Question

Which kind of relationship did Spanish colonists have with native Americans

Answer 1

Colonists treated native Americans poorly

Answer 2

Interactions among Europeans and Native Americans varied from place to place, and members of each nation forged relationships with Indians in very different ways, depending on a variety of economic, social and political factors. While we should be mindful of this diversity, we can still make certain generalizations. Few Europeans considered Native Americans their equals, because of differences in religion, agricultural practice, housing, dress, and other characteristics that—to Europeans—indicated Native American inferiority. However, the French, Spanish, and Dutch sought profit through trade and exploitation of New World resources, and they knew that the native people would be important to their success. Europeans also wanted to convert Native Americans to Christianity. Therefore, economic gain and religion were the two factors that most affected the dynamics of European and indigenous American relationships.

The Spanish:
Spain, the most powerful monarchy in Europe and the Americas, wished to enrich themselves with the New World’s natural resources. After enslaving indigenous peoples in the Caribbean and the southern parts of the Americas to grow crops and mine for gold, silver, and other valuables, the Spanish moved into North America where they concentrated their efforts in what is now the southwestern and southeastern United States. In Florida, for example, Spain established a military post at San Augustín, (today called St. Augustine) but only a small number of Spaniards settled there. Catholic missionaries labored to convert the Indians to Christianity, and they experienced some success baptizing and transforming the Guale and Timucuan peoples into farmers. But even the most cooperative Indians continued to maintain their own religious and cultural traditions, and many priests concluded that the Indians were inferior and incapable of understanding Christianity. Indigenous populations declined over the seventeenth century as epidemics brought by the Spanish killed large numbers of natives. San Augustín remained a small outpost throughout the Spanish colonial period; a sort of multicultural crossroads where indigenous peoples came to trade with Spaniards and intermarriage between Spanish men and American Indian women was