Which of the following statements best investigates why the Spanish and Portuguese were able to influence Indigenous communities in Latin America?

Question

a. Indigenous communities did not have unique cultural identities and were easily influenced by the arrival of Europeans.
b. The destruction caused by widespread disease allowed Europeans to more effectively change weakened Indigenous culture.
c. Spanish and Portuguese missionaries were able to convert Indigenous peoples to Christianity and force them to abandon their cultures.
d. The arrival of new crops and people from Afro-Eurasia slowly replaced Indigenous culture.

Answer 1

The statement that best investigates why the Spanish and Portuguese were able to influence Indigenous communities in Latin America is:

b. The destruction caused by widespread disease allowed Europeans to more effectively change weakened Indigenous culture.

This statement acknowledges the significant impact that diseases brought by Europeans had on Indigenous populations, which greatly weakened their societies and made them more vulnerable to influence and control by the colonizers.