BTW, the religious warfare endemic in Europe is why those from Protestant countries, particularly the Anglo-Saxon peoples, tend to denigrate Spanish culture and all things Hispanic. That's also true in the other direction, of course. But since we live in the English-Speaking World, (for a while longer anyway) we never get the whole picture.
Stop and think that the original 13 colonies and the first United States were tiny indeed compared with the Spanish possessions in the New World, and that major Spanish cities in the New World were already over 100 years old when the Pilgrims arrived.
“and that major Spanish cities in the New World were already over 100 years old when the Pilgrims arrived. “
Pilgrims? Who cares about those late coming self promoters?
Jamestown had been in operation for more than a decade when that Pilgrim crew made their beer run on the Massachusetts coast.