Native American Influence

Some of the Amerindians who lived in the areas of eventual colonization were the Olmecs, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Maya, Purepecha (Tarascan), and the Aztecs, among others. They were spread out from the Gulf of Mexico to Tenochtitlan and south. Little did they know that when Hernan Cortes made his voyage to the area, he would turn their whole world upside down. Starting just before the 16th century, explorers from Spain and Portugal became curious of the stories of land and riches they had heard in relation to the Americas. The Spanish were the first to venture that direction, with the Portuguese not far behind. They landed on the coast and made their way inward, claiming all of the acreage and resources to be theirs and began building colonies. However, this wasn’t just a simple expansion, it was an intrusion. The diseases brought on to the continent from Europe were different than anything the Natives had experienced and they had not built up any resistance to them. As a result, the Amerindians began to die off in large numbers. While Europeans continued to encroach upon the land, Natives were growing more and more

Instead, Amerindians were experiencing a whole new way of life. Another facet of their being that was disrupted was their faith. Spaniards, in particular, were convinced that it was their duty to civilize the Natives and they would first do that by converting them to Christianity. This conversion was not optional. In fact, many Indians were punished or killed for refusing to comply. It is believed that there was somewhat of a compromise met, but not before the message had been sent by colonists. The next hurdle to jump was that language barrier between the two groups. In this, an attempt was made to accommodate the differences, with contributions to expansion in the form of new writing