DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENGLISH AND SPANISH COLONIZATION.

SPANISH COLONIZATION

The conquests and colonization were directed by an impoverished and weakened state eager to
take all the riches it found.

The conqueror arrived thirsty for riches and spared no effort in order to obtain it.

The conquistadors arrived without a desire to settle in America, very few came with their families,
which gave rise to miscegenation.

The period of discovery, conquest and colonization includes 1492-1550. Fast, violent and cruel
period.

During the colonization period, a mercantilist-slave economy was implemented based on the
production of wealth for the empire.

The indigenous found themselves persecuted, cornered and enslaved.

ENGLISH COLONIZATION

It was organized, late but in shape.

The colonists were anti-monarchs, they had ideas of political and religious freedom in their minds.

Upon settling in America, the colonists enjoyed a certain freedom, managing to establish
economic, political and religious freedoms wherever they came.

The English colonies possessed a general unity, predominating over other German and French
immigrants who adopted the language and religious customs.

English colonization occurred with funds from private and unofficial individuals and groups.

In the Puritan Anglo-Saxon world, however, acts of evil and extermination against the natives or
redskins are narrated as meritorious and necessary acts for the good of the community of
believers.

Differences between Spanish Colonization and English

Colonization
The Spanish conquest and colonization in America was carried out through a “business” system.
The conquest expedition was contracted with the king, through a “capitulation” of the captain and
his soldiers. The goal fun fundamental was the search for loot (gold, silver), which was distributed
aunt as stipulated: 1/5 for the king, 1/7 for the captain, the rest for the troops according to their
personal contributions. But the loot did not satisfy all the social ambitions of the conquistador.
dor, who aspired to become a nobleman in America and demanded lands, Indians, positions and
privileges from the king, while the king did not want to grant hereditary public positions and only
with He gave up lands and Indians in the encomiendas. That is to say, everything was controlled by
the state (the crown), and the most powerful colonists had no shame in continuing to enrich
themselves by obtaining more land and creating large estates, which were exploited by
encomenderos, in conditions almost of slavery. When a person works under these conditions, and
on land that is not theirs, one cannot expect to obtain maximum returns from the land.

However, in English colonization the colonists were anti-monarchs and had ideas of political and
religious freedom in their minds. Upon settling in America, the colonists enjoyed a certain
freedom, managing to establish economic, political and religious freedoms wherever they came.
They worked their small plots of land, from which they obtained maximum yield.

English colonization began around the middle of the 17th century. England in the 17th century –
1660 – was affected by a war that had lasted 30 years - between Catholics and Protestants in
Europe - in addition to the beheading of King Charles I, the dictatorship of Cromwell and the so-
called glorious revolution of 1668.

Calvinists and French Huguenots traveled to England who saw England as a refuge from the
excesses of princes and kings. These colonists had strong feelings of political and religious
autonomy, they were well received in England and the English crown allowed them to colonize
America and develop freely. This process began at the beginning of the 17th century, slowly but in
an orderly manner. There they created their political, economic and religious institutions. It is
necessary to keep in mind that neither the Germans nor the French formed different colonies,
they adopted English customs and even their language.

However, the Spanish crown prohibited the emigration to its colonies of any non-Spanish citizen.
And not only that, but also the emigration of Spaniards was very restricted (in fact Cervantes
requested permission to emigrate to America, and this was denied). “The increase in population
results in a strong economy.” This was one of the principles of English colonization. However, in
Spanish colonial America, there was a very pronounced population deficit. I think it is because the
powerful landowners and large landowners were not very keen on bringing in a lot of Spanish
emigration, since they could demand a fairer distribution of land.

The historian D. Weber points out that this enormous increase in the population of the English
colonies is mainly due to immigration, and he gives South Carolina and Spanish Florida as
examples. Like this young English colony, in the year 1700, it had more than 6,000 inhabitants, and
Spanish Florida, one of the oldest colonies, discovered by Ponce de León in the 15th century, had
in the year 1700, about 1,500 inhabitants. A few years later the population was ten times larger in
the English colony than in the Spanish one.

The Spanish crown was interested in an economy based on so-called mercantilism. Trade was
characterized by the colonies sending precious metals and raw materials to receive manufacturing
and administrative services from Europe in exchange. The monopoly consisted of prohibiting any
possibility of trade other than between Spain and its colonies. Well, the objective of the Spanish
crown was that only Spain would trade with America and thus benefit exclusively from its riches.
For this reason, trade with America became a monopoly placed in the hands of the great
commercial houses of Seville, where the Casa de Contratación was created (January 1503) to
organize and execute monopoly trade between Spain and its colonies.
In Hispanic America, those who benefited from the commercial monopoly were the large
merchants. This remained until the law of freedom of trade, promulgated by Charles III in 1779.
Naturally, during this long period of monopoly, smuggling was the order of the day.

The society of the English colonies in America was governed by liberal ideals, even though they
had English colonial administration. They had great trade, excellent agricultural production. The
only thing they lacked was the manufacturing license (production of a finished product) that the
United Kingdom refused to allow its colonies. The merchants were establishing themselves
economically and politically. At the end of the 17th century they replaced the Puritan magistrates
in the political and economic order. This new social class will be the promoter of the anticipation
movement based on the principles of political and economic liberalism. The economic prosperity
of the region favored the growth of its population, which increased considerably for the Anglo-
Saxon immigration contribution.

There were many similarities as well as differences.

1) The periods of colonization: The Spanish were the first Europeans to thoroughly explore the
American continent (from the north of present-day California to the Strait of Magellan in southern
Chile). The Spanish colonization and conquest began at the beginning of the 16th century until the
beginning of the 17th century, where it consolidated its power and divided its "Viceroyalties" with
the other colonies of Portugal, England and other countries. Unlike the English, their domains
were located almost entirely on the east coast of North America and without any desire to explore
or enter the center of the region, they settled in that place.

2) Economic: Spanish colonization coincided with an economic system undertaken by themselves

"mercantilism" that preached that "the country with the greatest wealth in precious metals was in
turn the most powerful in the world. Naturally, by conquering the Aztecs and the Incas, they
managed to become the greatest mercantilist power of the 20th century. XVI AND XVII. The
English in their colonies did not have an abundance of gold or silver, their greatest source of
economic activity was agriculture and livestock, and later it would be manufacturing and
commerce.

3)Social: The colonized territories of the Spanish crown were the territories with the largest
number of indigenous people, both Mexico and Peru had a huge population of indigenous people
that the Spanish took advantage of as labor to exploit mining and agriculture (they would also
bring Africans to who work on the plantations of the American coasts). On the other hand, the
English had a different relationship with the indigenous people of North America; the fact that
they were small tribes made it easy for them to dominate their territories and exterminate them
or throw them away and enter the center of North America. The English populated North America
in greater numbers, mostly fleeing the religious wars and persecutions that occurred in the 17th
century. Likewise, unlike the Spanish, they saw wealth in mining, but in the work that they would
achieve as farmers and ranchers, who would later be merchants and masters of manufacturing
workshops as I noted above.

4) Policies: In both cases, at the beginning of the Spanish and English colonizations, its relevance
was of little importance to them, but upon seeing the riches and opportunities that these places
offered, they did not hesitate to give it greater attention. The Spanish initially divided their
territories into Viceroyalties, corregimientos, militarized zones and general captaincies (Chile and
Rio de La Plata), their inhabitants were considered inferior to the Spanish subjects and in the
middle, the criollos, children of Spaniards, too. The legal administration of the North American
colonies was governed by a similar model, with the advantage that the colonists themselves and
their children could create companies, own land, and reach political positions; in addition to
developing education for the majority of its colonists without any restriction on their origin
(except black slaves).

All these factors would also cause the independence processes, despite having the same
principles of freedom and equality, to be carried out in different ways, and to differentiate the
great and not very popular United States of America from its neighbors, the Latin Americans
where I include myself as a Peruvian. I hope it helped you.