It is widely known that there was extensive intermarriage in Spanish colonies in the Americas, right from the beginning, between newly arrived colonists (mainly men) and local Amerindians (mainly women). This seems to have happened rather seamlessly and spontaneously, it was tolerated by the local authorities and incentivized by the Catholic Church. However, this seems to have been a phenomenon typical of Spanish colonies, occurring rarely in Portuguese, Dutch, French and English colonies. Why was this? What motivated this very specific Spanish attitude towards the natives? In particular, why wasn't the Catholic Church in French and Portuguese colonies capable of promoting the integration of recently converted Amerindian populations into the fabric of colonial society?
Thanks a lot.
I've written about related topics before, which might be interesting for you:
here on intermarriage between Spaniards and indigenous people in Mexico (more on politics than religion) . I would just be careful to call this " seamlessly and spontaneously": there was widespread rape by Spanish soldiers esp. during the conquest campaigns; and at least early on such unions were also used to further influence both by Spanish and native elites.
here on immigration of Spanish women - an important factor because few women migrated until the later 16th c., in contrast with e.g. British America
Hope this helps. Your other examples are outside of my wheelhouse, hopefully someone else can add to that.