The impact of the Spanish on the Americas

The Spanish had a huge impact of the Americas which includes family and society, loss of history, religion and culture, racism and new cultures, harsh treatment and a drastic decline is indigenous population.

family and society

They disrupted the communities

destroyed their settlements
they broke down the family structure


loss of history religion and culture
monument/books/cities destroyed
they denied their religion and enforced Christianity
European values , culture ,beliefs imposed on Indian people


racism and new cultures
classification of race introduced-(whites, Indians and slaves)
social structure changed new food, culture and music


harsh treatment
legalized slavery
forced labor
mining and sugar plantations
mining- terrible conditions, died from exhaustion and lack of oxygen


drastic decline in Indian population

violence (conflict,war)
major factor disease (smallpox)

The mission (1986)

Summary

The film is set during the Jesuit Reductions, a program by which Jesuit missionaries set up missions independent of the Spanish state to teach Christianity to the natives. It tells the story of a Spanish Jesuit priest, Father Gabriel who enters the South American jungle to build a mission and convert a community of Guaraní Indians to Christianity.

We watched this movie in class because this movie is directly related to the slave trade. This movie shows how cruel the slave trade was. The Portuguese (the slavers) used Christianity in a way to think they were right to put people into slavery. The movie also shows the Spanish moving away from slavery. It also mentioned the treaty between the Portuguese and the Spanish (treaty of Madrid) which the Spanish give land to the Portuguese and taken the indigenous there into slavery. 

Father Gabriel with the Guarani children when the Portuguese attacked

the trailer of the mission