Native Americans seemed to regard their light skinned visitors , because they (the Indians ) were amazed with European dresses , beards , winged ships , weapons , mirrors , earings , copper and brass kattles and other gadgets. Native Americans likewise were surprised at European intolerance for native religious beliefs , marital arrangements , eating habits and other customs.
Very soon , real interest of Europeans was obvious. One of the conqueror Hernan Cortes said “We came here to serve God , and also to get rich .” The Spanish coquistadors wanted the land and labour of the Indians. The priests wanted to change their souls. This were the programs of Spanish conquistadors. Both programs were destructive to many people of America. The Spanish conqustadors robbed them of their freedom and , in many cases their lives ; the priests were deprived of their culture. When Spanish conquistadors came to Mexico and South America , Aztec and Inca empires were on the high level of development. They ruined Tenochtitlan and in 40 years they enslaved Indians from Central and South America.
In 1492 the Caribbean , Central America , and Andean South Americ were among the most densely populated regions of the hemisphere. The reason to a large extent has an invisible conqueror : Europeans brought deseases such as smallpox , pulmonary , ailments and gastrointestinal disorder , all of which had been unknown in America during the pre-Columbian periods. The destruction was especially visible in Latin America where great masses of people were congregated in citys such as Tenochtitlan and Cuzco. Those Native Americans who did survive were often assigned to a planter or mine ovner , to whom they owe all their services. This system known as encomienda was infact slavery. This too broke the spirit and health of the people making them all the more vulnerable to the deseases brought by Europeans. Death from microbial infection was not as extensive in the Canadian forests , where most of the people lived as hunter-gatherers. On the Lake Onterio village farmers suffered serious depopulation in waves of epidemic that may have been triggered by Jesuit priests , who had established in the area. People of Canada suffered fewer dislocations than did the people of Latin and English America. The reason is in the nature of fur-trade which militated again settlement. The idea was to maintain the wilderness so the fur-bearing animals would continue flourish. French settlement in Canada was restricted to a thin line of land along the banks of the St. Lourenc and Ottawa rivers.