Spanish and English dominance in colonial North America and Mesoamerica

¶ … 18th century a number of races and nationalities were in the process of settling North America. The variety of ethnicities and cultures included, but were not limited to: Native Americans, Spanish, English, French, Germans and Jews, yet eventually the dominant races in North America were the English, Anglo-Saxons and Spanish. Interestingly enough, both groups featured a historical background that was likely much more religious than the other groups that faded into historical oblivion.

During the time when all the groups were attempting to establish footholds in the Americas a bible was in use by both the English and the Spanish that stated "and God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (Genesis 1, vs. 28). In other words, they were commanded to become the dominant force in the land, wherever that land was.

It is this paper's assertion that these two races, based upon their inherent, and deeply held religious beliefs of being the dominant race, strove to enforce those beliefs in an aggressive manner, thereby forcing the remaining settlers to accept less affluent roles in their new residence.

The deeply held religious views of the Spanish and English settlers coincided with their strong political views. Those two components complemented the abiding strength and courage it took to embark on a hazardous journey to a new land. Because their religious beliefs included the belief that they were a chosen people, a people who would have dominance over every living thing that moveth upon the earth, this inherent strength likely gave them the necessary ingredients to achieve exactly what they believed they were chosen to achieve.

After all, they were told by their leaders and their Bible, that God would protect them and bless them with everything they would stand in need of, as long as they were obeying God's commandments.

At that time even their Pope (ecclesiastical leader) espoused upon much more than their spiritual lives, he often spoke of their temporal lives and the blessings they would receive as well. These teachings assumed that the individual settlers were pious and worked for the betterment of not only themselves, but for the all-powerful Church as well. The Church owned land, owned the largest and most beautiful buildings and most importantly, owned the key that could unlock eternal life, or sentence the individual to an afterlife in hell. It was a system of utmost efficiency, subjugating the pious settlers to a harness of spiritual forbearance.

These factors all weighed heavily on the soul of man, so much so that they would choose to travel through rough seas, embarking on a journey that would reward them with not only earthly riches but heavenly riches as well. This was a belief system that fomented a revolution.

Religion and politics were not the only reasons for the dominance of the Spanish and English, other factors included the ongoing spread of technological advances such as the printing press. Before the advent of the printing press, few if any works were available to the general public. Hand printing was the art form of the day. One expert said the printing of that era was "as much a gesture of cultural preservation and religious expression as it is a means of production and communication" (Potter, 2010, p. 31).

With Guttenberg's discovery came a method of distributing the written word on a much quicker and more efficient manner. The Church quickly realized its importance and attempted to maintain a strict control over its usage, but failed. What the Church was successful at accomplishing was a vast distribution of religious books (including the Bible) and pamphlets espousing the Bible's teachings. Many of those printed teachings were distributed to people of European descent, thereby making a lasting impression that many of these same people brought with them to North America in their search for new lands to conquer and tame.

Additionally, technological advances in weaponry was a contributing factor to the dominance of the Spanish and English over their native counterparts. With the advent of the cannon and other sophisticated weaponry the old medieval belief that "individual glory was more important than group victory" (Raybould, Jones, Gerhardt, 1986, p. 172) was cast into the blowing wind. Now the Spanish Armada could be outfitted accordingly, while the Spanish soldiers became quite efficient in the mass killing of native Americans and other indigenous souls. When Cortez subdued the Aztecs much of his firepower only had to overcome the primitive weaponry of the natives who were used to wielding weaponry such as the Macuahuitl. The Macuahuitl was a weapon using obsidian, or volcanically formed glass, embedded in a club. Ancient Mesoamericans embedded it into the business end -- or rather edges- of a cross between a club and a sword that had no Old World equivalent" (Guttman, 2010) but it was definitely no match for the Spanish swords and cannons. Another advantage that the Spanish had over the natives was the fact that they had a more efficient manner of transportation. The Spanish brought horses with them. Not only did it give the Spanish a huge physical advantage, it also allowed them to more efficiently move goods, products, manpower and weaponry than what was available to the natives. Additionally the Spanish explorers oftentimes brought diseases with them that caught the natives with no defense. Many natives would die when contracting diseases the Spanish lived with as a matter of course.