European Colonization In The Americas example essay topic

Throughout history and during alternating time periods, countries have grown from feeble entities, defeated by or ruled by the governing structures of foreign nations, to powerful nations. Between the fifteenth and the sixteenth century, Spain ruled as a great power among other nations. Its empire began when, in 1492, Spain financed Columbus's expeditions and explorations to conquer territory in the New World. Once it held its new established territory, Spain relied on the influx of gold and silver from the New World. When it was an empire, Spain had control over many countries, including South America, Mexico, and Latin America. This however wasnt all a negative aspect of European colonization in the Americas.

European colonization in the Americas also brought many positive, social, cultural, and economical, changes that make up what we are today. If we look at the encounters between Europeans and Native Americans during the fifteenth century and beyond, it is obvious to see a trend of invasion, conquest, slavery, and eventually death lurking about the historical documents describing that time. The expeditions into the New World by Europeans during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries can't be easily labeled as invasions. If one looks at the end results of the conquests by Europeans, it is evident that the most of the native tribes who made contact with Europeans were in most cases worse off than they were before they made contact. However, the barbaric overtaking of territory and culture by the Europeans is a far- fetched myth as these conquests were more a sort of cultural exchange than anything else. An example of this cultural change was the increasing amounts of settlers from Spain including soldiers and Franciscan priests that were assigned to work at the pueblos.

The priests' task was to, "win souls for the Roman Catholic church", and, "to educate the natives on how to become citizens of the Spanish Empire. Andres Bello along with Jose Marti where among the many nationalist that emphasized why this history is so important. Acknowledging the history of the Spanish conquest in the Americas shaped the territory for which we acted upon throughout the years after the conquest. For example one of the most important reasons for Chiles independence as well as other Latin American countries, was the emergence of a class of CRIOLLOS (Creoles). Creoles were American born Spaniards, who were different from the Iberians. They developed a desire for self-government.

The Criollos, then, began and supported a movement in order to gain independence from Spain. The Criollos had a lot of influence in the merchant class as well as in the upper class of Chile. They resented Spain trading system. For tax reasons, all trade with Spain had to pass through Panama by land to the Caribbean and Havana, Cuba, instead of directly by ship from the port of Valparaiso. This system was definitely one of the reasons Spain lost its American colonies. Colonialism has often spread to areas where it is economically valuable for the colonizer to develop.

South America was one of these places. First came the Spanish for gold, then for rubber. As colonization took place two cultures met, thinking they were opposites, but in reality they were very much connected to one another, their histories were now tied together. In considering the question of how Indians have developed their healing practices and spiritual beliefs as a reaction to colonization, there are a number of areas we must explore. What happened within the culture of the South American Indians was syncretism, or the synthesis of both old and borrowed traditions, a common occurrence of colonization as one civilization dominates the other and forces conversion. (Schwartz, 394).

Because of pre-existing beliefs, Catholicism was accepted into the culture and combined with its original beliefs much more easily than other religions. "Catholicism embodied a rich pageantry and complex ceremonial cycle. It offered roles to men and women, young and old. Its priests, believing in the devil, spirits, and magic, could deal with the older religion in ways Mesoamerican people could squarely comprehend.

And Catholicism provided, in its multiple manifestations of the Virgin and the Trinity, both an approximation of multiple deities and physical object for veneration" (Schwartz, 394). One of the best examples of syncretism is in the images that are brought on by the hallucinogenic substance that is often used by shamans in curing rituals called yag e. In these images we can see a blend of traditional Indian beliefs (i.e. seeing the shaman as the tiger) and Christian belief (i.e. receiving blessing from the Virgin), both symbols can coexist within the same image and are representative of the assimilation of Indian culture to particular Western ideas.