Compare And Contrast French And Spanish Colonization

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Europeans began their colonization and settling into America. France and Spain both began exploring the New World to find gold and to spread Catholicism. What differed between them were their priorities in colonization. During the 16th century Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther posted the Ninety Five Theses, accusing the Church of corruption. Because of that, he ended up dividing the Catholic Church, which led to the rise of Protestant Churches in Europe. Spain, as a representative of Orthodox Catholicism, wanted to spread Catholicism further. They then established colonies in America, to convert the Indians to Catholicism and to stop Protestantism. France had entered the New World in search

of a sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. However, after they heard of Spain's economic success they began looking for gold and better ways to trade.

Although the Spanish and French both welcomed the natives to be a part of their colonial societies, their methods for assimilation and the way they interacted with the natives differed. The French respected the Indians and through peaceful relations, they created alliances with them. They encouraged the Indians to speak their language and follow their religion but did not force them to do so. On the other hand, the Spanish looked down on the Indians and used their military power to coerce them into obeying them. Spain had confidence that their religion was superior to any other belief. Those that didn’t accept their religion as that were seen as uncivilized “heathens”. The Spanish travelled to the New World with the primary goal of “saving” the Indians. According to them, by converting them to Christianity the Indians could gain freedom. As they only wanted to change them into Christian subjects, the Spanish didn’t kill the Indians. However, they did destroy the already existing Indian political structures and way of life. Spanish America was strict with their beliefs and did not allow non-Catholics to emigrate into the American lands. Compared to the Spanish, the French were generally more tolerant with religion. However, the Jesuits; a missionary religious order, did attempt to convert Indians to Catholicism. Unlike the Spanish though, they did allow the Christian Indians keep their freedom and traditions.

The original objective of French exploration in the New World was to find gold and locate a sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

At first, they didn’t think much of North America, they had no plans to settle there or to explore the new lands. But their attempts to establish settlements elsewhere had failed due to poor planning and financing. Later on in the 17th century, France made a permanent settlement in North America. New France encompassed the areas around the St. Lawrence, Mississippi, and Ohio Rivers. It had a relatively small white population and they emphasised on fur trade rather than agricultural settlement. Since they depended on the Indians a lot for trade, the French needed to have good relations with them. This may be why the French also had a more humane policy compared to the other colonists. The alliance between the Indians and French colonists was the most long lasting out of all the other settlers in North America. Unlike the other European colonists, they didn’t take a significant amount of Indian land, or conquer and force the native people to work. In Spanish America, colonists forced Indians to perform most of the labor. They worked by extracting gold and silver from mines, which contributed to the empire’s wealth. Spanish landlords also forced Indians to do labor on large scale farms called

baciendas.