5.3.6

=5.3.6 Latin America through the 18th Century= Early colonization in Latin America had disastrous effects on the indigenous population. Examples were the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish, the policies of Pizarro in South America to enslave indigenous populations, and the acculturalization policies that resulted in European-based land ownership and substitution of indigenous religions for Christianity. Social stratification resulted from individuals of mixed parentage being born within areas occupied by Europeans. Europeans were attracted to those locations that had precious metals like gold and silver, and climatic regions suitable for plantation crops, such as sugar cane. Extraction of minerals and production of commercial crops required considerable labor. Indigenous populations were decimated by disease and forced labor. European populations were small. The products of plantations and mines owned by Europeans using forced African labor became an integral part of the trans-Atlantic trade.

5.3.6 Latin America through the 18th Century – Analyze colonial transformations in Latin America, including
 * the near-elimination of American Indian civilizations and peoples
 * social stratiﬁ cations of the population (e.g., peninsulares, creoles, mestizos)
 * the regional and global role of silver and sugar
 * resource extraction and the emerging system of labor (e.g., mita, slavery)

Columbus felt superior to the native Tainos because they did not pay proper respect to the Christian symbols. The Spanish Conquistadors seized the Native American's gold and made them get more for them. The Spanish Conquistadors also forced them to convert to Christianity. The Spanish Conquistadors only had a few hundred people which does not compare to the millions of Native Americans but the Spanish still had guns and cannons which were a lot better than the Native American's Bows and Spears. The Spanish also brought an other weapon that they did not even know that they had, this weapon was all of the diseases that they had carried but built up an immunity to and the Native Americans did not have any immunity to these diseases at all. The Spanish all wanted to go to the Americas because they had been attracted by the promise of gold and riches. Hernán Cortés Had taken 600 men, 16 horses, and a few cannons to try to conquer the Aztecs that had repelled many conquistadors before him. Cortés had found a translator who told him that the tribes in the surrounding area of the Aztecs did not like them because they took people by force to fight for them so Cortéz had them help him defeat the Aztecs. Moctezuma, the Aztec leader was very frightened by Cortéz because he had thought that he was an Aztec god that he had made angry at him. Cortés had made it to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán and had been force out but he returned in 1521 and defeated the Aztecs.
 * The Near Elimination Of the American Indian Civilizations and peoples**

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