Gold, Slaves, The conquistadors had many motives, and of course different

people surely had different motives. Overall, though, the typical conquistador was most likely driven by a desire to get wealth and power. Many of the Spanish conquistadors were men who did not have a great deal of status back at home. They came to the New World in hopes of making their fortunes. They hoped, for example, that they might be given encomiendas, which were estates that they could run using the natives as essentially their slave labor. By coming to the New World, men like Hernan Cortes hoped to become wealthy and important in the new colonies that they hoped to take.
Posted by pohnpei397 on June 28, 2011 at 12:17 PM

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akannan Teacher Middle School Educator Emeritus, Debater, Expert, Instructor, Dickens, The Bard, Churchill

Frankly, I think that the motives of the conquistador lies in their name. These men wanted to conquer "the other," that which was in front of them. They did not come in peaceful harmony. Their motives were to conquer and capture that which existed in their path to extolling their own glory, and that of nation in a secondary capacity. The Conquistador use of force through the military reveals that their motives were to control new lands and native populations. The deception of indigenous tribal leaders into believing that the conquistador was an agent of peace only further enhances the motive of self- interest and destruction of "the other," supplanting it with their own vision of control and power.
and to convert people to their religion

What motivated the Spanish Conquistadors is often neatly broken down into three basic factors: God, glory and gold. While it is hard to fault this concept it is nonetheless a hugely simplistic point of view. Each Conquistador had his own reasons for travelling to an unknown

and hostile land; few were forced to go and each soldier was motivated by his own personal goals. By looking at the Hernan Corts expedition, as will be done here, the concept of God, glory and gold can both be supported and expanded upon. The few hundred brave men who went with Corts into the heartlands of the Aztec Empire were by no means uniform in their goals or ideals. While most were motivated by God, glory and gold to some extent, the influence of each one varied depending upon the individual. Personal Wealth and the Quest for Aztec Gold That the Conquistadors were in search of personal wealth is undeniable. The quest for Aztec gold was at the forefront of the Corts expedition and the reason why many soldiers willingly joined the campaign. If gold did not come their way then silver, textiles, jewelry and other treasures were never far from reach. Bernal Diaz, Conquistador and later chronicler of the expedition, frequently details the gifts (of varying value) offered to his party in The Conquest of New Spain. Potential personal wealth also resided in the possibility of claiming land. While some of the upper ranks in the expedition, Corts included, were already landowners in New Spain or back in their homeland, others were landless soldiers with much to gain and very little to lose. Settling in a Spanish-controlled New World as a landowner offered its own distinct benefits. The Conquistadors, Religion & the Spread of the Catholic Faith The Corts expedition went to great lengths to establish the Catholic faith in the lands through which they passed. At times, in contrast to the otherwise careful handling of the native population by Corts, the destruction of native religious idols was carried out in order to promote the Catholic faith. Crosses were also erected in potentially hostile

territory and sermons and teachings were given to the local populace by way of translator. The Corts expedition, however, was largely a military undertaking. It can be argued that religious motives were largely a pretext for the actual purpose of the campaign, the quest for Aztec gold. In order to maintain the support of both the Spanish crown and the Catholic Church, the cunning Corts would have felt the need to give the expedition a religious angle. That said, the Conquistadors were highly religious men who bore witness to sacrifices, cannibalism, idolatry and acts of sodomy throughout their journey through the New World. Bernal Diaz makes it quite clear that his companions were horrified by much of what they saw. That Corts and his men may have felt compelled to promote their own faith in light of native religious practices is not beyond reason. The Conquest of New Spain in the Name of the King Corts certainly paid heed to his King but he took his own advice more than that of any other man, certainly while in the New World. He often consulted with the senior members of his expedition but he was, by and large, a man under his own command. Corts' early years seem to reflect this independent streak, a character trait that was to grow as the man matured. However, Corts always portrayed himself as the envoy of his King, particularly when dealing with Montezuma. The royal fifth (the portion of booty to be given to the crown) may have been a little light on occasion, but Corts and his Conquistadors had little reason to be overtly disloyal to Spain. The Conquistadors, Glory & Honor Warfare has long been associated with concepts such as glory and honor. It is doubtful whether any Conquistador could be seen as driven principally by a desire for glory, although glory can be seen as

a driving force behind the Corts expedition. Whatever charges can be raised against the conduct of the Conquistadors, their bravery cannot be questioned. Historian Irving Albert Leonard highlights this Spanish notion of glory: This Spanish preoccupation with the abstract quality of Glory, which was closely identified with military distinction, probably crystallized during the more than seven centuries of intermittent warfare against the Moors. If glory itself was a motivating factor for the Spanish Conquistadors, it would certainly help to explain their numerous acts of almost foolhardy bravery.

Read more at Suite101: God, Glory & Gold The Motivation of the Spanish Conquistadors | Suite101 http://suite101.com/article/godglory--gold--the-motivation-of-the-spanish-conquistadorsa222316#ixzz2FAru3EAD Follow us: @suite101 on Twitter | Suite101 on Facebook

Christopher Columbus opened up the New World for exploration. Although the Vikings arrived in the New World close to 500 years before they kept it a secret and as a result it stayed dormant until 1492. Upon Columbuss arrival there were two empires that existed in the Americas:

The Aztecs The Incas

Each would greet the Spaniards and each would fall to them. The first empire to fall would be the Aztecs in 1519 to Hernan Cortes and the Incas in 1533 to Francisco Pizarro. Cortes and Pizarro were able to use the same tactic to defeat both of the empires. They each recruited other tribes that sought to free themselves from their rule. Each was able to defeat vast empires with only a handful of men. Although it was not an empire at this point the remnants of the Mayan civilization would eventually be conquered as well. With each of the two empires falling the Spanish grew wealthier and established a New World empire of their own that would extend from South America into the Western part of present day United Stated and Canada. During this time of great wealth the Spanish Main became a place for privateers and pirates. With so much wealth flowing out of Caribbean each of the European powers tried to establish a colony there. The Spanish, English, Dutch and French all had colonies and were often at war with each other. Eventually Great Britain would gain an advantage with the defeat of the Spanish Armada and begin to slowly take control of the New World. Spanish influence would diminish and two new powers would surface with England and France. These two nations would engage in bloody wars for many years eventually resulting in the Seven Years War that ended with the British taking control of Quebec. Soon after, the American Colonies declared Independence and enlisted the European Allies of the French and Spanish. At this point the Spanish had little power and controlled little of the Caribbean. The American Colonies went on to win the Revolutionary War and begin a new nation. With the arrival of a new nation that was a great experiment many of the old empires were forgotten and replaced by classic European empires such as Greece and Rome. Spanish control faded also and soon the new nation purchased Florida. The age of the Spanish Conquistadors had been over for some time, but their influence cannot be denied. Their conquest of two of the largest empires in the world set the stage for European exploration which would lead to the United States of America.

Motives
The motives of the conquistadors were diverse, but mainly concentrated on 3 reasons

The first and primary reason was wealth and power. They did not care too much for the people who were poor and those who gained the most fame were not what one would consider missionaries. Cortes conquered the Aztecs and in doing so secured himself a fortune. Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas and in doing so became wealthy.

The second reason was to spread Christianity. At this point in Spanish history most of the people claimed to be Catholic and were zealous. They believed it was their duty to bring Christianity to pagans. Unfortunately, they did so in such a cruel way that it did not echo the message of Christ. If the pagans did not give they were brutally destroyed. While it was not Spains intent to oppress

the pagans the conquistadors acted in ways that they believed were best. The lack of accountability meant that the many people were driven from their homes and lost their culture, religion and families.

Thirdly was economic reasons. The Spanish Main became a place of trade and made Spain an economic powerhouse.

Each of these reasons would result in the building of a Spanish Empire.

Spanish Conquistadors: Military Tactics

When the Spanish arrived in the Americas they were vastly outnumbered by the natives. The Spanish military never rose past 2% of the native population during this time, yet they were able to conquer the largest empires of that time. They accomplished these great feats by many means. Firstly, the technology the conquistadors used was superior to the technology of the natives. They fought most nude troops with weapons made of wood and lesser metals. Their armor was made of steel and iron which made it difficult for the natives to pierce. Their swords were often considered the greatest of European craftsmanship and could run a man through quite easily. The introduction of gunpowder to Europe in the 14th century had created a greater reliance on well-trained heavy infantry. Secondly, to bolster their numbers they allied themselves with other natives. This was certainly one of the reasons that the Aztecs and Incas fell so quickly. Cortes raised an army of 200,000 men and less than 1% of the army was Spanish. The Incas and Aztecs were harsh to the native tribes which allowed the conquistadors to take advantage and bolster their numbers while also having superior technology. The Europeans would often use a tactic called divide and rule which systematically separated large enemies into smaller factions. By defeating one small faction at a time you weaken the large enemy. It is effective in conquering a larger enemy and by prohibiting smaller entities from forming alliances. Thirdly, war in Europe had raged for centuries after the fall of Rome. This resulted in men being welltrained and well-educated in warfare. Europe had some of the best soldiers in the world and they knew how to kill men and how to devastate populations. They were unmerciful and unforgiving. They would kill men, women and children to establish absolute fear. The natives knew war, but their tactics were sophomoric and based on their religious beliefs. They would not fight to kill, but to capture. After capturing the army they would sacrifice them to their gods. These tactics were ignorant and allowed the Spanish to easily crush them.

Fourthly, The Spanish brought with them their germs and disease. The diseases ran through the natives and killed many. The Aztecs were devastated with smallpox and did not have the antibodies to fight them off. While men died from disease in Europe many of these conquistador armies were hardened men whose bodies had fought the disease off, therefore it did not devastate them like it did the natives. Fifthly, The Spanish had trained animals for war for centuries. The Spanish Mastiff was a full armored war dog that was fearless and unleashed against nude troops. These dogs had been trained to kill men and were highly effective in intimidating native armies. Also and most notably, the Spanish introduced the use of horses to the natives which allowed them great mobility and were highly effective. Lastly, the culture of these two civilizations were different. The natives had a hunter-gatherer mentality and wars were often fought over long periods of time with many rituals. Their resources such as metals and animals were used to support their hunter-gatherer culture and not war. The Europeans were war-like people and had used their resources to progress in war. Their dogs, metals and innovations were typically put to use in war which resulted in a strong military. When the two civilizations collided the natives did not stand a chance. Below is a list of famous Conquistadors and Explorers.

http://trunovelty10.edublogs.org/background-of-spanish-colonizationof-the-philippines/ http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090621005812AAKL gRa

http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/spanish-conquistadors.htm http://joxcam.blogspot.com/2011/12/top-10-reasons-why-there-is-poor.html http://globalnation.inquirer.net/viewpoints/viewpoints/view/20090825-221948/Why-Is-thePhilippines-Still-Poor http://expertscolumn.com/content/why-philippines-still-poor

Poverty is a multi-dimensional problem, and I believed that there are not just single factor that contribute to it, in fact there are a lot of factor that made Philippines a land of poverty. Before Philippines was consider as the pearl of Asia 40 years ago, envied by its neighbouring countries for its beauty and abundance of natural resources but, now suddenly its just another poor country trying to get by and these are the factors that I think contribute to the existence of poverty in our country:

Corruption
The Philippines suffers from widespread corruption.

Improper allocation of resources

Philippines is rich in natural resources, it is surrounded by fertile, arable lands, diverse flora and fauna, extensive coastlines, and rich mineral deposits but due to improper use of people it tends to be useless. Philippines is a agricultural country but the problem is our government are not giving enough attention on cultivating and enriching our own land because they are much focus substitution industrialization which on inward-looking, import

equated economic development with capital-

intensive industrialization that did nothing to address our massive unemployment and underemployment problem. The worst consequence of these failed economic policies

by our government was the small industries in our country never grew up. Because they used up our capital resources in the manufacturing sector, there were no or few resources left to build farm-to-market roads, irrigation systems, post-harvest facilities, seaports, and airports that were essential in making our small farmers productive, therefore we have no choice but to import goods in other countries. Unlike Philippines, Thailand has become the largest rice exporter in the world and a large exporter of many other high-value agricultural products. Thailand has been able to attain a higher level of development and significantly reduce poverty, despite the fact that corruption has also been rampant in that country because they enlightened policy of focusing on rural and agricultural development. The government must allocate our funds correctly especially in the field of agriculture so that we will not import good but export good throughout the world and this might be the possible weapon against poverty. The second problem why poverty is still prominent in our country is just because we forgot to emphasize the power or education here in the Philippines. When it comes on prioritizing higher educational system the Philippines has one of the shortest basic education systems in Asia-Pacific, and in fact we are late on adopting the K-12 program therefore our education seemed to be stocked on a lower degree for a long run unlike other countries in Asia which lead to uncompetitive quality of education and Another problem is many people here are not educated because many parents are not able to send their children in school and suddenly our government cant resolve this problem. They did not give enough support and budgets for education specially on giving scholarships, lack of teachers, class rooms and school supplies.

Corruption
The Philippines suffers from widespread corruption. Means of corruption include graft, bribery, embezzlement, backdoor deals, nepotism, patronage. The funds that supposedly for education, infrastructure and

In the early 1960s, the Philippines was an economic power. In fact, during the era, the archipelago nation boasted one of the largest economies in Asia, behind only Japan. Today, while it remains an important part of Asean and the world community at large, it's safe to say that those glory days are long over. When most outsiders think of the Philippines today, it is political instability, economic struggle, crime and corruption that often come to mind.

1. Corruption- I know, its crazy, our officials are corrupt to the bone but they keep winning the elections.
So how does it work? It kinda goes like; The National Government gives funds to local government for road widening for 10 miles, local Mayor receives the funds, he then starts the construction for 5 miles road widening. Where does the other 5 go? In his pocket!!! That scam and other amazing scams our officials think of to steal our hard earned money.

Improper allocation of resources Brain Drain

a large-scale immigration of individuals with technical skills or knowledge lead to lack of skilled workers in the Philippines. And because of this For example. I have two aunts living in US, both of them incredibly smart, they are teachers who graduated from U.P..... which means the Filipino people paid for their education, but their not teaching Filipinos. The ones reaping the benefits are young Americans. The lack of skilled workers in the Philippines cannot compensate what money the OFW's are sending, although it is true that the OFW's are the ones keeping the economy afloat, it is actually doing more harm than good.