception by the Catholic Church, and the establishment of missions in all of Spain's territories. The church brought with it culture such as music, literature, and academics.

The history of religion in the United States comes a long way dating from the early 1600s when the first pilgrim settlers came to this country. It has been noted that these settlers were highly influenced by the Protestant faith which led to a community level of influence in this country as well. The faith of theses settlers were motivated from the New World of Europe where they practiced their religion in a peaceful environment. Later in history, it was noted that people of Spanish decent started the famous network of the Catholic missions in California. When California became a part of the United States, Catholic churches and institutes were formed. These churches and institutes were also formed in New Orleans and Louisiana.

Impacts of European expansion reached across the world and affected more than the expanding European powers and their colonies in the new world. Life in the world changed when these two cultures that were directly opposite of one another collided. Europe was filled with greed for resources and wealth, the Indigenous people living on these resources were living a simple sustainable life with next to no government or regulation. Once the new world was set up Europeans who ran these new territories called colonists today developed their own society and way of living and would end up revolting against the homeland.

The role of the Roman Catholic Church in Spain’s conquest and colonization of continental America was a two-fold process whereby under the façade of conversion and control lay the primary goal of gaining wealth, enforcing laws and the inevitable extension of control while condoning the beginnings of European slavery in the Caribbean.[i]

Spanish colonization areas where missions were constructed in order to educate the native people about Christianity; commonly NOT to their own will