Most of history is seen through the eyes of those of privilege, education, and wealth: royalty, nobility, and merchants. There were those of less fortune or lower class that were educated enough to be able to record their experiences and points-of-view, but they were far and few between. Especially in early America, from immigrants, slaves, free blacks, natives, and indentured servants. “In Defense of the Indians” by Bartolome de La Casa, “An Indentured Servant’s Letter Home” by Richard Frethorne, “Ads for Runaway Servants and Slaves”, “The Irish in America” by John Francis Maguire, and “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” by Frederick Douglass are by or about the natives, slaves, indentured servants, and immigrants in the early
Hernan Cortes was a Spanish conqueror. He was born in 1485 in Medellin, Spain. He died on December 2, 1547. He invaded Mexico in 1519, and he conquered the Aztec Empire in 1521. His parents’ names were Martin Cortez and Catalina Pizarro Altamirano. Hernan Cortes was a hero that conquered the Aztec Empire.
Juan de Solorzano y Pereyra says that the Indians practiced savage customs or they attempted to commit treason against the Spanish people.
In 1550, Emporer Charles V summoned a debate to determine how Spain would deal with the Native Americans. Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda and Bartolomé de Las Casas engaged in discourse about this topic: Sepúlveda denigrated the Natives while de Las Casas defended them. Sepúlveda felt that the Native Americans were basically barbaric sub-humans, and that the Europeans were greatly superior to them. He felt that Christianity was far more altruistic than the Natives’ religions. However, Las Casas felt that the Natives should be treated equally, since he believed Jesus died for the Natives just like he died for the Europeans. He noted their sophisticated, very well-developed societies. When Europeans came into contact with Native Americans, they tried to spread Christianity and force Natives to convert to their religion. This is because people who sided with Sepúlveda felt that their religion was superior and wouldn’t ever fathom that they could adopt any of the Natives’ religions. Places in the “new world” that were under Spanish rule often were exceedingly religiously intolerant. As the Europeans gained more and more power religiously, Native American religions were silenced. As more settlers came to the new world from Europe, they brought Christianity with them, and Christianity’s popularity from Europe continued on in the new world. European contact with Native Americans deteriorated the Natives’ religions while strengthening the Europeans’
Did you know that Sebastian Vizcaino named Monterey Bay California after the Spanish Viceroy conde de Monterey. Is Sebastian Vizcaino was born and extra min to Spain in 1548 he was born into a rich family emergency later and his life he became a Spanish merchant / adventure he is mainly famous for mapping out and naming many of the places along coastline but he is also famous for being named General of the manilla galleons.
In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. We all know this catchy tune right? But what we don’t know, is what Columbus thought when he arrived in the North America or what he though of the Native Americans he met. In fact, we don’t know much about all the explorers after Columbus and what they thought. Each explore had their own view of the Native Americans, and three great examples are Columbus, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda and Bartolomé de Las Casas
Moreover, in 1537, another Spanish explorer known as Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, wrote a book titled La Relación, where he explained the obstacles him and his crew had to face during the Narvaez expedition in 1527 to the Spanish King, Charles I. In connection to all the men who sailed “from Cuba to Tampa Bay in present-day Florida” only “Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and three other men survived the expedition, but only after enduring a nine-year, six-hundred-mile trek across Texas and Mexico and enslavement by Indians…….” In my opinion, this letter gives the reader a much clearer understanding of the things that Cabeza de Vaca saw during his journey because he writes his letters using words like “my”, “I”, and “me” which makes it clear to us
De Soto was very wealthy, but the wealth was not enough for him. He would gamble his fortune on one more throw of the dice. De Soto impacted the Natives by being so strong willed. He came into the New World and had a plan. He took charge and basically told the Indians his strategy, and the Indians followed along. De Soto formed his own army and they were there to do a job: explore, conquer and settle. Everywhere he went he would always ask two questions. First question was: What is the greatest prints in the land, where can I find the wealthiest and greatest societies? The Spanish would show the jewelry on their hands and bodies to the Indians and the Spaniards would ask them where they could find it. For the most part, the Indians told De Soto what he need to know because his means of the extracting were so great. De Soto kept a chart from the king and read a lengthy statement to each group of natives that he encountered. He informed them that they all belong to him and the Spanish crowd. The Indians were to pledge their allegiance to Spain and accept the Catholic faith. If they refused it, it came with the warning that the Spaniards will start a war and go after all of their
According to Las Casas, the Son of God “gave his life for every living soul (p. 32),” which includes the lives of the indigenous people (p. 72). Therefore, each man, woman, and child, no matter where they came from, their skin color, age, sex, religion, are equal and apart of the human race. In his short account, Las Casas is absolutely appalled that a human life could be belittled and devalued to the extent where a single mare can be bartered for eighty locals: “that is, eighty members of the human race (p. 65).” Therefore, he claimed that it would be “a criminal neglect of my duty to remain silent (p. 6)” and took a stand to defend the indigenous people against what Las Casas believed to be “mortal enemies of the human race (p.
In this paper, the epic journey and expedition of Cabeza de Vaca would be discussed that why is his tale significant to understand the Spanish invasion of the Americas, what communication difficulties did he faced and what were the main aspects of his journey and our learning’s about native societies.
While his early encounters were similar to almost anyone of the time period, in the fact he didn't consider much of subjugating the local populations while benefiting greatly from it. Having ample supplies and food while local populations barely survived and no consideration or equality had entered his mind until after becoming a priest, he began to see this as what it was; Heresy by disregard for the human spirit and well being. After returning to a seat of power, he argued vehemently against the use of the now perverse Encomiendas system (Baym 39). This resulted in heads of state and religious orders to abolish such practices, but proved to be but one step in this challenge. Casas (and his allies) now also had to deal with people who had directly benefited from this system in the New World, which proved rather
(August 3, 1492) Christopher Columbus left Palos, Spain with three ships, Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina, He sailed to an island in the Bahamas arriving on October 12. In March 1493, he returned and was received with the highest honors by the Spanish court. This was important because he went back to Spain harboring both gold and spices. As well as “Indian” captives.
I was an early spanish explorer. I was born around 1500 southwestern castilian town of Gibraleon South. I left as an explorer to explorer the new world and find money while doing it. I joined a crew in 1527 as a captain in the expedition of panfilo de Narvaez. After the expedition was compelled to travel along the gulf coast in bad ships, one ship was placed under the joint command of Alonso Castillo Maldonado and Andrés Dorantes de Carranza. In about a month of sailing disaster struck and they lost one ship to the sea.
Religion was a key factor in the way La Casas and the Spaniards protrayed the indigenous people of the Caribbean. Queen Isabella 's role in the avocation of converting the native people to Catholicism allowed Religion to play a major role in the Spanish ConquestLas Casas mentions Queen Isabella’s religious influences in the opening chapter of the book. He also states that her death and the disappearances of her influences is the reasons the Spaniards genocide of the native people increased. Both Las Casa and the Spaniards agreed that religion was a reason for the conquest of the Caribbean. However, they concept influenced their portrayal of the natives in different ways. La Casas believed that it was the jobs of the Spaniards to convert the
I was born March 24, 1755 in Scarborough, Massachusetts. My father, John Alsop, is a former New York delegate to the Continental Congress. My family has always been quite affluent due to my father’s success as a merchant. After finishing my elementary education at the age of 12, my father sent me to Dummer Academy, a boarding school in South Byfield, Massachusetts. I later started college at Harvard in 1773 when only two years later my education was interrupted when our facilities were allocated to house soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Later, I was able to complete my formal education in 1777, with a focus in law. I started my practice directly after being admitted to the bar in 1780.