Ceremonies of Possession:
Comparing Spanish,
French, and English
Imperialism
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(1973) From 1600 – 1763, several
European nations vied for control of
the North American continent. Why
did England win the struggle?
(2000) Analyze the cultural and
economic responses of TWO of the
following groups to the Indians of
North America before 1750.
British
French Spanish
Counter-factual: What if Columbus had
sailed for Henry VII rather than Spain?
England
Silver development imperial bureaucracy + financial
independence from Parliament absolutist rule +
culture
Wealth + subjugated Indians no need dissolve
monasteries + missionary zeal/cover England
staunchly Catholic
 Spain
Poverty Spanish centralism collapses after F+I
religious and cultural pluralism + possible incursions of
Protestantism
Spanish colonies based on trade w/ little royal control
reinforce individualism and capitalism
Irony: Spain’s early imperial success led to their longterm collapse; England’s early imperial failure led to
their long-term dominance
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I. The Requirement: Spanish
Justification
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Upon arrival in a new land, Spanish
explorers and conquistadores read a
legal document to the natives called
the Requirement.
Spanish Goals
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The Spanish sought:
• 1. Conversion of the Indians to
Christianity
• 2. Resources (especially precious
metals)
• 3. Labor for the Spanish encomienda
system
Spanish imperialism might be called
extractive
Spanish Goals
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The Spanish were not particularly
concerned with
• Land for settlement
• Trade (although became more important
when silver/gold begin to run low and in
the Southwest)
II. Theatrical Rituals: French
Political Possession
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The French staged elaborate
ceremonies upon their encounter
with new Indian groups, rituals in
which the Indians played a central
role.
A. Consent: “Conquest by Love”
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It was important to the French that the
Indians themselves perform the rituals:
“After they themselves had placed the
cross as a sign that they desired to be
children of God, they likewise planted with
the French the arms and standards of
France in the middle of their land so that it
be recognized among all other nations,
that our most Christian king is the
sovereign master and peaceable
possessor.”
B. Alliance
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Consent paved the way for the specific
political relationship that Frenchmen
envisioned themselves creating with
natives, namely, an “alliance.”
Alliance did not mean parity (the French
were clearly the ones with power)
But it did ensure mutual obligation,
particularly protection in exchange for
trade and allegiance.
French Goals
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The French desired:
• 1. Trade
• 2. Indian conversion to Christianity
• 3. Limited amounts of land upon which
to farm
The French were primarily a trading
empire.
Dutch: different ceremonies, same basic
pattern
French Goals
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The French did not particularly
desire:
• Slave labor
• Large tracts of land
• Gold or silver (since it was nonexistent)
III. Houses, Gardens, and Fences:
Signs of English Possession
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“On the 15. of December, they [the
Pilgrims] wayed [weighed] anchor to
goe to the place they had
discovered…And afterwards tooke
better view of the place, and
resolved where to pitch their
dwelling; and on the 25 day begane
to erect the first house for common
use to receive them and their goods.”
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The English literally staked their
claim to the land by building fences,
planting gardens, and erecting
buildings that showed their
exclusive ownership.
No ceremony was necessary:
construction created the right of
possession
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The English claimed that the Indians had
no right to land because they had not
obeyed Scripture:
Genesis 1:28: “God and his Reason
commanded him to subdue the Earth…He
that in Obedience to this Command of
God, subdued, tilled and sowed any part
of it, thereby annexed to it something that
was his Property.”
English Goals
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The English primarily came to the
New World for
• 1. Land
• 2. Work
• 3. Agricultural products (sugar, tobacco,
wheat, timber)
Of the three empires, the English can
best be called a settlement empire: they
desired to live in the New World.
English Goals
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The English were not particularly
interested in
• 1. Conversion of the Indians (some
believed it impossible; nature of
Calvinism)
• 2. Precious metals (Jamestown
conquistadores)
• 3. Indian slaves
Consequences
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Spanish, French, and Dutch have
more pluralistic societies with Indians
more fully incorporated into colonial
society
English almost entirely exclude
Indians from society except for those
who entirely convert (“praying
Indians”)