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    Spanish DBQ Essay

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    The Spanish conquest of the Americas had wide-ranging effects. It made Spain very wealthy through the exploitation of native peoples and resources. It led to the destruction of many Native American cultures and civilizations as disease and violence killed millions. It also resulted in the Columbian Exchange, where goods, ideas and diseases were shared between the Americas and Europe, changing the world forever, both positively and negatively.

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    Spanish DBQ Essay

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    141 views2 pages
    The Spanish conquest of the Americas had wide-ranging effects. It made Spain very wealthy through the exploitation of native peoples and resources. It led to the destruction of many Native American cultures and civilizations as disease and violence killed millions. It also resulted in the Columbian Exchange, where goods, ideas and diseases were shared between the Americas and Europe, changing the world forever, both positively and negatively.

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    The Spanish conquest of the Americas had wide-ranging effects. It made Spain very wealthy through the exploitation of native peoples and resources. It led to the destruction of many Native American cultures and civilizations as disease and violence killed millions. It also resulted in the Columbian Exchange, where goods, ideas and diseases were shared between the Americas and Europe, changing the world forever, both positively and negatively.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    141 views2 pages

    Spanish DBQ Essay

    Uploaded by

    api-552667678
    The Spanish conquest of the Americas had wide-ranging effects. It made Spain very wealthy through the exploitation of native peoples and resources. It led to the destruction of many Native American cultures and civilizations as disease and violence killed millions. It also resulted in the Columbian Exchange, where goods, ideas and diseases were shared between the Americas and Europe, changing the world forever, both positively and negatively.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 2

    Evaluate the effects of the Spanish

    conquest of the Americas.

    Spanish Conquest DBQ Essay


    Christopher Columbus is the father of the largest genocide in human history. 1492
    was a turbulent year for Spain. They were battling the Moors for control of the Iberian
    Peninsula and battling Native Americans for control over the Americas. The effects of
    Spain’s conquest range far and wide including Spain getting very rich, the destruction and
    change of Native American culture and civilization, as well as an exchange of goods,
    diseases, and ideas that would change the world forever.
    Spain got filthy rich off of the exploitation of Natives and the land. As mentioned in
    Doc. 6, the Spanish got very good at exploiting the natives for their money and their labor.
    Under the encomienda system as well as the Spanish mita system Spain was able to
    squeeze every bit of value they could get out of every indigenous person, and then some.
    Through the Columbian exchange, mentioned in Doc. 3 the Spanish were also able to get
    gold and silver from the Americas. So much gold and silver in fact that it would eventually
    lead to their own downfall. Under the encomienda system people were forced to work for
    the “services” and “protection” of the Spanish empire, these services and protection only
    came after majority of the native population was wiped out through warfare and disease
    however. The mita system, as explained by Doc. 6, was a system that was developed by the
    Aztecs where people would owe a certain debt in labor to the empire in exchange for
    protection, improved infrastructure, as well as insurance in the form of surplus food
    storages in case of famine. However, under Spanish rule the mita system was abused. The
    Spanish forced workers to work excessive amounts in mines or other state projects where
    the indigenous would see little to no compensation or benefit from their hard and often
    times very dangerous work.
    Another side effect of Spanish conquest was the destruction of native culture and
    civilization. In Doc. 5 it’s mentioned that in México alone, over 25 million people died over a
    50-year period, death on a magnitude like that in and of itself is able to wipe out cultures
    and civilizations alike. However, disease isn’t the only factor that contributed to the
    downfall of American religions and empires. Other reasons for the collapse of these
    civilizations were the violence and religious prejudice the native populations faced at the
    hands of the Spanish. As stated in Doc. 2, Hernan Cortes the conquistador who led the
    Spanish conquest, has a distinct disdain for native religions and their customs. By
    destroying physical reminders of their religions in the form of temples and statues, and by
    prohibiting their practice, the Spanish were effectively tearing out their culture by its roots.
    And in a less symbolic way, through violence and warfare the Spanish were literally erasing
    native civilizations. As mentioned in Doc. 4, Columbus made it his personal vendetta to
    enslave and murder native peoples. It’s estimated that Columbus is directly responsible for
    the deaths of hundreds of thousands or even millions of native peoples, and indirectly
    responsible for the further genocide that would take place at the hands of conquistadors all
    across the Americas.
    Lastly, the Spanish conquest brought about the Columbian Exchange, one of the
    most impactful exchanges of ideas, goods, and diseases in human history. As shown in Doc.
    3 the Columbian Exchange has had both a profound positive and negative effect on the
    world. Negative because there was truly an unprecedented loss of human life as a direct
    result of this exchange, whether that be due to disease of the many lives that were lost
    mining for precious metals such as silver and gold. However, this exchange has also led to
    some small but undeniable positive effects. Mainly being the mingling of cultures. At the
    time this was incredibly destructive, however the vibrant aspects of Native American
    culture are finally beginning to be rediscovered and appreciated by a wide variety of
    people. It’s just unfortunate this appreciation and understanding is coming almost 600
    years too late.
    The Spanish Conquest was incredibly destructive and did more harm than good. The
    sole beneficiaries of said conquest were the Spanish, all of Native American culture and
    civilization was either altered significantly or destroyed completely, and the Columbian
    Exchange only really benefited Eurasia. The Spanish conquest resulted in much human pain
    and suffering that still hasn’t truly been reconciled, it’s an atrocity that should never be
    repeated, and that we as humans should learn from, and do better.

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