Spanish involvement

[laglaeske]

Though our focus has been the conflicts between England and her Thriteen Colonies vs. Old France and New France, plus their First Nations alles, I have been wondering: couldn't've the Spanish knock either of these lil squabblers down and try to take control of the fur trade themselves? Why didn't they get involved in the fur market like the other two European nations? Did the Spaniards even want fur? I know they had other colonies to deal with in South and Central America, but why weren't the Spanish part of this piece of history, besides some dynastic struggles going on in Europe?

[Mr. Delainey]

You're correct, Lukas. Spain isn't sitting idly by while France and England take over North America. In fact, the Spanish Empire (Mexico) stretched to include the regions of Texas, Arizona, California, and New Mexico. The Spanish did not participate in the fur trade to any meaningful extent that I've been able to see. Instead, their interest in North, Central and South America was in mineral wealth, i.e. silver, gold, precious metals, etc. The Spanish had some conflicts in South America with the Portugeuse but these were eventually resolved by the pope.

Read about this curious thing of the pope settling matters here: quezi.com/12377

In terms of Spain and the English and French, if you recall the Spanish tried to take the area of Quebec from Champlain back in the early 17th Century. The Spanish and English had conflicts along their shared boundaries (around the Florida area). We just don't talk about these things much because they're not directly related to Canada.