The Colonial Experience

Latin America, when first discovered, was more diverse than Colonial Asia, Africa, and even North America. Its many riches and interesting people seemed alluring to the Europeans, the Spaniards and later the Portuguese. As Indigenous population declined (thanks to colonization), many Europeans moved African slaves to Latin America, so they would work in the crops (sugar) and mines (gold and silver). This variety in population (blacks, whites, and indigenous) allowed for mixed races to occur: the mulattos (black and white), the zambos (black and indigenous), and mestizos (indigenous and white). As more mixed babies came into the world, the Spaniards started to experience an anxiety: how do we class these people? How do we determine their social worth? This, was the beginning factor in the famous Casta paintings. 

Casta paintings, are defined as the building blocks of difference, it means "lineage, breed or race, to describe as a whole, the mixed-race people which appeared in the post-conquest period" (http://realhistoryww.com/world_history/ancient/Meso_America_Casta_Paintings.htm). This evolved into a frustration, as the Spaniards realized that Mestizos, Mulattos, or Zambos would mix with either, as well as Europeans, and create even more blurred mixes, ones that weren't clear in the social construct. The main concept of the Casta paintings were to group races and sub-races into different categories; there were sharp defining "lines" that stated social status, position, and class.

Going back to the topic of colonization, conquistadors, such as Catalina de Erauso, were the main contributors for the slow, yet steady, control of the indigenous empires. As stated in Catalina's journal, she, and many other Spaniards soldiers, fought repeatedly against the indigenous people in order to claim the land. In the battle of Valdivia, Catalina stated that she had to charge after the Indigenous chief, kills him, and is honoured as a Lieutenant of Alonso Moreno's. To the Spaniards, a battle won is a step closer to the full control of the riches of Latin America. The Spaniards were full of greed, and wanted to establish themselves as superior to the indigenous people that ruled the land before them.

The Meeting of the Two Worlds

In my opinion, the meeting of the Spaniards with present day Latin America was a coincidence that later ensued terror.
As stated in the lecture video, the Spaniards were not the first people to encounter the Americas. However, they were the ones that caused an impact, making the divide between between pre-colonialism and colonialism/post-colonialism. As I understood from before studying this chapter, Columbus did not intend on finding the Americas -- he was trying to find a new passage way between Europe and India/China. When Rodrigo de Triana announced "land" on October 7th, 1492, Columbus found disillusionment when he saw an unfamiliar terrain. He had to already deal with crew members who were complaining about the length of the voyage, and now he had to reassure them (and himself) that this trip was worth it. With time, as stated in his journal, Columbus started to realize many things about the "Indians" that inhabited this land. He stated that they "gave willingly whatever they had" (94) as they traded things with the Spaniards, who gave things of small value. The Indians were "ignorant of [weapons]" and they "must be good servants" (94), which could be seen as Columbus already seeing the many advantages this new land had. As it is stated, the Indians thought Columbus and his crew had come down from Heaven, which served as an advantage to the Spaniards, as they easily captured Indians to show the King and Queen.
Later on in the journals, greed starts to show in the Spaniards, as they start to find cotton, gold, silver, and many other materials that would serve them. On November 21st, Martin Alonso Pizon leaves with an Indian to Spain, as he thought the Indian would give him many riches. As Columbus explored, more riches were to be found, as well as more Indians that they had to "appease" by giving them insignificant gifts.
In the First Conquest of this Kingdom, the Spaniards were described to the Inca Guayna Capac as "[wearing] very long beards and that [the soldiers] were shrouded, like corpses". The Spanish would then tell the Inca that they ate gold and silver, which the Inca gladly gave, and so started the uproar that would bring more Spaniards into Latin America. Eventually this gave into the colonization of the many Latin American Empires, seeing that the Spaniards were better armed that the Indians.
Sadly, this is the start to Latin America.