History of Spain

Part 1

History

New Spain

The New Spain was considered to be a colony of Spain in the Isthmus of the Panama. It was made a colony after the conquest of the Aztec empire by the Spanish in mid-1400s. After the conquest of Aztec among other empires, the Spanish attained four viceroyalties including Central America and the New Spain (Gastil 276). The other viceroyalties were Spanish Florida, Spanish West Indies, and Mexico among other islands belonging to Panama.

               The New Spain is particularly important in the Spanish history because of its importance in the conquest era of Spain. The islands that had been conquered by Spain during the exploration of new America did not hold much significance. Because of the financial, strategic, and political significance of the exploration of new lands, America did not flourish until the defeat of the Aztec empire that made Spain become among the most powerful European countries in the world (Gastil 68). However, Spain lost hold of the New Spain to other countries and independence. New Spain gained independence to become the modern Mexico.

Pocahontas

Pocahontas was believed to be a Spanish girl that fell in love with an English man and saved his life. The English man, named John Rolfe, was in a dangerous situation that called for his life. However, in the story that ensues, Pocahontas was in love with the man. Pocahontas showed so much the pretentious religious history of the Spanish and created a question in the hypocrisy of their true religious identification.

The name Pocahontas was of the daughter of a local native leader in the America. The leader, known as Powhatan, allowed his daughter to be married to the foreigner and even gave the newlyweds land as a present. The marriage between the two cultures or communities shows the uniting ties. However, their marriage faced a lot of repulsion from both sides of the cultures they belonged to. This led to Pocahontas being baptized into Christianity followed by change of name to Rebecca.

The marriage between the two communities marked an end to the enmity that had existed even long after the marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe.

Part 2

Native Cultures

(Adamovich)

It is depicted that during the 1600s, the pale Indians existed in the Americas. The Paleo-Indians are said to comprise majorly of people known as the American Indians in the modern America era. This group of people generally lacked sophistication in their housing system. The Native Indians form the main category of the native cultures that existed in the Americas in the 1600s.  The cultural definition of the Native Indians was considered to be unsophisticated and thus, local in nature.

The Native Indians had a common family establishment criterion. In their family policies or norms, the man was expected to provide for the whole family (Roark 44). This provision included clothing, housing, and food for the wife and the young ones. On the other hand, the wife was expected to make meals and look after the young ones and the homestead. The Native Indians were considered to be nomadic in nature. Thus, the common trait that existed among them in the Americas comprised of temporary housing structure and the organization of their houses into villages that were led by an elder known as the “chief” of the village.

The tools used by the native cultures that existed in North Americas in the 1600s were mainly simple and subsistence tools. The culture was best described as nomadic. Due to their nomadic nature, agriculture was not an option for them. Thus, they normally hunted and gathered food. They mostly used stone tools for food hunting and gathering. The usefulness of the stone tools also served as weapons for protection.

Until the mid-1600s, the native cultures used stone tools for their daily and different activities. After the mid-1600s, the native cultures that existed in the Americas began to shift in their cultural tendencies. The tools they used changed from the stone-made tools to wooden tools that included mainly bows and arrows (Roark 89). This enabled them to hunt larger animals and generally perform more hunting and fishing activities as opposed to earlier times. This also enabled them to adapt to agriculture although on a minor scale.   The native Indians became a little reliant on agriculture. However, evidence still suggests that these cultures were still heavily reliant on gathering, hunting, and fishing.

The Spanish Involvement in the Americas

(Retrieved from, History.com)

In the 1400s, most European countries were fascinated by the idea of new science inventions and discoveries. This fascination started with scientific inventions but ended with geographical exploration of new lands. The European countries used their power, wealth, and influence to conduct voyages that helped them venture into newer territories (Roark 62). None of the European countries wanted to be left behind. This would mean that the countries initiating the geographical discoveries of newer lands would later become the most powerful.

However, for the Spanish, the reasons for the discovery and exploration of new land, and particularly the Americas, were similar to those of the other European counties such as Britain and Portugal. The Spaniard king expressed his fascination by financing some of the voyages undertaken by explorers into new territories. The idea behind the involvement of the Spanish in the Americas was to attain more power. Power, as it would have been in the old days, was mostly measured by how much wealth and land a country possessed. Thus, possession of new territories and wealth that included gold, silver among other expensive minerals, was what drove the Spanish into the Americas during their exploration of new lands.

Another important factor behind the exploration by Spain among other European countries of new lands was to increase the trade between them and Asia. As it would have been, European countries were in dire need of power. Looking at Asia as a potential trading partner, the European nations wanted to increase the level of trade between them and Asia (Roark 154). This led to more explorations that were geared towards finding new trade routes that majorly included sea routes that would connect the European countries to Asia and thus increase the level of trading activities.

The Spanish explorations led by Columbus, led to the discovery of the Americas. Spain was the first to venture into the Americas. Portugal followed suit and they soon became rivals in their search for new land, territories, and power (Gastil et al. 2013). However, Spain and Portugal signed a treaty that saw Spain hold most of the new American lands while Portugal was left to conquer South America and Africa, among other lands in the Caribbean.

However, trade and search for gold and wealth were not the only reasons that led to the exploration of the Americas and thus the involvement of Spain in the same. There also seemed to be a religious motive behind the exploration by the European countries. A major reason was to take Christianity to the new lands. 

Work Cited

 Adamovich, Jesse. “Jesse’s 20Th Century History”. Jesse’s 20th Century History. N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Sept. 2016. Retrieved from http://jesseshistoryclassproject.weebly.com/

Gastil, George, and Bonnie M. Harris. Connecting California: Selections in Early

American History, Volume 1. San Diego, Calif: Cognella, 2013. Print

History.com. “Hernando De Soto – Exploration – HISTORY.Com”. HISTORY.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Sept. 2016. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/exploration/hernando-de-soto

Roark, James L. The American Promise: A Concise History. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014. Print.