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. And never have the Indians in all the Indies committed any act against the Spanish Christians, until those Christians have first and many times committed countless cruel aggressions against them or …show more content…
All the Spaniards had done was killing of innocent lives for personal greed and acquiring as much goods as they could for their Majesty, doing so for the money was their justifications for killing the natives. Then we have Cortes, who instead of killing off the Natives of Tenochtitlan, he opened their eyes to the horrors of their religious ways and gave them the revelation of Christianity. Cortes didn’t mention any genocide of the natives, he spoke about the geography and religious views of the natives. He stated, “I will simply say that the manner of living among the people is very similar to that of Spain, and considering that this is a barbarous nation shut off from a knowledge of true God or communication with enlightened nations, one may well marvel at the orderliness and good government which is everywhere mentioned” (SB, 8). Cortes is only praising the natives and their life style because he feels the people have everything figured out in terms of being dominant and true government but, lacked in religion which he left them
1. How was it possible for Hernan Cortes and other European explorers to overcome well-established Native American cultures with millions of people? Hernan Cortes is one of the most well-known Spanish conquistadors. He is best remembered for conquering the Aztec empire and claiming Mexico for Spain. He also helped colonize Cuba and became a governor of New Spain.
On the other hand, Las Casas is not writing a history book. He does not need to prove his facts with credible sources, because A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies is his perception of the killings of natives. "The way they normally dealt with the native leaders and nobles was to tie them to a kind of griddle consisting of sticks resting on pitchforks driven into the ground and then grill them over a slow fire, with the result that they howled in agony and despair as they died a lingering death" (De Las Casas 15). Even though the way the killings were described can not be proven, Las Casas wanted to portray the feeling in which he felt during that time. In this situation, readers get a better understanding of the atmosphere than if it was written exactly how it
Latin America Essay 1 In 1521, Hernan Cortes captured the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, ending the reign of the Aztecs in what is now modern day Mexico. However, does the riches, land, and power gained by the Spanish justify the killing and looting? This vanquishment, as well as the ethical predicament it creates, considerably affected Latin America and Europe. Before we get into the ethical portion of Cortes' conquest, we must first explore the conquest itself.
Most books have either portrayed Hernán Cortés as either a brave conquistador hero who helped transform Mexico for Spanish use, or as a cruel racist who helped instill a genocide upon millions of Mexican natives. The truth, however, can be a lot less black or white. In the book Victors and Vanquished: Spanish and Nahua Views of the Conquest of Mexico, we see that the moral nature of Cortés is more grey than most think. Cortés, in his conquest of Mexico, has performed good and bad deeds towards his own men and towards the Nahua people. To begin with the analysis of Cortés’s actions, we can look at the various good deeds he exhibited during his time in Mexico.
In Bartolome de Las Casas writings, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, he writes to the King of the atrocities that are occurring to the people of the New World. Las Casa states, “They are innocent
I agree with what you say about de las Casas "narratives were only effective to an extent. " I think it was admirable what he did do because the atrocities may have continued for much longer had he not spoke up. In speaking up, Casa was "accused of treason and even endured charges of heresy" (Bartolome De Las Casas 39). Casas went into seclusion for 7 years and then returned to political activity after which time, laws began to take effect to protect the Indians (39). I see de las Casas as an early activist and social reformer.
However, the Natives had not done anything wrong to make the Spaniards act to cruel towards them. Las Casas wrote in great detail what the Spaniards did. He wrote of the destruction and slaughter that the Spanish brought to the Natives. Las Casas wrote about indians being thrown into pits of stakes. He wrote of children being torn away from their mothers and killed.
The Expedition of Cortes would have completely fallen apart if there were not any translators, the most famous of which and probably on of the only, was Malintzin. Malintzin was a slave, and was eventually taken by Cortes to be part of his corp, especially in order to translate, because of her induction to the corp she was had to become Christian and was given a catholic name in Marina. Doña Marina aided the spaniards in many ways, through translating for the Tlaxcalans, thus giving allies to Cortes and preventing more war, to helping Cortes defy Montezuma and take over as the head of much of Latin America. Camilla Townshend wrote a book on Malintzin, narrating her life, but also having to take many liberties into how prominent her role was
“ It should be kept in mind that their insatiable greed and ambition, the greatest ever seen in the world, is the cause of their villainies.” (Las Casas) The people of Spain used murder and slavery as a means to depopulate the Islands due to their greed. According to Casas, the number of slain Indians is about 15 million in the fourty years that the Spaniards have intruded on the Natives land. Young men and rulers were killed, while women and young children were forced to be slaves to the Christians.
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.
His attitudes towards the natives were the opposite; he did not treat them as a conquest, as did Columbus, but rather as actual people. His narration praised the natives as he described them as patient, humble, and slowest to take offence (p.20). “These people are among the cleanliest…excellently fit to receive our holy Catholic faith and to be induced with virtuous customs…” (p. 20). However, like Columbus, de Las Casas also believed that these people should be converted to his religion.
Las Casas was a historian who later became a Bishop. He believed that the Indians shouldn't just be conquered but should have a chance of fighting the Europeans first. He traveled to North America in 1550. When Las Casas first came to the New World, he noticed that even though the Indians lacked art and writing, they had the the capacity to rule(pg.9). The Indians had kingdoms, cities and communities that were governed well and wisely because they followed the laws and customs of the Indians(pg.9).
Las Casas portrays the indigenous people as a completely innocent and utterly defenseless race of humans in need of European care and proper Christian exposure rather than the eccentric, savage creatures illustrated in other European accounts in an attempt to convince the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to enact reforms regarding colonial treatment of American Indians. Throughout his account, Las Casas focuses on the inherent goodness of the natives, stating that of the many varieties of people in the world, “these people are the most guileless, the most devoid of wickedness and duplicity...holding no grudges, free from embroilments, neither excitable nor quarrelsome” (Las Casas). By describing the natives in this way, Las Casas endeavors
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.