Colonists, Indians, and the Spanish Empire

In Spanish America, unlike the later British empire, Indian inhabitants always outnumbered European colonists.
Large areas remained effectively under Indian control for many years.
Spanish authorities granted Indians certain rights within colonial society and looked forward to their eventual assimilation, unlike the English.
The success of the Spanish empire depended on the nature of the native societies on which it could build.
In areas lacking major Indian cities and large native populations, such as Florida, the Amazon, and Caribbean islands like Jamaica, Spanish rule remained uneasy.
The Spanish crown encouraged colonists to marry, and intermixing of the colonial and Indian peoples soon began.
In 1514, the Spanish government formally approved of such marriages, partly to bring Christianity to the native population.
By 1600, mestizos (persons of mixed origin) made up a large part of the urban population of Spanish America.
Mestizos repopulated the Valley of Mexico, where disease had decimated the original inhabitants.
Spanish America evolved into a hybrid culture: part Spanish, part Indian, and in some areas part African, but with a single official faith, language, and governmental system.
Spanish society was defined by the Casta system, where one's social position depended on their ethnic heritage.

Europeans had immense confidence in the superiority of their own cultures and expected other societies to embrace their beliefs and traditions.
Failure to do so reinforced the conviction that these people were uncivilized "heathens" (non-Christians).
Europeans brought a long history of using violence and a missionary zeal to spread their civilization.
The establishment of the Spanish empire in America took place after Spain's territorial unification, the rise of a powerful royal government, and the enforcement of religious orthodoxy by the expulsion of Muslims and Jews in 1492.
In 1493, Pope Alexander VI divided the non-Christian world between Spain and Portugal.
The line was adjusted to give Portugal control of Brazil, with the remainder of the Western Hemisphere falling under Spanish authority.

The Pope justified his pronouncement by requiring Spain and Portugal to spread Catholicism among the native inhabitants of the Americas.
The missionary element of colonization was reinforced in the sixteenth century when the Protestant Reformation divided the Catholic Church.
In 1517, Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses, which accused the Church of worldliness and corruption, leading to conflict in Europe between the Catholic Church and newer forms of Christianity.
Spain redoubled its efforts to convert the Indians to the "true faith."
National glory and religious mission went hand in hand.
Spain insisted that the primary goal of colonization was to save the Indians from heathenism and prevent them from falling under the sway of Protestantism.
The aim was to transform the Indians into obedient, Christian subjects of the crown, not exterminate them.
Lacking the later concept of "race," many Spanish writers insisted that Indians could be "brought up" to the level of European civilization.
This meant the destruction of existing Indian political structures and a transformation of their economic and spiritual lives.

The large native populations of the Americas were both souls to be saved and a labor force to be organized to extract gold and silver.
Spanish rulers proclaimed the goal of bringing true "freedom" to the Indians by instructing them in Christianity.
Enslaving the natives was justified as liberating them from their own backwardness and savagery to become part of Christian civilization.
Religious orders established missions throughout the empire.