Unit 1: Cause and Effect

The Spanish Empire was one of the first and most powerful empires during late 15^th century and early 16^th century. The monarchy’s quest for power deepened with every year and every opportunity that rose to them. Ferdinand and Isabella’s accomplishment during the Spanish Inquisition fueled their desire for religious uniformity in New Spain and set the missionaries to destroy the Native American religion and culture in order to recreate the natives towards their own beliefs. During the Spanish Inquisition, Ferdinand and Isabella established a clear message for people who weren’t Catholic: either you convert yourselves to this religion or die being a heretic with the different, inferior religion. For example, conversos or New Christians began mass conversions of Jews. The Jewish people had a choice between being accepted in society with new Catholic beliefs yet still being looked down upon or being punished and burned as heretics under the Catholic regime for believing in Judaism. These actions of conversos were being ordered by the Spanish monarchs who insisted in clearing out the desolate religions of Spain. Once they sent the missionaries to New Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella hoped to convert the natives from their pagan religions, which were described as “animalistic and impure”. The missionaries that came to New Spain were rather vicious in their conversions and were ready to punish the natives for disobeying the new religion of which they could little understand. The missionaries threw away sacred ornaments and pictures of gods that the natives valued so deeply and punished those who wouldn’t follow the rules set by the missionaries. This disdainful behavior was promoted by the Inquisition and didn’t leave any room for spirituality. By the time the missionaries were converting the natives of New Spain, much of the Jewish and Protestant population were executed or taken refuge in different countries from the moral blow on their religions in Spain. So as seen and proven by the Spanish Inquisition, any religion that was not Catholicism suffered under Ferdinand and Isabella’s cruel goal of religious uniformity everywhere.