Cultural responses of the Spanish and English towards Native Americans in North America before 1750.
During the Age of Exploration before 1750, the Spanish and the English journeymen that descended upon North America, had many similar cultural responses towards the Native American population. The English had a somewhat peaceful relationship with the Indians at first, but eventually started taking their land, which resulted in war. The Spanish took what they wanted, when they wanted, and never gave anything in return. The Spanish also wanted to convert all Indians to Christianity.
During the 1500's, the Spanish claimed a huge majority of North America through the Treaty of Tordesillas, with Portugal. Gradually, conquistadors such as Balboa, Ponce de Leon, Cortes, Pizarro, de Soto, and Coronado, started arriving in large numbers. The main goal of all of these early explorers was profit and profit only. As a result, they severely mistreated the Native Americans solely for the purpose of finding gold and wealth. For example, Hernando de Soto, with about six hundred soldiers, moved westward from Florida, in 1530, in search of gold. On their trip, they brutally mistreated the Indians with iron collars and fierce dogs. The treatment was so severe that after do Soto died, his soldiers had to secretly dispose of his body, thus preventing any abuse to his corpse. Another example of Spanish cruelty towards the Native population, is the Battle of Acoma in 1599, between Spanish forces, led by Don Juan de Onante, and the Pueblos. After the Indian defeat, the Spanish soldiers cut off one foot of each survivor.
Another cultural response of the Spanish towards the Native Americans of North America, was their urgency to convert all Indians to Christianity. In 1769, Father Junipero Serra founded the first of twenty-one missions in California. They would gather the Indians into the fortified missions and teach them their culture and eventually converted them to Christianity.
