The rhyme “in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” is a phrase well known by most students in America, often first hearing it in elementary school; however, many may mistake this date for when Christopher Columbus found the United States when in reality, it was when he discovered the places now known as the Bahamas, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and more, first. Another misconception about Columbus and his voyages is that the regions he found had no previous individuals living there, however, there would have been millions of natives occupying the areas the Spaniards claimed to have “discovered”. As time progressed, more land was found which led to more natives being taken advantage of due to the resources that were discovered in what is modern day Mexico. …show more content…
To begin, the Spaniards who were invading these areas belonging to the natives used many (often harmful) methods in order to get what they wanted; in this case, the land and everything that went with it. And while the Spaniards were aware of their task at the beginning of their journey, the natives in most cases were clueless and had no way of knowing that these invaders were going to harm them. In fact, they believed them to be gods and attempted to befriend them because of it. For example, when Hernán Cortés, a Spanish governor, ventured to the new land Columbus had …show more content…
With the Spaniards venturing to the Americas during their conquest, they unintentionally brought diseases along with them. While this could have been little to no issue, it turned into a massive killer for the natives due to them not having the tolerance against them like the Spaniards did. The “...epidemic of smallpox..” took cities by storm and caused deaths that could easily have been avoided (The Broken Spears, 92). This “... terrible plague that… spread throughout the city” weakened the natives to the point where “...no one could walk or move”, leaving them helpless and unable to take care of themselves (The Broken Spears, 91-93). This tragedy may not have been directly the fault of the Spaniards, considering spreading a disease was more than likely not their top priority, however, it is something that caused the natives great deals of pain and suffering over the course of the Spaniards’ conquest and demonstrated how little the Spaniards cared about the Native Americans and their