What strategies did the Spanish employ in attempts to conquer the Americas and what obstacles stood in their way?

Assignment Sheet – Research Paper Strategies & Obstacles in Spanish Conquest
Week #2
Submit via Blackboard no later than the end of Week #4 (Sunday, June 27 at 11:59pm)
As per the syllabus policy, grades for papers submitted after the start of Week #5 (June 28) will be reduced by 15 points as a late penalty. Papers submitted after the start of Week #6 (July 5) will be reduced by a total of 30 points. Papers will not be accepted after the end of Week #6.
For this assignment, you will act as a historian and analyze three documents written during the Spanish conquest of regions that are now part of the United States. Carefully review each of the documents, which were written in an older form of Spanish and have been translated into modern English. Drawing evidence from the documents, respond to the question below in an essay that is 3 typed, double-spaced pages.
What strategies did the Spanish employ in attempts to conquer the Americas and what obstacles stood in their way?
Each of the documents you will analyze was produced by participants in the conquest. Thus, they are primary sources or first-hand accounts for that historical period. One is a legal document called the Requerimiento (which means the “requirement” or “demand” in Spanish); the second is an excerpt from a chronicle known as The Journey of Coronado; the third is an excerpt from another chronicle, The Founding of St. Augustine. Combined, these three sources provide a fascinating view into strategies employed and obstacles faced as Spanish soldiers and priests attempted to conquer regions and peoples.
Importantly, this paper should demonstrate your analysis of these documents and should not be a summary of them. In combination with what you have read in the text and learned from course presentations, think about what these specific documents reveal about Spanish strategies and the challenges of colonizing already populated lands. After identifying strategies and obstacles, categorize them and build a clear thesis statement around them. An example of a basic thesis follows: Spanish colonizers used a variety of strategies in attempts to colonize the Americas. Based on the Requerimiento, The Journey of Coronado, and The Founding of St. Augustine, the primary strategies were ________ and ____________. Employing these strategies, the Spanish faced the overwhelming obstacles of _________, ___________, and ___________.
Begin your paper with an introductory paragraph that provides historical context for the period and introduces the three primary sources. In that paragraph, present a clear thesis statement (this is your historical argument). This thesis should directly answer the question, and it should be a well-crafted to demonstrate your thoughtful analysis of the documents. Avoid simple statements that do little more than rephrase the question in the affirmative or the negative. Instead, your thesis should succinctly articulate the strategies and obstacles you find in the documents. Please note that at the college level, a thesis statement will often be more than a single sentence.
I strongly encourage you to develop a clear thesis statement and make a formal outline before you begin to write. If you need assistance at any stage of the writing process, please make an appointment to meet with me. If you need help formulating a thesis, creating an outline, reviewing a draft or if you just want to discuss the assignment, I’m happy to help. Please, do not wait until the last minute.
The body of the essay should elaborate on your thesis and present the evidence that supports it. Organize the paragraphs around the strategies and obstacles you reference in your thesis. Likely, a few well-chosen phrases or quotations from documents will strengthen your essay, and you should draw specific evidence from all three documents. However, none of the quotations should exceed two lines in your essay. If a quotation exceeds one line, it should be single spaced and indented. For each quotation, cite the document in a footnote using the formats below. You can also draw information from the textbook, but textbook information must be paraphrased (no direct quotations from the textbook are permitted). Any paraphrased information drawn from the documents or textbook also requires a footnote.
Conclude your essay in a paragraph that summarizes your argument succinctly.
PAPER FORMAT
– Please create and submit your paper as a Word document – not a pdf file.
– Margins on all papers should be no more than one inch on the top, left, right, and bottom
– Font size should not exceed 12 and the pages must be numbered at the bottom
– Your name, course # and the date must appear single-spaced in the upper right of page one – Give the paper an interesting title (underlined or in bold) that reflects your thesis
– Note that 3 pages means at least 3 full pages (not 2 or 2.5); do not exceed 4 full pages
– Quotations or information drawn from one of the three sources or the textbook must be
footnoted. If you are unfamiliar with the use of footnotes, review the materials provided in the Footnoting folder; if you have additional questions, make an appointment to meet with me. A paper submitted without proper footnotes will be considered late until the corrections are made.
MODEL FOOTNOTE FORMATS
The First Time a Document or the Textbook is Cited.
Requerimiento, 1513.
Rebecca Edwards et al, America’s History: Concise Edition, Volume 1: To 1877, 9th Edition
(Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2018), pp. 16-17.
Francisco López de Mendoza, The Founding of St. Augustine,
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1565staugustine.asp
George Parker Winship, ed. and trans, The Journey of Coronado, 1540-1542 (New York: A.S. Barnes & Company, 1904).
Subsequent Citations for the Same Document or Textbook (condensed format):
5. Requerimiento, 1513.
Edwards, America’s History, p. 20.
López de Mendoza, The Founding of St. Augustine.
Winship, The Journey of Coronado.

THE FOUNDING OF ST. AUGUSTINE
This is an excerpt from Francisco Lopez de Mendoza’s The Founding of St. Augustine, a chronicle of the founding of the first permanent Spanish Settlement in the what is now the United States (Florida). As a priest and chaplain of an expedition to secure Spanish land claim over Florida, Lopez de Mendoza chronicles the events in 1565 that lead to the establishment of the settlement.
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On Monday, August 27, while we were near the entrance to the Bahama Channel, God showed to us a miracle from heaven. About nine o’clock in the evening a comet appeared, which showed itself directly above us, a little eastward, giving so much light that it might have been taken for the sun. It went towards the west—that is, towards Florida—and its brightness lasted long enough to repeat two Credos. According to the sailors, this was a good omen…
Wednesday morning, September 5th, at sunrise, so great a storm arose that we feared we should be shipwrecked; and, as our vessels were so small, we did not dare to remain on the open sea, and regained the shore; that is, three of our vessels anchored at about a league and a half from it. We had double moorings, but the wind was so strong that one of them broke loose. We prayed the Lord to spare the others, for we could not have prevented them from being driven onto the coast and lost. As our galley was a large vessel, and busy following up the enemy, she could not come to our assistance. So we felt ourselves in danger of being attacked. The same evening, about sunset, we perceived a sail afar off, which we supposed was one of our galleys, and which was a great subject of rejoicing; but, as the ship approached, we discovered it was the French flag-ship, which we had fired at the night before. At first we thought she was going to attack us; but she did not dare to do it, and anchored between us and the shore, about a league from us. That night the pilots of our other ships came on board, to consult with the Admiral as to what was to be done. The next morning, being fully persuaded that the storm had made a wreck of our galley, or that, at least, she had been driven a hundred leagues out to sea, we decided that as soon as daylight came we would weigh anchor, and withdraw in good order, to a river (Seloy) which was below the French colony, and there disembark, and construct a fort, which we would defend until assistance came to us…
On Saturday, the 8th, the general landed with many banners spread, to the sound of trumpets and salutes of artillery. As I had gone ashore the evening before, I took a cross and went to meet him, singing the hymn Te Deum laudamus. The general marched up to the cross, followed by all who accompanied him, and there they kneeled and embraced the cross. A large number of Indians watched these proceedings and imitated all they saw done. The same day the general took formal possession of the country in the name of his Majesty, and all the captains took the oath of allegiance to him, as their general and governor of the country. When this ceremony was ended, he offered to do everything in his power for them, especially for Captain Patino, who during the whole voyage had ardently served the cause of God and of the King, and, I think, will be rewarded for his assiduity and talents in constructing a fort in which to defend ourselves until the arrival of help from Santo Domingo and Havana. The French number about as many as we do, and perhaps more. My advice to the general was not to attack the enemy, but to let the troops rest all winter and wait for the assistance daily expected; and then we may hope to make a successful attack.
Source: Francisco López de Mendoza, The Founding of St. Augustine, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1565staugustine.asp

The Journey of Coronado
This is an excerpt from The Journey of Coronado, a multi-chapter chronicle of the Coronado Expedition in the New Mexico region in 1540-42. Much of the writing is attributed to a Pedro de Castañeda, a soldier who joined this 3-year expedition to find the legendary cities of Cibola. The chapter below describes the way the Tiguex (tee-wish) people lived in the Rio Grande Valley. The Tiguex would be called the “Pueblo” people by the Spaniards because they lived in small agricultural towns (the word for town is pueblo in Spanish) along the river.
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CHAPTER IV. Of how they live at Tiguex, and of the province of Tiguex and its
neighborhood.
TIGUEX is a province with twelve villages on the banks of a large, swift river; some villages on one side and some on the other. It is a spacious valley two leagues wide, and a very high, rough, snow-covered mountain chain lies east of it. There are seven villages in the ridges at the foot of this—four on the plain and three situated on the skirts of the mountain. There are seven villages 7 leagues to the north [i.e. of Tiguex], at Quirix, and the seven villages of the province of Hemes are 40 leagues northeast. It is four leagues north or east to Acha. Tutahaco, a province with eight villages, is toward the southeast. In general, these villages all have the same habits and customs, although some have some things in particular which the others have not. They are governed by the opinions of the elders. They all work together to build the villages, the women being engaged in making the mixture and the walls, while the men bring the wood and put it in place. They have no lime, but they make a mixture of ashes, coals, and dirt which is almost as good as mortar, for when the house is to have four stories, they do not make the walls more than half a yard thick. They gather a great pile of twigs of thyme and sedge grass and set it afire, and when it is half coals and ashes they throw a quantity of dirt and water on it and mix it all together. They make round balls of this, which they use instead of stones after they are dry, fixing them with the same mixture, which comes to be like a stiff clay. Before they are married the young men serve the whole village in general, and fetch the wood that is needed for use, putting it in a pile in the courtyard of the villages, from which the women take it to carry to their houses.
The young men live in the estufas, which are in the yards of the village. They are underground, square or round, with pine pillars. Some were seen with twelve pillars and with four in the center as large as two men could stretch around. They usually had three or four pillars. The floor was made of large, smooth stones, like the baths which they have in Europe. They have a hearth made like the binnacle or compass box of a ship, in which they burn a handful of thyme at a time to keep up the heat, and they can stay in there just as in a bath. The top was on a level with the ground. Some that were seen were large enough for a game of ball. When any man wishes to marry, it has to be arranged by those who govern. The man has to spin and weave a blanket and place it before the woman, who covers herself with it and becomes his wife. The houses belong to the women, the estufas to the men. If a man repudiates his woman, he has to go to the estufa. It is forbidden for women to sleep in the estufas, or to enter these for any purpose except to give their husbands or sons something to eat. The men spin and weave. The women bring up the children and prepare the food. The country is so fertile that they do not have to break up the
ground the year round, but only have to sow the seed, which is presently covered by the fall of snow, and the ears come up under the snow. In one year they gather enough for seven. A very large number of cranes and wild geese and crows and starlings live on what is sown, and for all this, when they come to sow for another year, the fields are covered with corn which they have not been able to finish gathering.
There are a great many native fowl in these provinces, and cocks with great hanging chins. When dead, these keep for sixty days, and longer in winter, without losing their feathers or opening, and without any bad smell, and the same is true of dead men.
The villages are free from nuisances, because they go outside to excrete, and they pass their water into clay vessels, which they empty at a distance from the village.
They keep the separate houses where they prepare the food for eating and where they grind the meal, very clean. This is a separate room or closet, where they have a trough with three stones fixed in stiff clay. Three women go in here, each one having a stone, with which one of them breaks the corn, the next grinds it, and the third grinds it again. They take off their shoes, do up their hair, shake their clothes, and cover their heads before they enter the door. A man sits at the door playing on a fife while they grind, moving the stones to the music and singing together. They grind a large quantity at one time, because they make all their bread of meal soaked in warm water, like wafers. They gather a great quantity of brushwood and dry it to use for cooking all through the year. There are no fruits good to eat in the country, except the pine nuts. They have their preachers. Sodomy is not found among them. They do not eat human flesh nor make sacrifices of it. The people are not cruel, for they had Francisco de Ovando in Tiguex about forty days, after he was dead, and when the village was captured, he was found among their dead, whole and without any other wound except the one which killed him, white as snow, without any bad smell. I found out several things about them from one of our Indians, who had been a captive among them for a whole year. I asked him especially for the reason why the young women in that province went entirely naked, however cold it might be, and he told me that the virgins had to go around this way until they took a husband, and that they covered themselves after they had known man. The men here wear little shirts of tanned deerskin and their long robes over this. In all these provinces they have earthenware glazed with antimony and jars of extraordinary labor and workmanship, which were worth seeing.
Source:
George Parker Winship, ed. and trans, The Journey of Coronado, 1540-1542 (New York: A.S. Barnes & Company, 1904).

Requerimiento (1513)
The Requerimiento (the requirement) is a legal statement that was written on behalf of the Spanish crown. In the Americas, it was read in Spanish to Native peoples as a means to justify Spain’s claims to newly discovered lands, to assert power over the Native communities, and to force coversions to Christianity.
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On the part of the King, Don Fernando, and of Doña Juana, his daughter, Queen of Castille and León, subduers of the barbarous nations, we their servants notify and make known to you, as best we can, that the Lord our God, Living and Eternal, created the Heaven and the Earth, and one man and one woman, of whom you and we, all the men of the world, were and are descendants, and all those who came after us. But, on account of the multitude which has sprung from this man and woman in the five thousand years since the world was created, it was necessary that some men should go one way and some another, and that they should be divided into many kingdoms and provinces, for in one alone they could not be sustained.
Of all these nations God our Lord gave charge to one man, called St. Peter, that he should be Lord and Superior of all the men in the world, that all should obey him, and that he should be the head of the whole human race, wherever men should live, and under whatever law, sect, or belief they should be; and he gave him the world for his kingdom and jurisdiction.
And he commanded him to place his seat in Rome, as the spot most fitting to rule the world from; but also he permitted him to have his seat in any other part of the world, and to judge and govern all Christians, Moors, Jews, Gentiles, and all other sects. This man was called Pope, as if to say, Admirable Great Father and Governor of men. The men who lived in that time obeyed that St. Peter, and took him for Lord, King, and Superior of the universe; so also they have regarded the others who after him have been elected to the pontificate, and so has it been continued even till now, and will continue till the end of the world.
One of these Pontiffs, who succeeded that St. Peter as Lord of the world, in the dignity and seat which I have before mentioned, made donation of these isles and Tierra-firme to the aforesaid King and Queen and to their successors, our lords, with all that there are in these territories, as is contained in certain writings which passed upon the subject as aforesaid, which you can see if you wish.
So their Highnesses are kings and lords of these islands and land of Tierra-firme by virtue of this donation: and some islands, and indeed almost all those to whom this has been notified, have received and served their Highnesses, as lords and kings, in the way that subjects ought to do, with good will, without any resistance, immediately, without delay, when they were informed of the aforesaid facts. And also they received and obeyed the priests whom their Highnesses sent to preach to them and to teach them our Holy Faith; and all these, of their own free will, without any reward or condition, have become Christians, and are so, and their Highnesses have joyfully and benignantly received them, and also have commanded them to be treated as their subjects and vassals; and you too are held and obliged to do the same. Wherefore, as best we can, we ask and require you that you consider what we have said to you, and that you take the time that shall be necessary to understand and deliberate upon it, and that you acknowledge the Church as the Ruler and Superior of the whole world, and the high priest called Pope, and in his name the King and Queen Doña Juana our lords, in
his place, as superiors and lords and kings of these islands and this Tierra-firme by virtue of the said donation, and that you consent and give place that these religious fathers should declare and preach to you the aforesaid.
If you do so, you will do well, and that which you are obliged to do to their Highnesses, and we in their name shall receive you in all love and charity, and shall leave you, your wives, and your children, and your lands, free without servitude, that you may do with them and with yourselves freely that which you like and think best, and they shall not compel you to turn Christians, unless you yourselves, when informed of the truth, should wish to be converted to our Holy Catholic Faith, as almost all the inhabitants of the rest of the islands have done. And, besides this, their Highnesses award you many privileges and exemptions and will grant you many benefits.
But, if you do not do this, and maliciously make delay in it, I certify to you that, with the help of God, we shall powerfully enter into your country, and shall make war against you in all ways and manners that we can, and shall subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and of their Highnesses; we shall take you and your wives and your children, and shall make slaves of them, and as such shall sell and dispose of them as their Highnesses may command; and we shall take away your goods, and shall do you all the mischief and damage that we can, as to vassals who do not obey, and refuse to receive their lord, and resist and contradict him; and we protest that the deaths and losses which shall accrue from this are your fault, and not that of their Highnesses, or ours, nor of these cavaliers who come with us. And that we have said this to you and made this Requisition, we request the notary here present to give us his testimony in writing, and we ask the rest who are present that they should be witnesses of this Requisition.
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Source:
“Requerimiento.” http://www.milestonedocuments.com/documents/view/requerimiento/text

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