by Brennen Finchum

Created on: July 12, 2009

Conquistadors were able to conquer Native Americans due to multiple circumstances; however, their unethical methods used to access inner colonies and empires enabled them to dominate Native Americans. The Spanish conquistadors were good at building fake relationships. They would become familiar with families in a tribe then capture the tribe's leader and demand a ransom. If the Indians refused, the conquistadors would most likely murder the hostage and then either kill the rest of the village or take them as prisoners. If the Indians agreed, the conquistadors would take the payment and usually kill the hostage anyway and take the rest of the tribe as prisoners. They had extremely unethical methods of receiving power, but their methods were successful. Tribes would often surrender to the conquistadors in fear to protect their families. With patience, the Spaniards built up their armies forcefully or by making alliances with Indians who hated other tribes. The conquistadors also utilized weapons and transportation superior to Native Americans. Along with surprising Indians the conquistadors used guns, cannons, swords, and horses to aid them in battle, which the Indians had none of. No matter how much skill the Indians had with their weapons, the Spaniards guns overpowered them consistently. Indians had seen horses but they had never thought to train and use them to aid in battle. The conquistador's domination was completed through multiple stages and various methods.

The Spaniards knew they could penetrate the walls of a village or an empire if they could gain trust from the leaders of the tribes. The conquistadors would gain information about their desired territory and build a fake friendship with the tribe's residents then take the leader hostage giving the conquistadors dominance over the village. To take down empires they would follow the same procedure except once the emperor was taken hostage, the Spaniards would summon their allies to siege the area and take control of everything within the empire. Along with their psychological strategies the conquistadors brought with them European diseases that the Indians had no immunity to. Small Pox and other diseases began to kill off massive amounts of Native Americans making the goal of the Spaniards much easier for two reasons: 1) the Indians strength decreased enormously and 2) the focus was turned away from the Spaniards and turned toward healing sick families. Because the change in focus, the conquistadors were able to have enough privacy to plan their attacks on the Indians. The conquistadors had many advantages and strategies that enabled them to conquer the Indians no matter how outnumbered they were. Along with weapons, transportation, and unethical psychological methods of domination, the Spaniards were provided luck which allowed them to continue their journey to dominance.

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