What did spanish settlers do in new Spain?

Answer 1

In the first few decades of the Spanish presence in the Caribbean, large numbers of Native Americans were enslaved and forced to work on Spanish projects. Columbus himself was infamous for the brutal way that he treated the Taíno people, the natives of Hispaniola island, forcing them into slave labor in the recently excavated mines. The work was so callous and so brutal that significant percentages of the Hispaniola Taíno population died from overwork and fellow Spaniards reported him to Queen Isabella, who was in turn so enraged at the conduct that she demanded that he return to Spain. (Remember that this is the same "humanitarian" Queen Isabella who is responsible for the Spanish Inquisition.)

The Native Americans in the Caribbean died in record numbers within decades of the Spanish arrival, primarily from foreign diseases, but also from overwork. The Spaniards needed a labor force to fill the lower rungs of the social ladder in order for the colonial expedition to be profitable. Since the enslavement of Africans was quite accepted in Spain due to the former Islamic rulers having African slaves and participating in the African Slave Trade, it was only natural for the Spaniards to expand this trade and begin to use Africans to replace the dying Natives.

Answer 2

After the Spanish settled in the Caribbean, they began to build fortresses to protect their settlements. They also began using the area as a shipping lane to bring treasure back to Spain.

Answer 3

They farmed the land and built haciendas and made Native Americans convert to Roman Catholicism.