topic 1.6

• Spanish colonial dominance in the Americas fundamentally shaped the culture there
• Spanish hegemony refers to the domination of one nation or group by another nation or group
• Spanish expansion in the Americas


  1. Sending missionaries to convert natives to Christianity

  2. Establishing the mission system
• Differences between Spanish and Native American worldviews


  • Religion: Natives were pantheists/animists, Spanish had hierarchical Catholic Christianity
  • Land use: Natives saw land as spiritual, Spanish saw it as private property
  • Family: Natives had extended kinship networks, Spanish had nuclear families
• Both groups adopted parts of the other's culture that they found useful
• Differences between the two groups held pride of place, leading to misunderstandings
• Native groups that converted to Christianity

  • Pueblo people
• Pueblo people incorporated Christ into their pantheon of gods, retaining native religious practices
• Pueblo revolt


  1. Pueblo people killed 400 Spanish colonizers and burned churches

  2. Spanish later reconquered the land and people
• King Charles convened a group to discuss the moral and legal fallout of Spanish conquest in the Americas
• Bartolomé de las Casas argued for the dignity of the Indians and against the brutality of Spanish colonial policies
• De las Casas suggested that Africans replace natives in the forced labor system, which is what the Spanish did