While Spain and France tried to achieve their objectives in North America, they both had to deal with the population of Native Americans they ran into. While the two countries both had similar goals of money and religion, both countries had different opinions on how these goals should be achieved, and how the natives should be treated. By the end of the seventeenth century, Spain’s policy toward the Pueblo tribe proved to be more profitable than France’s policy toward the Huron and Algonquin tribes, but by no means the nicest.
While colonizing America, the Spanish had three general purposes: God, which meant christianizing all of the Indians they found, Gold, since they wanted to find deposits of this precious mineral in North America, and Glory, because they thought that they would get glorious from all of the profits they made in North America. The Catholic Church played an important role in helping Spain achieve these objectives. When the first conquistadors explored new lands, they usually brought priests with them. King Phillip II issued the Royal Decree in 1573. This document said “preaching the holy gospel … is the principal purpose for which we order new … settlements to be made.” This is why many dedicated priests started establishing the first missions. The Spanish economic policy toward the Pueblos was the Encomienda system. This system gave Spanish settlers the right to tax local Indians or to demand labor from them. In exchange, these settlers were supposed to convert the Indians to Christianity, protect them from attack, and teach them various skills. However, the settlers were not really supposed to enslave the Indians under this system. But while the system was taking place, however, many Spaniards forced the Indians to grow crops, mine for gold, or herd cattle. It was taking on really hard for the Indians, so many died of diseases, or fatigue. When the Spanish Padres came to America, they wanted to colonize, and christianize the land and its inhabitants. However, instead of building their missions next to the Indian settlements, the conquistadors would tear the villages down, and build on top of the cleared land. The Spanish would also subdue and enslave the Indians, while they were not capable of doing all of what the Spanish commanded. Therefore many would die from being overworked. However, not all of the Spanish mistreated the Pueblos. The Padres had benevolent intentions towards the Indians. They tended to the welfare of the Natives, by treating anybody that was not feeling well or injured, and instead of beating the disobeying Indians like the conquistadors, they would treat them as miscreant children, and punish them as ones. Yet, since the Spanish carried many diseases that the Indians were not immune to, and since the Spanish lived in such close proximity to the Indians, the Indians often got ill, and died of something as simple, as perhaps a common cold.
The French, while colonizing America, had many similarities to the Spanish, and many differences. Firstly, the French, like the Spaniards, wanted to establish good relations with the Indians that they encountered, and christianize them. When they met the Huron, the French tried to be friendly with them, and get them to help the French to catch beavers, meanwhile trying to persuade the Natives to convert. The French also tried to achieve as much wealth and power in America as they could in their minds. They, like the Spanish, also carried diseases along with them, and wanted to colonize America. Their purpose for coming to America was to achieve wealth through trade, and this would be easy for them since beaver fur hats were popular at that time. They also wanted to become the dominant European nation by becoming the biggest country with the most colonies – and people. The French economic policy toward the Huron and Algonquin nations consisted of the French and the Natives being partners in trade, meaning the French would help the Indians and vice verse; the French agreed to form alliances against the Indian’s common enemies to keep the Indian’s friendliness with them. Because they were so much around the Indians, the French started learning and accepting their cultures and customs, which greatly pleased the Indians, as the French were not so odd anymore. There was also no land competition between the Indians and French, since the French felt that if they fought the Indians for land, they would loose their company, and the Indians were crucial given that they grew corn for the French. The French, like the Spanish, also tried to convert the Indians, but unlike the Spanish, they did not force-convert them. The Black Robes were the French version of the Spanish Padres, yet they were completely different. The French priests were under compulsion to persuade the Indians gently, and not force-convert them. They also tried to understand Indian culture by learning the Native’s languages, eating their foods, and trying to understand their religions. There were some examples from the movie Black Robe that show these different attempts of the priests to teach the Indians their own skills, and understand the Native’s. The priest in Black Robe did many of these things. He slept in the Algonquin’s tents, and traveled in an Algonquin canoe. He honoured the Algonquin’s beliefs and customs, like when he said when he was parting with the Algonquin man and woman, he said “Dreams are true,” which a French priest in France would have definitely not accepted. He tried to persuade the Huron and Algonquin to learn something the French usually do, like when he baptized the baby and the Huron village people, or when he showed a Huron man what writing could do. Additionally, the French church, built on Huron ground next to Huron huts, looked like the rest of the Huron buildings, except for the cross at the front. This showed how easy the French were with the Indians, and how different they were from the Spanish.
If I were an Indian, I would probably like France’s rule more. If I were a Pueblo, and lived under Spain’s rule, these would be the good factors: I would be taken care of, I would be more protected against attack, and I would have better shelter to live in. If I were under France’s rule, these would be the good factors: I would be free, I would have strong allies, and I wouldn’t have to convert to Christianity if I did not want to. The winner is France, because on balance, I would rather live there because I wouldn’t be enslaved like in New Spain, and I could keep all my previous customs if I wanted, without much interruption.
However, France was actually less successful than Spain, even if I would rather live there. First, the Spanish missions were great, sturdy, and could work on their own, and the trade was much more successful than France’s since the Spanish exported not only beaver furs, but many other quality products that they obtained from the Indians. France, on the other hand, had feeble missions that required Indian help to run, and the settlers couldn’t even grow their own food. All they were concentrated on was exporting beaver furs, when they could have gained much more if they exported more different items. The factors favouring neither countries are: they carried deadly diseases, they interfere with Indian customs, and they try to take land for themselves, and because of this, wars broke out between Natives and Europeans, which killed much of the European population. On balance, the winner is Spain, because even if they were much more harsh than the French were to the Indians, they were much more successful in establishing missions and thriving trade. Yet if I were an Indian, I’d still like France better, because I would not care about their trades.
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