Vendaval
Posts: 10297
Joined: 1/15/2005
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The story of Latin America is much more complicated than that,
pahunkboy. 
The conquistadores came with the cross in one hand and the
sword in the other. The Crown of the Spanish Empire was
intertwined to the Cross of the Catholic Church.
Here are some links on Wikipedia, they do take a while to read
because of all the details.
"Spanish Conquest of Mexico"
"In short order, the upper echelons of patrons and priests in the society lived off the work of the lower classes. Due to some horrifying instances of abuse against the indigenous peoples, Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas suggested importing black slaves to replace them. Bartolomé later repented when he saw the even worse treatment given to the black slaves. The other discovery that perpetuated this system was extensive silver mines discovered at Potosi, in Peru and other places that were worked for hundreds of years by forced native labor and contributed most of the wealth that flowed to Spain. Spain spent enormous amounts of this wealth hiring mercenaries to fight the Protestant Reformation.
The conquistadors brought with them the Catholic faith and a lot of priests, to which the population was converted rapidly, or at least, nominally so. Because of their success in getting rid of the Muslims in Spain, the Catholic Church operated almost as an arm of the Spanish government."
It soon became apparent that most of the natives had adopted "the god of the heavens", as they called it, as just another one of their many gods. While it was an important god, because it was the god of the conquerors, they did not see why they had to abandon their old beliefs. As a result, a second wave of missionaries began a process attempting to completely erase the old beliefs, and thus wiped out many aspects of Mesoamerican culture. Hundreds of thousands of Aztec codices were destroyed, Aztec priests and teachers were persecuted, and the temples and statues of the old gods were destroyed."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Conquest_of_Mexico
"Spanish Colonization of the Americas"
"The Spaniards were committed to converting their American subjects to Christianity, often by force, and were quick to purge any native cultural practices that hindered this end. However, most initial attempts at this were only partially successful, as American groups simply blended Catholicism with their traditional beliefs. On the other hand, the Spaniards did not impose their language to the degree they did their religion, and the Roman Catholic Church's evangelization in Quichua, Nahuatl and Guarani actually contributed to the expansion of these American languages, equipping them with writing systems. Many native artworks were considered pagan idols and destroyed by Spanish explorers. This included the many gold and silver sculptures found in the Americas, which were melted down before transport to Europe."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_colonization_of_the_Americas
quote:
ORIGINAL: pahunkboy
meat,
i heard it explained as such;
America was founded via christian ideals. where as Mexico and south- were purely over gold-wealth- no god. thus- the US excelled- where-as the southern counterpart did not.
??????
_____________________________
"Beware, the woods at night, beware the lunar light.
So in this gray haze we'll be meating again, and on that
great day, I will tease you all the same."
"WOLF MOON", OCTOBER RUST, TYPE O NEGATIVE
http://KinkMeet.co.uk
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