Yeah Spanish colonialism was very different from English colonialism. The Spanish attempted to coopt and convert the local population, not displace and kill them. That’s not to say it wasn’t a nasty process but to this day there are millions of people in Mexico who speak Nahuatl (the Aztec language) as their first and primary language.
> The Spanish attempted to coopt and convert the local population,
Population densities in Mexico and throughout much of what is Latin America were considerably higher than in the North.
Also IIRC the number of Spanish colonists who came to the Americas during the 17th century is about the same as the number of immigrants to the English colonies on the East Coast. Considering how massive the Spanish empire was there just weren’t that many Europeans there. Trying to subjugate and assimilate the natives was really the only option they had.
Sure, underlying conditions were different and partially explain the different colonizing strategies. Doesn’t change the fact that there were key differences that manifest themselves in evidence like these newly discovered codices.
