[EL CHAPO]

(09-28-2015 03:46 PM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  

To me, the more interesting question is this:

Why were there such big cultural differences between the Europeans who settled North America and the Europeans who settled South America?

Why did the Spanish and Portuguese intermarry and mix with the Indians of Central and South America, while the Indians of North America did not mix (or at least very little) with the northern European types (English, Dutch, German, Scandinavian) that settled North America?

Indians in North America were essentially wiped out.

In Central and South America, they were also brutalized, but there was a large degree of admixture with the colonizers. Spanish and Portuguese took native wives, and also reproduced with slaves.

British didn't really do this, or at least not as much.

North America was a caste system that was very rigid. Why was this?

Was it climate? Geography? Cultural differences between the Mediterranean races and the Northern Europeans?

From what I gathered, part of the reason was because there were so few Spanish women in the Americas. Whereas in North America, intact families came from England fleeing persecution already. Women and children from England came in droves which wasn't the case in New Spain.

No Spanish women in sight, and no real motivation to go back to Spain, Spanish men took Aztec wives.

It is interesting if you think about it though. British and Dutch men probably didn't think much of the native women, but the Spanish and Portuguese loved them.

Here are some quotes from a couple of Spanish conquistadors from a New Spain book I'm currently reading and what they thought of the Aztec women.

"While on the boat , I captured a very beautiful Aztec woman, that the Admiral gave me, and after that I took her to my cabin, and she being naked as is their custom, I felt like making love to her. I wanted to fulfill my desire but she would not permit it and gave me such a beating with her nails that made my face bleed. I took a rope and gave her a whipping and she cried like your ears couldn't believe. Finally, we came to an agreement that you would think she was raised in a school of harlots."


"Trying to count the number of Aztec woman each man has is impossible, but I'm willing to bet that there are a few christian men who have from 80 up to 100 women, and among them are probably mothers, daughters, sisters and cousins. Everybody knows this."


Another reason is because the captors were very proud of what they accomplished, so they basically said "we're fucking these women too".


The mindset was very different from Northern Europeans.



These images were very normal in New Spain:









Interesting stuff.