Final answer:
The Spanish intended to establish a labor system and spread Catholicism among the native populations but ended up causing severe exploitation, decimation, cultural disruption, and long-lasting effects on native societies due to unintended consequences like disease and the slave trade.
Step-by-step explanation:
The intended consequences of Spanish contact with the Natives on the Barrier Islands were primarily the establishment of a labor system and the spread of Catholicism among native populations. The Spanish envisioned a reciprocal relationship consisting of trading Christianity and protection for native labor. However, the reality was quite different; the labor system, initially the encomienda and later the repartimiento, led to severe exploitation and decimation of native populations. These labor systems were intended to organize native labor for the Spanish colonial ventures such as mining and farming, which were crucial for the Spanish economy.
Unintended consequences included the outbreak of diseases to which Natives had no immunity, leading to high mortality rates. Additionally, the slave trade, driven by the demand for labor in the Americas, resulted in intertribal warfare and raids, fueled by European powers like the British and the Spanish. Cultural disruption, loss of native religion, and societal structures were also significant unintended consequences of the Spanish conquest.
The impact of Spanish colonization was detrimental to the native inhabitants. Reports like those from Bartolomé de las Casas highlight the brutality of Spanish colonization, a stark contrast to the initial objectives stated by figures such as Christopher Columbus. The contact with the Natives ceased to be simply a cultural exchange or benign missionary endeavor, but instead turned into a catastrophic event for the indigenous peoples, with long-lasting effects on their populations, cultures, and the geopolitical landscape of the Americas.