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The Spanish Empire

            The Spanish maintained a powerful and vast empire for a long period of time. The Spanish Empire was interesting and it was fascinating the way that they expanded the empire before its collapse. One of the most interesting things about the empire was how the Spanish interacted with the native people of the land during and after they were conquered. .
             This paper will focus mainly on the community and social relationships within the empire. Some other topics of discussion will include issues associated with inter-community interaction, treatment of outsiders and enemies, the nature of war and expansion within the empire. .
             The Spanish had a social hierarchy to sort of rank its people. At the top of this hierarchy were the penisulares. The peninsulares were those born in old Spain. People born in New Spain were called Criolles. Criolles were usually not considered as loyal as those born in old Spain and therefore were not trusted as much. Third in this order were the Mestizos. Mestizos had a percentage of Spanish blood. There was a system in place to determine how much a person had. One could purchase what was called "Certificates of Whiteness". Basically, if you had enough money you could make yourself Spanish in the eyes of the government. This goes to show how greedy the Spanish were. Next in the social order were the Indians. Indians were treated as perpetual minors and thus did not have the rights or privileges of the Spanish people. Last in the social order of people were the Castas. These were African slaves. There were very few slaves in Spain and thus most work was done without slave labor. .
             Once the Spanish expanded their empire to what they called "New Spain", new problems arose. What did they do with the Indians? It seems as though they never really decided what to do with them. The Spanish finally decided on an approach. In theory they were supposed to do two things for the Indians: 1. They were supposed to introduce Christianity to them.


Essays Related to The Spanish Empire

1. Rise, Fall And Explusion Of The Jesuits

... by supplying Indians for use against the Portuguese, English and French. At the time of the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Spanish Empire in 1767, the reductions were enormously wealthy and compromised more than twenty one thousand families. The Gurnai women were almost much sought after, "Like the colonists of the cost of Brazil, the settlers at Asuncion were strongly attracted by the fine features of the Gurani women and readily took them ... by supplying Indians for use against the Portuguese, English and French. At the time of the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Spanish Empire ...

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2. The Conquest of Mexico

... provided the basis for a full scale revolt against them which Cortes incited. While the Aztecs were really unable to unify their empire, the Spanish managed to succeed where their predecessors in the area had failed. With diligent work by missionaries and Cortes himself, the Spaniards tried to bring together the people of present-day Mexico and the southwestern United States by converting them to Christianity. The resulting extension of the Spanish empire, New ... Spain, was the most strongly united of the American empires for years to come. Flowers ... ...

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3. The Hapsburg Dilema

... the French could no longer fight the Spanish. France withdrew its claim that it owned Northern Italy and Milan. The Hapsburg Empire began to become stronger and in order to safeguard the interests of France the French decided to launch a series of wars against the Spanish. Two major battles were fought between the French and the Spanish but France was defeated in both battles. The French were easily beaten back by the Spanish but Charles the ... 5th had to worry about the Ottoman presence in Africa and Eastern ... ...

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4. "How did 600 Spanish conquistadors defeat the Aztec Empire?"

... being concealed during the seize of Tenochtitlan the Aztecs was overwhelmed by the disease that killed a very large number of the fighting men. They became so devastated from the amount of bodies lying all over the place, that the Aztecs let the falling buildings bury the dead. Though the Spaniards ultimately conquered the Aztec Empire, they were not alone. If the small pox disease never entered the struggle between the Aztec Empire and the Spanish conquistadors, the Aztecs would ... have surely won. According to one estimate, the population of the valley of Mexico was ... ...

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5. Hernan Cortez - Rebel or Empire Builder

... , this is early evidence of Cortez being an empire-builder. On reaching Mexico the Spaniards faced the Tabascan tribe who they soon conquered while losing only four men. Cortez claimed the land for the king and set about teaching Christianity to the natives. This shows that Cortez was still intent on building the Spanish empire and their culture. Cortez learnt of the Aztecs who lived inland and had conquered vast ... they returned to Cuba and Velasquez they would have no land and little gold and their sufferings would have been for nothing. This shows Cortez" ambition to expand the Spani...

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6. Hernan Cortes and the Spanish Conquistadors

... surrender or retreat. The religious goals of the conquistadors was mainly to spread Christianity to the native people they encountered. When Columbus first arrived in the West Indies, he came across the Taino people. Despite the friendly reception, the Tainos offended the Spanish when out of ignorance they failed to pay proper respect to Christian symbols. When Cortes came to the Aztec empire, the Spaniards were welcomed. However, the Spanish scorned the Aztecs' religion and ... sought to convert them to Christianity. The Spanish conquistadors accomplished a major victory in the America...

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7. When Jesus Came The Corn Mothers Went Away

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8. Spanish American War

... as an imperial nation but would also be the most controversial. The Spanish American War, and the results of it, led to the downfall of the Spanish empire and allowed for the emergence of the new American empire. The United States sent the battleship Maine to Havana Harbor to protect the Americans that were in Cuba. On February 15, 1898, the ship exploded in the harbor. 1 The results of the explosion led to an outcry from both politicians ... and the American public. In the opinion of the American people Spain ... ...

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9. The Broken Spears

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