"Conquistadors were far, far worse than the British.". ....... any massacres are "far far worse" than no massacres. ask the first Aussies if the violence here was worse than in Central America.
2 key factors in operation here. One is the availability of people to massacre. Aboriginal people had no central city, no large population gathered in one place but were widely scattered in smaller family/clan groups. and Two was the relative differences in numbers of the invasion force. British were a relatively small contingent and most were convicts which needed to be guarded by troopers; the Spanish were seeking gold, not to establish a colony. so their entire force could be used in one fell action.
the effect of the original inhabitants was and remains equivalent.
I suggest that had the Brits sent an extra ship full of soldiers and had a material motive (greed) for a precious substance to take back to Britain they would have done exactly the same.
