New World Colonization

The discovery of the New World caused excitement from the start, drawing interest from numerous countries with the promise of wealth and the chance to move up in their social class. Spain and Portugal were two countries that sought out the New World for their own gain. They saw the potential to gain wealth, spread Christianity, and to colonize. Even from the beginning, it was hard to determine which country would colonize which areas of this strange new world. The Treaty of Tordesillas was put together for this purpose in the year 1494. In a sense, a line was drawn between the Americas, dividing the lands so that Portugal and Spain would get equal share. This resulted in Portugal being allowed some parts of South America, mainly Brazil. Spain …show more content…
One thing was for certain, both countries brought diseases that caused the native population to decrease dramatically. This was the first encounter the natives had with these certain diseases, and their bodies were not immune. As a result, both countries had to find a new source of labor, which ended up being imported slaves from Africa. This began the start of trading between Africa and this new World for centuries on. When the African slaves were introduced into this new world, a mixing of cultures occurred, an acculturation. New cultures emerged and the Africans were able to maintain their culture despite Spain and Portugal’s attempts to convert them to Christianity. Spain used these laborers mainly to work in the minds, finding gold and silver, both of which contributed to Spain’s growing wealth. Meanwhile, Portugal focused their efforts on exporting goods and using slaves to grow these many crops. Regardless of these differences, both countries sent a percentage of the money earned back to their king and Queen in Europe. Spain and Portugal were equally Christian, which lead to the church having immense power and influence in this new world and still to this day these lands remain