How Did The Spanish Most Exploit The People of The Americas?
In many different ways, Spanish colonizers exploited the Native people of the Americas.
Historical evidence proves that they mostly exploited them by:
- Enslaving in large numbers and importing them to Europe for slavery.
- Make them work forcefully in gold, silver, and diamond mines. Here, they treated them like animals.
- Mass killings & exterminations of Natives from their own homelands.
During the initial Spanish conquests to the Americas, more than 8 million Natives lost their lives.
In these 8 million deaths, most of the deaths were caused due to the spread of infectious diseases and genocides.
4 Facts You May Not Know About Natives People & Spanish Colonization In Americas
1. Did you know? After Spanish colonizers started colonizing the Americas, the population of those lands’ indigenous people decreased around 80 percent.
This massive reduction happened through genocides, the spread of lethal diseases, missionization, and resource extraction.
2. Did you know? The term ‘Indians’ was first used by Spaniards to signify the indigenous people of the Americas because in 1492 when Christopher Columbus discovered the landmass, he thought it was India by mistake.
3. Did you know? Queen Isabel was the first monarch of Europe who established the foundation for the protection of Native Americans from enslavement by Spanish settlers.
For the first time, in 1512-1513, she initiated the Laws of Burgos for protecting Natives populations’ exploitation and other atrocities from Spanish settlers.
4. Did you know? The Natives population in Mexico in 1519 was around 30 million.
But once Spaniards arrived, they spread some dangerous diseases there and caused genocides.
After 50 years, Mexico’s local population reduced to only 3 million, which means, 90 percent population was completely exterminated.
