Spanish vs. English Colonization Essay

Introduction

In their efforts to colonize the Americas, the Spanish and the British opted for polarly different approaches, with the methods of the latter showing to be more effective and prosperous in the long-run. While the Spanish focused on capturing the wealth offered by the new lands, the English run their colonies as tools for sustaining their living, working, and finding new ways in which they can become a prosperous society.

Main body

Since the discovery of the new land by Christopher Columbus, the Spanish came to colonize territories seeking wealth and gold. Hernán Cortés, a Spanish Conquistador, came to the Americas in the hopes to gain hereditary power for his family and initiated the conquest for capturing the lands of the Aztec Empire, the wealth of which astonished the Spanish. Besides the thirst of the Spanish for land and gold, they were adamant about changing over the native population of the Americas to Catholicism, which went against the beliefs of the Indians and Aztecs¹. In the vision of colonial society by the Spanish, everyone would know their place, patriarchy would prevail, while Conquistadors would be at the top of the social hierarchy, with the native Americans and Africans beneath them. The majority of ventures undertaken by them were short-term, with the Spanish bringing devastating diseases, which lead to the loss of life among the natives.

The English did not adopt the Spanish model of the colonial rule because their goals of coming to the Americas were different. The majority of colonists from England cam as households in the search for work and avoiding spiritual persecution. Among them were Puritan families who sought life according to the demands of the scripture, “envisioning a new English Israel where reformed Protestantism would grow and thrive, providing a model for the rest of the Christian world and a counter to what they saw as the Catholic menace.”² This led to the English having much larger populations in their colonies compared to the Spanish who run their territories while the majority of their occupants were natives. A larger population in the colonies meant greater opportunities for human power and the subsequent increase in wealth development. The use of indentured servants at tobacco plants in English colonies showed to have a complexly positive impact on economy sustainability – the servants received freedom after their indenture and could become independent tobacco planters themselves.

Conclusion

Both Spanish and English colonists came to the Americas in the search for new opportunities for expansion. Also, both of them placed great importance on religion and the role of social structures. The English, however, were more effective in their efforts to prosper because they brought more people to the new land and facilitated a rapid expansion of the economy, which the Spanish had failed to do.

Bibliography

Corbett, Scott, Janssen, Volker, Lund, John, Pfannestiel, Todd, and Paul Vickery. U.S. History. Houston, TX: Open Stax, 2017.

Footnotes

1. Scott Corbett, Volker Janssen, John Lund, Todd Pfannestiel, and Paul Vickery, U.S. History, (Houston, TX: Open Stax, 2017), 64.
2. Scott Corbett, Volker Janssen, John Lund, Todd Pfannestiel, and Paul Vickery, U.S. History, 73.