Readers might not be aware of the differences in Esteban's Spanish society and America's society today.
Following are some of the major differences:
* Spain's practice of primogeniture, which resulted in disinheritance of second-born and later sons—and all daughters—who were accustomed to wealth, resulting in them doing whatever they had to do to reclaim wealth and status in the New World.
* The impecunious peasantry that existed for nearly everyone else in Europe, which motivated commoners to go to extremes in the New World enslaving native peoples as the one way to elevate themselves and become rich.
* Spain's need for great additional amounts of gold and silver to finance the Holy Roman Empire's relentless warfare across Europe during the New World's colonial period.
Combine these differences with the "Doctrine of Discovery" (explained on this blog's first page), which nations have always used to justify the invasion, conquering, and colonization of "discovered" lands and then enslaving or impoverishing the original inhabitants, taking ownership of all resources, and seizing the land.
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