They were not Colonizers, they were Conquerors.
Other than the fact that language is just communication and has nothing to do with colonizing.
That being taken care, I wanted to address a small issue which is the misuse of the word colonize, at least for those of us in the Hispanic cultural sphere. The colonizers were the nice kids in the block: they came to settle down, found towns and then cities, cultivate the land, grow crops, have families and live a long life doing all that in a savage land full of natural perils. Our initial history is divided in two sections: Los Conquistadores y Los Colonizadores.
The ones that made Colonizing possible were the Conquistadores, (the Conquerors) who were mean fucks forged by centuries of fighting and expelling the invading Muslims out of Spain. We are talking harsh men with a record and accomplishments that would make Vikings wet their beds. They were the ones that roamed and conquered the lands between Nevada all the way south to Cape Horn with no roads and if not on horseback, then walking. And let us not forget that much of the land was not gentle pastures but thick jungle crawling with all kinds of non-human creatures that were designed to kill.
And the did not fight innocent peaceful indians but in many cases bloodthirsty tribes that had cruelty and cannibalism as integral part of their culture and other tribes were fucking happy they were exterminated.
And I almost forgot: They fucked their way across the American lands with the locals giving birth to the Latino “race” also know as Hispanics. They took women as wives and had children and eventually settled because Wars of Conquest are a tiresome enterprise.
It was only when the lands were mostly tamed that the rest of Spain and other countries including England and France took a chance and crossed the Atlantic to establish their domains, their colonies.
Respect the men that did the impossible and gave you a place to live without having to worry if some Aztec priest was going to pull your heart out and show it to you in the few remaining seconds of your life.
-The greatest military defeat in the history of civilization it is the work of the Spaniards. Does anyone know what that was?
-Defeat of the Texans in the Alamo.
- That’s right.
- Wrong! 900 Spaniards led by Hernan Cortes killed 100,000 Aztecs. They did it with swords. Then they raped women and picked up gold.
Capt. Bucky O’Neil- Rough Riders, 1997
I remember a cartoon from a couple of years ago, in Spanish, showing a nerd and a fairy who offers him a wish. He wishes to live in a land that was never conquered by Europeans. The fairy says "granted!" and the next thing you know the nerd is lying on an altar, about to have his heart removed by a priest with an obsidian knife.
All true, my friend.