Spanish Contributions to Destruction of Early American Civilizations

Key factors:

• Diseases: Smallpox, measles, typhus, yellow fever—devastated immunologically naive populations.
• Military technology: Guns, cannons, armor vs. bows, spears.
• Slavery: Forced labor in mines, plantations, households caused mass death and cultural erasure.
• Colonization & assimilation: Imposed Spanish culture, religion, language, suppressing indigenous ones.