Age Of Exploration Dbq Analysis

The Age of Exploration was famously known as the time period for European conquests and settlements. These explorations paved the way for life as we know it today. However, there have been divided views of the European cultural and historical legacy especially concerning the Spaniards. Most of division occurs concerning the Indian of Hispaniola who were subjected to almost slavery and to inhumane treatment. During the Age of Exploration, the Spanish conquistadors wanted wealth and to spread the Catholic faith, as well as justified their treatment of the natives by calling them inferior.

While conquering the new world, Spanish Conquistadores sought out wealth and other precious commodities. The Spanish explorers wanted gold and riches to take back to Spain in order to make themselves, including the nation of Spain, powerful. The Spaniards were basically reducing the natives to slavery by making them do forced labor without receiving …show more content…
The natives were considered to be incapable of being superior to the Spaniards and that they are as inferior to the Spaniards as children are to adults stated by Juan Gines de Sepaeulveda (Document 5). He defends the Spanish treatment of the natives by saying that it is perfectly okay for the Spanish to show they dominance over these lesser in virtue Amerindians. Other the other hand, the Spaniards were told to stop treating the natives so terribly so that they can learn instead to be like the Spaniards and proper Christians as Bartolome de las Casas says from A Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies (Document 6). However, he emphasizes that the natives are weak and willing to please others so in return the Spaniards can easily exercise control over them. The impact of the natives being treated as inferior human beings was that the Spanish could show dominance over them and the natives had no other choice than to follow the