 Our textbooks will explain that the Spanish came really for God and for gold, but quite often they focus on the gold and then smirk at the idea of God. Whereas, in fact, the Spanish were quite concerned with extending God's realm, proselytizing, evangelizing the natives in North America just as much as they were in finding the gold. In fact, for us to separate God and gold now is a modern convention. For them, gold was a gift of God. Gold was meant as a plastic. It was material. It was meant to be used to extend the realm of God's influence into the new world.