Spanish_Conquest_of_the_Americas

The Spanish conquest of the Americas should be referred to as the "American Holocaust". Over the course of a century hundreds of thousands of natives died due to the violence, famine, and epidemics caused by the Spanish. Many natives were also enslaved and made to work for the Spanish. All in all because of the cruelty of the Spanish during their conquest, great empires fell and many natives lost their lives. The Spanish conquest of the Americas began in the beginning of the 16th century. The first stages of the invasion were extremely violent. Armies led by conquistadors went from island to island plundering villages, slaughtering men, and capturing the women. Many natives were also put to work as slaves to support the system of encomienda, where colonial lords were given natives as a source of labor. For the next fifteen years the Spanish raided many islands in the Caribbean, and completely depopulating them and depleting the islands of gold. By 1519 the Spanish began to move inland into Mexico. In 1521 Hernan Cortes overthrew the Aztec empire because of their advantages in weaponry, steel, horses, and diseases especially smallpox. Thousands of Aztecs died from smallpox and the Spanish unmercifully plundered the Aztec society. Later the discovery of rich silver mines with the native labor of the encomienda system made Spain the wealthiest state in Europe. European diseases by themselves took the lives of thousands of natives. Famines caused by ruined economies and plundering of the Spanish also killed thousands and native birth rates fell. These effects of the Spanish conquest knocked down the native population by 90 percent. The intercontinental exchange between the New World and the Old World included not only diseases but also crops. Potatoes, tomatoes, and corn became the staple crops in many European countries. However most important were of course precious metals and cash crops. In both cases the natives had to work for the Spanish as slaves. As Spain becomes wealthy and wealthy expeditions were sent out inland into North America. Though the promise of gold was not fulfilled and the expeditions failed, the Spanish spread diseases even farther which drastically depopulated many societies in the South. By the end of the 16th century Spain had about 200,000 living in the New World and was the wealthiest country in Europe. However in their conquest they left millions of natives dead and many cultures and empires destroyed. If that weren’t enough, the Spanish also intermarried with the natives and true Native Americans were lost in the wake of the Spanish conquest.