The Impact Of The Encounter Between Europeans And Indigenous People In 1492, a Spanish expedition headed by Christopher Columbus

reached the Americas, after which European exploration and colonization rapidly expanded, at first through much of the Caribbean Sea region (including the islands of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Cuba) and, since the early 16th century, through the mainland of both North and South America. The first conquests of the Caribbean were made by the Spanish and the Portuguese. In the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, ratified by the Pope, these two kingdoms divided the entire nonEuropean world between themselves, with a line drawn through South America. Based on this Treaty, and the claims by Spanish explorer Vasco Nez de Balboa to all lands touching the Pacific Ocean. The European colonization of the Americas forever changed the lives, bloodlines and cultures of the peoples of the Caribbean. The population history of indigenous peoples postulates that infectious disease exposure, displacement, and warfare diminished populations, with the first the most significant cause. The first indigenous group encountered by Columbus was the Tanos of Hispaniola who were the dominant culture in the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas. In thirty years, about 70% of the Tanos died. They had no immunity to European diseases, so outbreaks of measles and smallpox ravaged their population. The news of the riches offered by Hispaniola and surrounding islands soon spread across Europe. The notion of fabulous wealth for the picking was like a magnet for other European Nations. Within a few years, harvesters from Spain and other European countries were travelling from island to island seeking artifacts, precious metals, spices, and human beings for enslavement. The cruel assault mounted by these people against the defenseless and non-aggressive Taino, who had numbered in the millions in 1492, was so effective that forty years later they were virtually extinct." The increased ignorance towards the practice of punishing the Tanos for revolting themselves from forced labour, despite the measures brought by the Encomienda which included religious education and protection from warring tribes, eventually helped conceived the last great Tano rebellion. Mistreated, the Tanos began to adopt suicidal behaviors, with women aborting or killing their infants, men jumping from the cliffs or ingesting manioc, a violent poison. The Laws of Burgos, 1512-1513 were the first codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spanish settlers in America, particularly with regards to native Indians. They forbade the maltreatment of natives, and endorsed their conversion to Catholicism. A positive of the encounter is European and Asian animals were introduced into the Americas, which had previously lacked animal power.

Colonial Patterns
1

Comparisons between Spanish and English colonial patterns demonstrate that significant differences existed. There were, however, notable similarities. Both nations used New World colonies to further their mercantile goals. In the process of exploitation, both nations ravaged native populations, charting a long course of cultural disruption and destruction. By the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, both nations would lose their primary New World colonies as independent communities emerged. Causes of European actions in the Americas were many and changed as the dynamics of colonization became more defined. European competitors, reflecting different cultures and religions, attempted to imprint their identities on settlements established for a variety of reasons. The earliest of the colonizers, Spain and Portugal, declined in the face of later competition from England, France, and Holland. These nations exported manufactured goods in return for raw materials to expand their profit margins. Relations with colonies were affected by the policies of mercantilism, which were crafted to benefit the colonizers. Outside of the core region of Europe lay areas that were economically dependent on the world trade system. These regions produced commercial crops sugar, spices, tobacco, cotton, and slaves in return for the manufactured products of Europe. The construction of core and dependent areas was critical the formation of the world trade system. The Spanish seizure of lands in the New World began with the Caribbean islands. Spain initiated the colonization of the America with disastrous consequences for the Indians. While no French or English colonies were created in the 16 th century, they had developed a commercial colonial encounter. More heavily settled than other areas, the British colonies were closer to European models of government, religion, and political theory Similarities and Difference between Spanish, French, and English colonization in the Caribbean ENGLAND: Arrogant, poor treatment of natives - concerned only with commerce - mostly cotton, coffee and slave trade FRANCE: Rather arrogant, however sought to make peaceful overtures to the Natives, commercial activities were limited due to sites of colonial territories SPAIN: Religious fanatics, ruled/conquered for the sake of religion - little involvement in commerce until cocoa and sugar became profitable The three nations have a definite contrast to them in terms of how they form colonies in the Caribbean. The Spanish tended to set up the equivalent of fiefdoms, where the ruler of a particular area tended to be from Spain itself rather than one of the local residents. The Spanish also had a higher instance of intermixing with the First Nations, resulting in the modern distinction between Latinos and Spanish proper. Spain focused a great deal on converting the peoples in their empire to Christianity. This was because of Queen Isabella's commitment to her catholic faith. While others concerned
2

themselves with the potential riches of the new world, Isabella worried about the heathen Indians and their souls Hence an early penetration by the Catholic Church, and the establishment of missions in all of Spain's territories The Spanish were poor administrators. The audencia system was far too bulky to rule the continent effectively. Also, the Spainish system of ruling their empire was not flexible - all major decisions were made in Spain, hundreds of thousands of miles away. When an official wrote for advice in the audencia of Nuevo Espana (Mexico Honduras etc.,) the letter didn't reach Spain for four months! By that time, the crisis was over. But officials had no authority to take initiative, and therefore could not govern properly. The French were generally not into large scale colonization. For France, the key word is always "assimilation". The French did not aim to simply to convert people to Christianity. The aim was to export France - the culture, the food and the language. Therefore, the French dealt with their colonial subjects differently. They did their best make sure their colonies became outposts of France, educating their subjects and encouraging them to think of themselves as French but this was greatly expensive. The English formed large-scale colonies along the Atlantic seaboard, but unlike the Spanish, they were for the most part home-ruled. That is, the leaders of the colonies generally came from those colonies instead of from Britain itself. The English colonies were also more heterogeneous, having groups from Scotland (before the Act of Union), Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. They were also more religiously diverse as some colonies were Anglican, but others tended to be refuges for Puritans, Separatists, Quakers, and English Catholics. The British were always practical in their empire. Therefore they allowed limited self -governance in some countries. The British did not try to export their culture, but rather adopted specific aspects of it to help in the running of the empire, for example their British education system. Most commonwealth countries have an education system very similar to Great Britain. But the idea that colonists were "British" was not encouraged. The result was the development of strong national feeling in each colony, but not necessarily a dedication to the empire. The English never really clashed with the Spanish in the Americas as they focused on different regions. When England and France clashed, the numerical superiority of the English tended to be a decisive factor

Impact of Colonialism on the Caribbean The exploitation of the Caribbean landscape dates back to the Spanish conquistadors around 1600 who mined the islands for gold which they brought back to Spain. The more significant
3

development came when Christopher Columbus wrote back to Spain that the islands were made for sugar development. The history of Caribbean agricultural dependency is closely linked with European colonialism which altered the financial potential of the region by introducing a plantation system. Much like the Spanish enslaved indigenous Indians to work in gold mines, the seventeenth brought a new series of oppressors in the form of the Dutch, the English, and the French. By the middle of the eighteenth century sugar was Britain's largest import which made the Caribbean that much more important as a colony. The New World plantations were established in order to fulfill the growing needs of the Old World. The sugar plantations were built with the intention of exporting the sugar back to Britain which is why the British did not need to stimulate local demand for the sugar with wages. A system of slavery was adapted since it allowed the colonizer to have an abundant work force with little worry about declining demands for sugar. In the 19th century wages were finally introduced with the abolition of slavery. The new system in place however was similar to the previous as it was based on white capital and colored labor.[ Large numbers of unskilled workers were hired to perform repeated tasks, which made it very difficult for these workers to ever leave and pursue any non farming employment. Unlike other countries, where there was an urban option for finding work, the Caribbean countries had money invested in agriculture and lacked any core industrial base. The cities that did exist offered limited opportunities to citizens and almost none for the unskilled masses who had worked in agriculture their entire lives. The products produced brought in no profits for the countries since they were sold to the colonial occupant buyer who controlled the price the products were sold at. This resulted in extremely low wages with no potential for growth since the occupant nations had no intention of selling the products at a higher price to themselves. The result of this economic exploitation was a plantation dependence which saw the Caribbean nations possessing a large quantity of unskilled workers capable of performing agricultural tasks and not much else. After many years of colonial rule the nations also saw no profits brought into their country since the sugar production was controlled by the colonial rulers. This left the Caribbean nations with little capital to invest towards enhancing any future industries unlike European nations which were developing rapidly and separating themselves technologically and economically from most impoverished nations of the world.