HELP ! history h/w - how did the Spanish explorers affect the native Indians of central and southern America?

Question

all your info plz
and any revelant sites will be very much appreciated
thnx !!!

Answer 1

Well mainly they tried to convert them to Catholicism, and punished them for defiance, by death. Not to mention they brought in disease such as small pox. That coupled with firearms and metal weapons severely affected the Indian populations.

Answer 2

Um, the Spanish explorers mated with the natives thus producing Mexicans. That's a pretty big deal.

Answer 3

Effect on natives
European diseases (smallpox, influenza, measles and typhus), to which the native populations had no resistance, and systems of forced labor (such as the encomienda, and the mining industry's mita), decimated the native population. The diseases usually preceded the Spanish invaders, and the resulting population loss (between 30 and 90 percent in some cases) severely weakened the native civilizations' ability to resist the invaders.

However, Spain was the first European colonial power to pass laws protecting the natives of its American colonies as early as 1542 with the Laws of the Indies. The Laws of the Indies consisted of many regulations on the encomienda system, including its prohibition of the enslavement of the Indians and provisions for the gradual abolition of the encomienda system. It prohibited the sending of indigenous people to work in the mines unless it was absolutely necessary, and required that they be taxed fairly and treated well. It ordered public officials or clergy with encomienda grants to return them immediately to the Crown, and stated that encomienda grants would not be hereditarily passed on, but would be canceled at the death of the individual encomenderos.

The Spaniards were committed to converting their American subjects to Christianity, often by force, and were quick to purge any native cultural practices that hindered this end. However, most initial attempts at this were only partially successful, as American groups simply blended Catholicism with their traditional beliefs. On the other hand, the Spaniards did not impose their language to the degree they did their religion, and the Roman Catholic Church's evangelization in Quichua, Nahuatl and Guarani actually contributed to the expansion of these American languages, equipping them with writing systems. Many native artworks were considered pagan idols and destroyed by Spanish explorers. This included the many gold and silver sculptures found in the Americas, which were melted down before transport to Europe.

In most areas, the Natives and the Spaniards interbred, forming a Mestizo class. These and the original Americans were often forced to pay taxes to the Spanish government and were punished for disobeying their laws. In other areas, the Natives stayed ethnically distinct, and continued to resist for more than two centuries. Nowadays, descendants of Native Americans constitute a major part of the population of the countries that comprised most of the Spanish Empire in America (with the exception of Argentina, Uruguay, Costa Rica and the countries of the Caribbean. Two Amerindian languages, Quechua and Guaraní, have reached rank of co-official languages in Latin American countries. There have been and are Latin American Presidents of Native American origin, such as Benito Juárez in Mexico, Alejandro Toledo in Peru, and Evo Morales in Bolivia.

In other parts of the world being colonized, the North American and Australian native populations (under the control of other European countries) the impact of the colonizers was in many ways more severe (many tribes disappearing entirely), while in Spanish-held areas, the native or mixed populations maintained sizeable numbers (in many areas they are actually the main population, such as in Bolivia, Perú, Guatemala, some areas in México).

The accounts of the ill behavior of Spanish conquistadors from both inside and outside were part of the source material for the stereotype of Spanish cruelty that came to be known as the Black Legend spread mostly by Protestant foes, such as the Dutch and the English. As a result of this political propaganda campaign against the Spanish, little is known outside the Hispanic world about some Spaniards, such as the priest Bartolomé de Las Casas, who defended Native Americans against the abuses of conquistadores. In 1542, Bartolomé de las Casas published A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias). His account is largely responsible for the passage of the new Spanish colonial laws known as the New Laws of 1542, which was used in an attempt to protect the rights of native inhabitants (the governor and men sent to enforce them were killed by rebellious conquistadores). These New Laws of 1542 established a very early - compared to British or French colonies - abolishment of native slavery (see the Valladolid debate).

Answer 4

they killed them off with their greed, disease and cruelty.