Compare and contrast the treatment of american indians under french and spanish rule.

The French and the Spanish had different approaches when it came to colonizing the Americas. The French rarely engaged into conflict with the Native Americans. There were several reasons for this. One reason was that the French didn't wanted to decimate and disperse their army, especially because they needed it to fight against the British. Another reason was that they thought that by having good relations, mostly based on trade and mutual benefit, they will get allies in the Native Americans, thus will be able to use them i case of conflict with some of the competition, as well as to have easier access to the goods in the continent. The Spanish, on the other hand, had different policies. The Spanish went to take gold and silver, and in order to do so they were brutal toward the natives, destroying several civilization along the way. The Spanish forcefully imposed their culture and religion, and they tried to eradicate the native cultures and religions. Also, the Spanish started to mix with the local populations, thus they created a new, but homogeneous ethnic group, which actually strengthened their positions.