In a way, Spain did not expand so much for religion. Yeah, wherever they went they wanted to plant a missionary, but in reality they were only looking for valuable things that they could keep and take away from the other people. The Colonists came to The New World because they wanted to either separate from the Church of England or they did not agree with the opinions expressed in the church. Many states were specifically for certain religions. For example, Maryland was a safe haven for Catholics and the Spanish really never had that.
Wouldn't this mostly be considered a historical question? I understand that it is writing, but I think you could get more accurate replies by putting it under the history category.
They didn't have the resistance built up to germs that Europeans carried with them so they started massively dying due to this and they needed a huge workforce. That's why they started getting slaves from Africa who could work and get resources for manufacturing.
