Indian And Spanish Culture example essay topic

The Spanish began their movement to Southwest America in the late sixteenth century. From that point on, their influence both on the Native Americans and the environment was extraordinaire. The goal of the Spaniards with regards to the Native Americans was to transform them "into tax-paying Christians". This is in contrast to the idea that their goal was to eradicate the Indians form the Americas. Consequently, the Spaniards took many Indians so that they may plant their religion in the Natives and to use them as cheap labor.

This led many Indians to learn the customs and language of the Spaniards so they could to be able to thrive in the Spanish culture. Thus, some Natives acquired Spanish, which was the main source of their Hispanicization; this was the notion of Indians becoming encompassed by the Spanish society. Furthermore, Indians gradually learned skills, obtained land, and sometimes found Hispanic spouses, thus furthering their Hispanicization. They now began to live in a Spanish manner and blend into the bottom of the Spanish societal ladder. This "acculturation" of the Native Americans was in contrast to the models of early English colonization. Spanish goals and plans sought to involve the Indians so that they may live in their society even if at the lower end of it's ladder.

English colonies viewed the Natives as savages and looked to them for slave labor or to rape their women. They did not plan to take the Indians into their society as the Spaniards did so throughout this era. Spanish influence was not only apparent through the Native Americans; the southwest region of America had also experienced its affect. The Spaniards bringing of animals and use of land speedily and greatly changed their environment. Cattle and horses brought by the Spanish extended well across northern New Spain. As a result, these grazing animals flattened grassy areas and packed down soils, which broke down the lands.

Through these worn down paths of grazing, water was able to ensue. Overgrazing however, left vegetation scarce and soils eroded. Furthermore, abundant grasslands and wildlife disappeared with these trends, some turning into deserts. Bad agriculture practices also contributed to such turn of events. The Spaniards set to change their environment had not realized the profound negative consequences their actions would have. "Racial purity, a requirement for elite status in Spain and its American colonies, proved less essential to upward mobility on the frontier than in core areas of the empire".

Thus, in the urbanized New Spain, ethnic origins greatly influenced one's social status. For example, "Peninsular es", those people originally from Spain held the highest rung on the societal ladder. While on the opposite end, both free and enslaved blacks comprised the lower rung. However, on the frontier, Indians, blacks, and persons of mixed color such as mestizos (a person with Indian and Spanish blood) began to make up more of the population. And as they become more adapted to Spanish culture, Indians began to feel "whiter" and mestizos too began to describe themselves an esp anoles.

Gradually, wealth, prestige, and occupation equally determined social status as did ethnicity and skin color. Through such cultural and environmental changes in New Spain, the Spanish culture was presumed as the most dominant model on the frontier. Both marriage and sexual practices reflected those as in Spain and its empire. For example, the Spanish used strategies to marry themselves or their children into a better social status. Also, Spanish men expressed their masculinity through sexual escapades and adultery. Additionally evident was how child raising reflected conventional Spanish ways.

While Hispanics tried to mix Indian and Spanish culture, both sides were not congruent. The Spanish culture was view ably more dominant than the Native American cultures. And although Spaniards ate Indian food, wore their clothes, and learned their culture, it was the Indian cultures that became influenced by the Spanish sometimes clear of recognition. Such dominance and profound environmental changes mentioned earlier accounted for the Spaniards incredible influence on Southwest America and established their legacy and history in their era..