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I found out today that the first university (!) in the continent dates back to the 1550s [0]. What made the Spaniards so successful that they were able not only

I found out today that the first university (!) in the continent dates back to the 1550s [0]. What made the Spaniards so successful that they were able not only to defeat a full blown civilization (as opposed to the weaker natives in the north) and were able to fully bootstrap their territories where the English took many attempts and failures? Was it the technology? Or just the nature of the northern territories? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colonial_universities_in_Hispanic_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colonial_universities_...

throwaway0a5e 6y ago
>Was it the technology? Or just the nature of the northern territories? The English were the poors of Europe at the time. They couldn't afford well funded settlement expeditions. Jamestown barely survived. The Pilgrims were basically shown the door and had no better options. Then everyone on the wrong side of the English civil war came over shortly thereafter.
- drocer88 6y ago
  English were not the poors of Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(P...
  - morsch 6y ago
    That list starts after 1800, so 200 years after the events otherwise discussed in this thread. Though absent other evidence I'm inclined to believe you.
pvg 6y ago
This is a gross oversimplification but the purpose and goals of their expeditions were just completely different. Even the earliest Spanish expeditions were (in part) state-approved, armed and essentially get-rich-quick plundering schemes. The existence of advanced (but less well armed) urban civilizations just encouraged them since it meant potential for gold. A lot of now-famous early British colonizers were basically groups of funky religious malcontents hoping to establish their own little theocracies. Their state approval was more along the lines of 'good riddance'.
- mbroncano 6y ago
  > Even the earliest Spanish expeditions were (in part) state-approved, armed and essentially get-rich-quick plundering schemes. Maybe I’m not getting your point, but how does that fit with building up universities? What were they expecting to get out of them? Student debt?
  - pvg 6y ago
    A 16th century university is primarily a religious institution and Spain had a strongly enforced state religion. Pizarro - one of the adventuring/plundering types - founded Lima in 1535, 20 years before the university and after taking out the core of the Inca empire. To go back to your original question - I don't think this had much to do with technology but just with the different approaches the empires in question took. To Spain, a minor bet paid off spectacularly and the state fairly quickly moved to establish control (not without some trouble - just scrolling through the Wikipedia pages of Pizarro or Cortés is full of stories of Spanish leaders and officials in the New World murdering each other). It was many decades after all of this, though, that England got around to considering, maybe, the American North Atlantic coast as a decent dumping ground for some irritating Jesus freaks.

throwaway0a5e 6y ago

>Was it the technology? Or just the nature of the northern territories? The English were the poors of Europe at the time. They couldn't afford well funded settlement expeditions. Jamestown barely survived. The Pilgrims were basically shown the door and had no better options. Then everyone on the wrong side of the English civil war came over shortly thereafter.

drocer88 6y ago
English were not the poors of Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(P...
- morsch 6y ago
  That list starts after 1800, so 200 years after the events otherwise discussed in this thread. Though absent other evidence I'm inclined to believe you.

pvg 6y ago

This is a gross oversimplification but the purpose and goals of their expeditions were just completely different. Even the earliest Spanish expeditions were (in part) state-approved, armed and essentially get-rich-quick plundering schemes. The existence of advanced (but less well armed) urban civilizations just encouraged them since it meant potential for gold. A lot of now-famous early British colonizers were basically groups of funky religious malcontents hoping to establish their own little theocracies. Their state approval was more along the lines of 'good riddance'.

mbroncano 6y ago
> Even the earliest Spanish expeditions were (in part) state-approved, armed and essentially get-rich-quick plundering schemes. Maybe I’m not getting your point, but how does that fit with building up universities? What were they expecting to get out of them? Student debt?
- pvg 6y ago
  A 16th century university is primarily a religious institution and Spain had a strongly enforced state religion. Pizarro - one of the adventuring/plundering types - founded Lima in 1535, 20 years before the university and after taking out the core of the Inca empire. To go back to your original question - I don't think this had much to do with technology but just with the different approaches the empires in question took. To Spain, a minor bet paid off spectacularly and the state fairly quickly moved to establish control (not without some trouble - just scrolling through the Wikipedia pages of Pizarro or Cortés is full of stories of Spanish leaders and officials in the New World murdering each other). It was many decades after all of this, though, that England got around to considering, maybe, the American North Atlantic coast as a decent dumping ground for some irritating Jesus freaks.