Colonization of Latin America and North America Essay

When Christopher Columbus led a Spanish expedition in 1492 to India, he came across a land that would change the world forever. This region was called the Americas, a land the Spanish, Portuguese, French and English saw as their own to change and rule. However, the two regions, Latin America and North America saw two vastly different yet similar colonization processes from the Europeans in their social, political and economic systems. North America and Latin America both developed a form of ethnic mixing and a caste system for social structure and stability. However, Latin America’s caste system was more based on skin color while North America’s social structure wasn’t defined by ethnic groups. The two of these regions were both colonized by Europeans but had different ways of being colonized. A similarity in these two regions would be the development of European migrants, leading to the emergence of two societies. Latin America and North America’s political processes were also a huge part of colonization. While in North America the decisions of who would rule and control the lands was in the hands of private groups in Latin America, however, the choice of who would take control was in the hands of viceroys or governors. Both of these regions were ran by Europeans who would make the decisions. Latin America was ran by European peninsulas and North America governed by higher class merchants, deciding for themselves who they wanted to be controlled by. Latin America and North America shared the similarity in political colonization of both wanting to have some sort of control in their lands creating a stronger society and community to live in. The importance of future rulers would also have a major influence in the economic process and future economies in both areas. The economic process during colonization in both regions led to better social ways and interaction with lands having an influence on the colonization process greatly. In both Latin America and North America both had produced cash crops. While Latin America developed maize, a sugar production, and rice, North America planted tobacco creating a need for coerced labor. However, the difference in the coerced labor needed for the new production of these items was varied. In North America, slavery was a much needed acquirement to keep the production of these items needed while in Latin America indentured slaves and slavery was their way of production used by the Europeans in these regions. In Latin and North America, the Europeans didn’t go there to look for raw materials such as gold and silver like the other explorers who thought the Natives had it everywhere and weren’t completely using it to their own advantage. The Natives living there, however, were more amazed at what the Europeans had and vice versa. In conclusion, I have stated the different and similar colonization processes of North America and Latin America. The political, social, and economic processes were all similar and different in the mixing of ethnic groups, the need for control of their lands, and the regions using coerced and indentured labor to stabilize their lands.