People debate the oncoming of Spanish and Portuguese as being an encounter. The truth is that the Portuguese and Spanish had a dramatic negative impact on the Native Americans lives. They were changed forever because of their harsh attempts to Christianize the Americas. The Spanish empire gained control of much of the Americas and sent Spanish colonists there to enlist the help of encomiendas or Native American laborers. The natives had to be profitable to the Spanish in the eyes of the crown. The Spanish worked them to the bone growing crops and made sure that only the Spaniards held the power. I call this destruction of one culture by another in the name of religion.
Providence was in mind at all times. The Spaniards thought god had a plan …show more content…
Being that the natives were never previously encountered their bodies had no immunity against them. The most prominent disease was smallpox amongst many others. The diseases brought killed roughly 20 million Native Americans. Because the Spanish never set out to kill the Indians and they solely wanted their labor, a debate on the rights of Indians was created. A Franciscan monk, Pedro de Cante told the emperor that you have to lay off the Indians because they’re dying. They weren’t even making it to mass because they were too busy paying tribute by working. Despite the havoc the Indians endured there were also people who tried to stand up for them and get them the liberties they deserved. Bartolome De Las Casas was the most prominent defender at this time. He questioned whether enslaving people was truly in the name of god. He was a human rights activist in a way and used his eyewitness accounts of Spanish atrocities to the show Spanish king. He wrote of the abuse the Indians endured in the First Apostle of The Indians. The king responded and put forth the New Laws, which stated that slaves be freed. At first, many of the slaveholders got their slaves taken away from them. Brief instances prove the Spanish weren’t all evil trying to ruin peoples lives, however, the natives saw little enforcement in the New
Providence was in mind at all times. The Spaniards thought god had a plan …show more content…
Being that the natives were never previously encountered their bodies had no immunity against them. The most prominent disease was smallpox amongst many others. The diseases brought killed roughly 20 million Native Americans. Because the Spanish never set out to kill the Indians and they solely wanted their labor, a debate on the rights of Indians was created. A Franciscan monk, Pedro de Cante told the emperor that you have to lay off the Indians because they’re dying. They weren’t even making it to mass because they were too busy paying tribute by working. Despite the havoc the Indians endured there were also people who tried to stand up for them and get them the liberties they deserved. Bartolome De Las Casas was the most prominent defender at this time. He questioned whether enslaving people was truly in the name of god. He was a human rights activist in a way and used his eyewitness accounts of Spanish atrocities to the show Spanish king. He wrote of the abuse the Indians endured in the First Apostle of The Indians. The king responded and put forth the New Laws, which stated that slaves be freed. At first, many of the slaveholders got their slaves taken away from them. Brief instances prove the Spanish weren’t all evil trying to ruin peoples lives, however, the natives saw little enforcement in the New