Short Answers

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Short Answers
How did Spanish settlement in Florida, New Mexico and California play out in the sixteenth century?
The initial settlement of Spanish was created in St. Augustine, Florida in 1565. The settlement is what the United States became. St Augustine was the Spanish Fort, and it served as the first permanent settlement. The settlement in the area had little impact even though it served as a base camp for other exploratory schemes as well as the center of determinations to convert the region’s natives to Roman Catholicism. The settler population in Florida was barely above 1000 since they faced attacks in the settlements that were created in outlying areas from the Indian people and also were affected by economic insufficiency. The Spanish also invaded Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1610. The Spanish settlement in what is now the New Mexico was not received well since they brought with them a new labor system that was known as encomienda. The pueblo hated the system since it promoted invasion of their land, suppressed their religion and required them to pay tribute and also forced them to be loyal to an alien monarchy. The relationship between Pueblo and the Spanish colonist was strained leading to a war that broke in 1680 which led to the death of many people on both sides. The Spanish settlement of California occurred in 1769. The Spanish settlers established missions that helped them with their colonization agenda.

They were successful in converting the local natives to Christianity, and they divided California into four military districts which helped in protecting their several missions (Locke and Ben 1).
What was the role of Catholic missionaries in this settlement?
Catholic missionaries had the role of supporting colonization. The missionaries taught Catholicism and converted the natives to Christianity. They established missions which helped in taking large areas of land. They served as spread protector in North America. Colonization often was considered as a religious imperative. Spanish missionaries established lots of missions in the regions that were intended for expansion. The goal of missionaries was to teach Christianity and make the natives convert and leave their ritualistic practices. They were to ensure there was the transition into a colonial system was easy and therefore reduce the resistance that would arise when establishing European dominance in the settlements. The missionaries were responsible for building churches and cathedrals which were done on top of destroyed native temples. The creation of missions was followed by the enactment of encomienda systems which was a system that oppressed the natives by taking their land and forcing them to work on the land (Locke and Ben 1).
What were relations between the Spanish and Natives like in this period?
The relations between the natives and the Spanish was not good since the Spanish colonists practiced extreme violence, torture, enslavement, mutilation and also killed the natives. The Spaniards had superior weapons including guns, swords, and cannons, cross bows that were used against the natives in case they showed any signs of resistance. Catholicism was used to control the indigenous people. They had a military that was well trained to use weapons and other warfare tactics. They also used horses in the war which helped them cover long distances that could not be covered by foot. The Spanish colonists subjected the natives to torture inflicting pain and causing death to many people. The only group of people that was able to rebel and move the Spanish priests and settlers from their land was the Pueblo tribes in New Mexico. The relationship between the Spanish and the natives was that of a conqueror and the conquered. The natives reacted to the situation be resisting to conquest which made the Spaniards respond by killing people. They used physical force and threats of violence to foster a relationship between master and slave (Locke and Ben 1).
References
Locke, Joseph L, and Ben Wright. The American Yawp: A Massively Collaborative Open U.s. History Textbook. , 2019. Print.