English vs. Spanish Colonial Settlements

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Introduction

If we look back into the history of the 16^th-17^th centuries, it becomes evident that, no matter how different the foreign policy of all the European countries was, the ultimate goal of the monarchs was still to enhance the economy and to win their country the status of the most influential and outstanding power in the world. This motivation served the ground for the colonization of new lands. It was especially profitable for the empires that had the best fleets one could imagine at that time. Both England and Spain could boast of this advantage. That was the main source of confrontation between the two. Since the monarchies were striving to achieve unquestionable supremacy, they both were attracted by the prospects that colonization of the New World promised.¹

However, the basic difference that predetermined the course of future events was the time priority that the Spaniards had over the English, who arrived 87 years later and thus had a completely different style of colonization. Their late arrival gave the English a considerable advantage as they could critically estimate the model of settlement that had already been established before them and use it as an example as well as a warning in certain aspects. The Spaniards could not have done the same being the first to come. However, they enjoyed larger territories and the freedom of choice, whereas the English had to satisfy themselves with what was left.²

Thus, we can claim that the colonization styles of the English and the Spaniards were entirely different in their approach, which was mainly accounted for by the time they arrived at the continent and the consequent advantages they could obtain due to that. The paper at hand is aimed to identify these differences that include geographic, investment, population, governmental, and religious aspects.³ It will also highlight the styles the two nations chose for interactions with the indigenous population.

Differences in Geographic Location

If we want to account for the choice of territories that the Spaniards made, we should bear in mind that their primary objective was to gain riches for the Crown. That is why they had to continuously expand their settlements. Most of the southern and southwestern lands soon came into their possession. Their total territory encompassed parts of Florida, New Mexico, Texas, and the coast of California.⁴

As far as the English are concerned, most of their colonies were initially situated in Virginia and Massachusetts. However, the English quickly started expanding their territories, and soon there were settlements all along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The colonies were scattered from Maine to Georgia and could be found even as far from the coastal line as the Mississippi River. As compared to the Spanish, whose major interest was to gain more wealth and lands for the empire that already existed, the English brought new settlers to colonize new areas allowing them to have relative freedom. This accounts for the fact that, despite their late arrival, it was the English who would give rise to the American nation in the future.⁵

Differences in Investment Sources

The two colonization projects had different sources of funding, which created different conditions for building the structure of the new communities. The Spanish campaign was initiated and invested by the Crown, excluding any kinds of private fundings. The monarchy hoped to find new riches in the New World, which meant that all the discovered treasures belonged to the state. It later resulted in total control the government maintained over every aspect of colonial life.⁶

Unlike the Spanish royal family, the British Crown did not show any active interest in the new settlements and did not want to invest money in them. The loss of enthusiasm was predictable as no valuable minerals were found in those lands. This is another consequence of the late arrival of the English: if they had come when areas abundant in natural resources had still been available, they could have received more support from the government, as well as lose their independence. Despite the common disappointment, private companies were still ready to fund further explorations. That is why the revenue went to stockholders of private businesses, not to the state.⁷

Differences in Population Sources

Since the English suffered from overpopulation, the main reason for coming to the New World (besides the desire to find new sources of wealth) was to get rid of those who were not welcome to stay in the country. That is why the government sent convicted criminals and prostitutes from English brothels to settle there. However, exploration required skilled people, so a lot of craftsmen, farmers, artisans, and merchants joined later. There were also a lot of immigrants from other countries who hoped to find new opportunities there.⁸

As for the Spanish, who chose the path of war and invasion, their settlements initially included military people (soldiers, conquistadores, and missionaries). Later, when a lot of the territories had already been conquered, there arose a need for traders, who could maintain commercial intercourse with Europe, and farmers, whose task was to cultivate new plants on the new land.⁹

Differences in Government

The English, unlike the Spanish, did not suffer from imperial restrictions and enjoyed relative independence. The colonies set up their own governments, taxes, and local authorities responsible for each aspect of political and social life. Their self-regulation did not worry about the Crown as long as nothing threatened it. As a result, rich diversity was achieved in this field. It would be fair to note that this policy of the British government later brought about the War of Independence.¹⁰

On the contrary, the Spanish settlements were strictly governed by viceroys, who were appointed by the government and could not be disobeyed. The colonists did not have the right to create their own legislation system and thus could not develop into a full-fledged natural society. All their actions were controlled by the empire.¹¹

It allows us to presume that if the colonization of South America had begun later when the monarchy was already not so powerful, an entirely different outcome could have been achieved.

Differences in Religion Accounting for the Styles of Interactions with the Indigenous Population

The role of the Church in the Spanish colonies was enormous. The Spaniards were Catholics. If Protestants appeared among them, they were prosecuted. The ideals of Reconquista made the Spaniards aggressive and intolerant to all other religions. That is why they considered it to be their duty to turn the indigenous population into their faith, which they managed to do by force. Besides, the Church confirmed that the Spanish were superior to these peoples and thereby justified all their violent actions. They could easily turn aboriginals into slaves, promising them salvation (which was called “encomienda system”). Therefore, the Spanish made their best to get all the benefits they could from this situation, and the indigenous population was forced to learn all the calamities of hard labor and malnutrition. Lots of them died because of this cruel treatment.¹²

For the English settlers, religion was not so crucial. The Reformation had already taken place, making the English more tolerant of other religious views. There were not only Catholics but also Puritans, Protestants, and Quakers in their settlements. They did not make any persistent attempts to convert the indigenous peoples into their religion as they saw great risk in this. Thus, their approach to them was mostly exclusionary.¹³

As a result of this difference in religious views, the Spanish involved aboriginals in their life and society (though making them much more inferior to themselves) whereas the English remained detached from them, which told on further social and economic development of the settlements.

Conclusion

As we can see from the aspects and factors specified above, the English and the Spaniards had totally different justifications of their arrival to the New World. While the former got quickly disappointed in natural resources of the new territories and decided to shift the focus to land cultivation and crafts development, the latter were far from being peaceful and friendly in their intentions. The Spaniards’ main task was to obtain new riches for the Crown, not to build a new society based on independence of the settlers.

The time of colonization played the essential role in the differences of the approaches. The English, who arrived later, were much more tolerant in their religious views after the Reformation, which predetermined the relationships with aboriginals. Besides, their attitude to monarchy was not as reverential as that of the Spaniards. The English could use their experience in all aspects of life in order to avoid mistakes in working out a more stable, balanced, sustainable, and efficient model of colonization.

Bibliography

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History: Seagull Fourth Edition. Vol. 1. New York: WW Norton & Company, 2013.

Greer, Allan. “Commons and Enclosure in the Colonization of North America.” In The American Historical Review 117, no. 2 (2012): 365-86.

Kessell, John L. Spain in the Southwest: A Narrative History of Colonial New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, And California. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2013.

Lloyd, Christopher and Jacob Metzer. “Settler Colonization and Societies in World History: Patterns and Concepts.” In Settler Economies in World History, 1-34. Boston: Brill, 2013.

Mariani, Paul. William Carlos Williams: A New World Naked. San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2016.

Shi, David E. and George Brown Tindall. America: A Narrative History. New York: WW Norton & Company, 2016.

Steinmetz, George. “The Sociology of Empires, Colonies, and Postcolonialism.” In Annual Review of Sociology 40 (2014): 77-103.

Wells, Robert V. Population of the British Colonies in America before 1776: A Survey of Census Data. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015.

Footnotes

David E. Shi, and George Brown Tindall, America: A Narrative History (New York: WW Norton & Company, 2016), 11-12.
Allan Greer, “Commons and enclosure in the colonization of North America,” in The American Historical Review 117, no. 2 (2012), 366.
Ibid., 367.
John L. Kessell, Spain in the Southwest: A narrative history of colonial New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and California (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2013), 56
Christopher Lloyd and Jacob Metzer, “Settler colonization and societies in world history: patterns and concepts,” in Settler Economies in World History (Boston: Brill, 2013), 13.
Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty! An American History: Seagull Fourth Edition. Vol. 1 (New York: WW Norton & Company, 2013), 27.
Ibid., 54.
Robert V. Wells, Population of the British Colonies in America before 1776: A Survey of Census Data (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015), 26.
George Steinmetz, “The sociology of empires, colonies, and postcolonialism,” in Annual Review of Sociology 40 (2014): 81.
Ibid., 86.
Ibid., 87.
Paul Mariani, William Carlos Williams: A New World Naked (San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2016), 47.
Ibid., 51.

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