Essay On How Did The Spanish Influence On Native Americans

In the Early Modern Period, core nations such as Spain, Portugal, and Britain started to show interest and influence the societies in the New World. Among these nations, Spain was one of the countries that gained great power through the control of Native Americans. Spain was going through some major changes at this time, and these changes contributed much to the treatment to Indians. The Spanish nobles, also known as hidalgos, wanted to gain more power through the New World and take full advantage of the Indians. As cruel Spaniards’ killing, enslaving, and controlling of the Native Americans intensified, words for the rights of Indians rose. Therefore, arguments for and against the rights of Native Americans started to emerge, and political and religious factors played key roles in the claims. Unfortunately, despite the protective words for the Indians, the treatment for them did not get better. …show more content…
Bartolome De las Casas, a Spanish priest describes the horrible actions taken by the Spaniards in the New World. They kill, torture, terrorize, and destroy the most guileless, faithful, and obedient people only for their wealth. In Bartolome’s view, it is absurd these men who call themselves Christians do things such as “take infants from their mothers’ breasts, snatching them by the legs and pitching them headfirst against the crags” (Devastation of Indies). The Christian Spaniards continued to kill men, enslave women and children, and torture the Indians. The Native Americans tried resisting by taking up arms, but they were no match against the Christians. As a result, extreme depopulation occurred in the West Indies due to the indiscriminative killings of Christians. Bartolome thinks the extent of killings done by Spanish Christians, who are supposed to be the “caretakers of souls”, went way off limit, and feels they committed actions that oppose their