At the beginning of the 1600's the new world was just being discovered. Europeans had never seen a culture like that of the natives. They hardly wore any clothes, and they worshipped nature. It was very astonishing to the Europeans. Upon hearing of this Spanish friars were sent to convert the natives. Two of these friars named Ramon Pané and Bartolome de las Casas documented their experiences, in the world and with the natives. A Dutch painter by the name of Theodore de Bry who never visited the new world drew four pictures depicting the Spaniard's experiences in the new world. Through the eyes of Pane, Las Casas, and De Bry we are able to get a glimpse of the new world. Pane seemed to think he was above the natives. Throughout his letter, he constantly uses words such as they, these, …show more content…
After leaving the chapel those [Indian] men threw the images to the ground, heaped earth on them, and pissed on top, saying, “Now will you yield good and abundant fruit”; they offered this insult because they had buried the images in a tilled field. Seeing this, the lads who watched over the chapel ran to their elders, who were in the fields, and told them that Guarionex’s people had desecrated the images and had jeered at them. The Indians immediately left what they were doing and ran crying to tell what had happened to Don Bartholomew Columbus, then governing for his brother [Christopher Columbus,] the Admiral, who had sailed for Castile. As the viceroy's lieutenant and governor of the islands, he brought those wicked men to trial, and their crime having been established, he caused them to be publicly burned at the stake. (Pané) He calls it a miracle that the Spaniards captured some of the natives and burned them. The next sentence goes on to talk about how the natives continued evilly killing the Spanish. He portrays the relationship with a lot of anger and bitterness on both
Under the “dogmatic assumption that the new world belonged to Spain by the right of Pope Alexander’s bull of donation,” Cortés believed that he was the “instrument of divine justice” permitting him to violently act upon the inhabitants if they did not cease their possessions to the Spaniards. In addition, Cortés believed that he had the right to destroy the natives’ forms of idols and replace them with Christian statues. Through the narrative of Cortés’s leadership, it is evident that religion was valued since it served as a guide to administer Spanish expansion. The narrative of Sundiata demonstrates that religion was important to the Mandingo culture because it was spiritual force that granted Sundiata blessing and fortune in
It raises the question of how the Spanish viewed the natives: as people standing in the way of their gold, or fascinating and interesting people with rich culture and
Bartolome de Las Casas was born in 1848 in Spain. Las Casas was a Spanish historian and dominican missionary who objected the Spanish treatment of the Natives. Las Casas is known for his famous writings which weren’t published until many years after his death. Las Casas was not like any ordinary man in his time period. He opposed to several things the Spanish had against the Natives.
For countless years, the Natives suffered under the hands of the Spaniards. Slavery, abuse, war, theft, and much more were the result of Spain taking over the Natives homeland and the Native people themselves. In the year 1542, Bartoleme de Las Casas wrote a manuscript called “Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies”, which held a very detailed account of how the natives suffered, and the actions of the Spaniards. This paper will be a brief summary and analysis of the destruction of the Indies. The Indians were said to be very moral people.
The treatment of the native inhabitants varied among the three explorers. The worst treatment of the natives was seen in great detail through the perspective of De Las Casas. During his expedition in the Indies, he and his comrades killed millions of the natives to take everything and anything they wanted. He stated, “And thus they have deprived the Indians of their lives and souls, for the millions I mentioned have died without the Faith and without the benefit of the sacraments. This is a well-known and proven fact which even the tyrant Governors, themselves killers, know and admit.
So, what i gathered from this chapter is that, Europeans are jerks. They thought that they were just God’s gift to the earth. So, I guess when they “discovered” a new world filled with people who didn 't look like them, dress like them, live like them, they must of came to the conclusion that these poor, poor savages needed to be reconditioned to be like them or be wiped from history. Which is basically what Columbus did. Why do we have a holiday named after him?
The Americas were a surprising discovery for Europeans, bringing forth new riches and land. Most would do anything to gain control of the lands, and few were concerned with the treatment of the natives. Cortes and Columbus both insist on the inferiority of the natives and were eager to conquer them, while Las Casas regrets the motives and actions of Europeans. Cortes and Columbus marveled at the new world and its people, but justified their actions in order to conquer it. In Cortes’ letter to Emperor Henry the 5th, he describes the wonders of the Aztecs, and even goes on to say, “The manner of living among people, is very similar to that of Spain.”
This source was written in 1542, and this speech was given to the people of the country of Spain. The Martolome De Las Casas, the lord Prince of Spains don Felipe gave this speech to the people. Giving this speech, the Prince shows how horrid the idea of the Christians killing and destroying the Indies. The Christians represent the English and the Indies are the Indians. The Christians invaded North America and stole the Indians’ gold, food, and killed a multitude of them: “The cause for which the Christians have slain and destroyed so many and such infinite numbers of souls, has been simply to get, as their ultimate end, the Indians’ gold of them, and to stuff themselves with riches in a very few days, and to raise themselves to high estates...
In the 16th Century, Spain became one of the European forces to reckon with. To expand even further globally, Spanish conquistadors were sent abroad to discover lands, riches, and North America and its civilizations. When the Spanish and Native American groups met one another, they judged each other, as they were both unfamiliar with the people that stood before them. The Native American and Spanish views and opinions of one another are more similar than different because when meeting and getting to know each other, neither the Spaniards nor the Native Americans saw the other group of people as human. Both groups of people thought of one another as barbaric monsters and were confused and amazed by each other’s cultures.
In order to prove that the Arawak people were being abused by the Spaniards, Zinn uses sources from both Christopher Columbus and Bartolome De Las Casas. Zinn talks about Las Casas because he had the only information on what happened after Columbus met the Arawak people. One example that Las Casas states that Zinn brings up to display the cruelty of the Spanish people was “Las Casas tells how ‘two of these so-called Christians net two Indian boys one day, each carrying a parrot; they took the parrots and for fun beheaded the boys.’ ” .4 This quote alone gives the reader the proof that the Indians were mistreated horribly and that this changes how we should view Columbus and the Europeans in the New World.
The arrival of the first Europeans in the Americas is dramatically captured through the many writers who attempted to communicate what they saw, experienced and felt. What is more, the very purposes of their treacherous travel and colonization are clearly seen in their writings; whether it is poetry, history or sermons. Of the many literary pieces available today, William Bradford and John Winthrop’s writings, even though vary because the first is a historical account and the second is a sermon, stand out as presenting a clear trust in God, the rules that would govern them and the reason they have arrived in the Americas. First of all, William Bradford provides an in-depth look into the first moment when the Puritans arrived in the Americas. In fact, he chronicles the hardships they face on their way to Plymouth, yet he includes God’s provision every step of the way.
When Columbus came to the Americas in search of land for his king, he also came to claim land for God” (Spreading Religion in the Age of Exploration). The Europeans spread Christianity, and it became very popular among the colonies of the New World. “Roman Catholicism was the official religion of Spain, so the Spanish conquistadors sought to spread Catholicism throughout their colonies, in addition to accumulating wealth and power” (Spreading Religion in the Age of Exploration). The Spanish missionaries worked very hard throughout the Americas and attempted to evangelize Native American groups.
Before the Spanish ship that changed it all, which arrived in the “New World” in 1492, thriving organized communities of native people had centuries of history on the land. That ship, skippered by Christopher Columbus, altered the course of both Native American and European history. 1492 sparked the fire of cultural diffusion in the New World which profoundly impacted the Native American peoples and the European settlers. Prior to European contact, Native Americans lived as hunter-gatherers, living and traveling in groups of typically less than 300 people. These Native Americans spoke over 400 languages and practiced a myriad of different religions (The American Pageant).
“Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”, chapter one of “A People’s History of the United States”, written by professor and historian Howard Zinn, concentrates on a different perspective of major events in American history. It begins with the native Bahamian tribe of Arawaks welcoming the Spanish to their shores with gifts and kindness, only then for the reader to be disturbed by a log from Columbus himself – “They willingly traded everything they owned… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (Zinn pg.1) In the work, Zinn continues explaining the unnecessary evils Columbus and his men committed unto the unsuspecting natives.
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