DBQ On Native Americans In The 15th Century

Native American DBQ
The 15th century will perpetually be deemed in the eyes of humanity as perhaps, the most momentous period in the vast history of planet earth. This is due to its comprising of Columbus’ expedition to the New World, the crucial catalyst to ignite the torrential chain of events to follow: European exploration of America. Interactions with the native populace served as a byproduct of these endeavors and the European’s interactions and consequent outlook on the natives varied immensely. Their outlooks ranged from sheer reverence to utter repugnance yet the majority unite in their consisting of a rather patronizing aura.
A substantial quantity of Europeans adjudged the natives as vile beasts of profound savagery. They believed

These embroidered creations feature Native Americans through the obscure and biased glens of Europeans. This is most legible in Jan van der Straet 1575 painting of Amerigo Vespucci’s arrival in America (Document 3). In the painting, a bare Indian is illustrated in a near animal- like state whilst Vespucci is illustrated as a domineering and transcendent figure. Native Americans are also expressed in this oppressive light in Louis Choris’ 1820 drawing of Indians on a boat. (Document 7) The natives here are depicted sans clothing in an also animal-like state. Lastly, the European perspective on the sheer simplicity and deficiency in intricacy of Indian society is displayed in John White’s rendering of a Secoton village (Document 5). All of these illustrations serve as optimal testaments to the Europeans’ perspective on the multifarious and burly web that was Native

For instance, John Lawson writes, “The Indians are really better to us, than we are to them. They always give us food at their homes, and protect us from hunger and thirst. But we do not do the same for them…… If we thought about it we would realize that even with our religion and education, we have more evils than these savages do.” (Document 6) However, Lawson, though he commends the Native Americans, refers to them as savages. Moreover, Sebastian Vizcaino in a letter to the Spanish King writes, “This region is thickly settled with people whom I found to be of gentle disposition, peacable and obedient, and who can be brought readily within the fold of the holy gospel and into the crown of your majesty.” (Document 1) Although he compliments the Native Americans, he insults them circuitously through the insinuation that they will patently fall victims to