In Stern's book, the focus seems to be more on material goods such as silver and gold. The Spanish would go after these materials and get them using indigenous labor. The subsequent institutions set up after the Spanish conquest of the Americas would help them get their wealth they sought as well as help satisfy their greed.
"Mining profits depended greatly upon holding wages far below the subsistence needs of Indian family economies" (Stern 108). The Spanish greed did not stop at simply extracting resources for profit. They were willing to exploit the Indian population as much as they wanted.
Spanish greed for resources and wealth affected native populations and their entire societies as well
I completely agree that Stern’s book revolves around material goods and economic gain as the complete motivation for the Spanish. On page 27 he describes how a legend got started from their frequent quest for gold and silver. “The looting of prestigious shrines and the European thirst for precious metals created the folk legend that Spaniards ate gold and silver instead of food”. (Stern 27) And their introduction of a new economic system completely changed the indigenous ways and exploited that lower classes.
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