Around the beginning of the 15th century until the end of the 18th century, during the Age of Exploration, Europeans began exploring the world by sea to extend their power in the Americas, Middle East, Africa, and were in search of new trading routes, wealth, knowledge, and later on colonizing to control over the indigenous people of the area. A product of this is conquistadors, who are leaders of Spanish conquests of America and conquered territory mostly in Mexico and Peru. Though conquistadors expedition were successful in extending the Spanish control in the Americas, the process was tedious. The conquistadores, were more interested in searching for gold and the fighting aspect instead of governance, which lead some conquistadors and adventures …show more content…
to rogue. In Werner Herzog’s 1972 film, Aguirre, Wrath of God, tells about the process of colonization, and that it was not at all a simple task as it is made out to be. In the film, Aguirre, Wrath of God, Werner Herzog depicts Spanish colonists in a rainforest in Peru, venturing to extend Spanish power in the land of indigenous natives and spread the word of God to them; however, the expedition was tedious and began to derail after the Spanish colonists began to rebel against the Spanish king and leader because of their greed for gold and riches.
The natives were shown to be laborers who were used to support the Spanish colonists on their expedition. They were treated with brutality, and were said to be useless and slow. Though the natives were also feared because they surround the rainforest and were cannibals, which the Spanish thought was inhumane and barbaric. Along with the natives human sacrifices. Many of the colonists were on guard with the natives because they feared them, but they clearly saw that the Spanish were …show more content…
superior. Herzog's film presented the figures Lope de Aguirre and Gaspar de Carvaja, which represent the idea of greed and righteous. Aguirre representing the idea of greed of power and wealth, which led him to turn against the Spanish crown. Aguirre states, “I, rebel until death against you for your ingratitude” which implies that he must’ve thought he could have gotten more fame, wealth, power, if he were to take on the expedition as he desired. This idea connects to other expeditions such as Hernan Cortes with the conquest of Mexico, who ignored given orders and was able to colonize Mexico. Gaspar de Carvajal, portrayed as righteous and trying to proceed the main purpose of the mission, which in the film was “to bring salvation to theses savages." Carvajal was seen to share the same ideas as Bartolome de la Casas, who saw the natives suitable for having their souls saved and that “there was nothing wanting in them for the acquisition of eternal grace, but the sole Knowledge and Understanding of the Deity.” This was also a common idea for many expeditions to native lands, such as, Jesuit missionaries who sought to convert many of the natives. In the film it portrays the Spaniards viewing the natives as a form of labor and tools which could be exploited and the success of the Spanish colonies and not as humans, which was shown during the opening of the film and the natives were carrying weaponry, palanquin, and supplies. The Spanish also viewed Indians as heathen savages who worshipped devils. Therefore, Indians would spend eternity suffering the tortures of hell unless they were saved, this comes from the works of Juan Gines de Sepulveda. On another level, they viewed the natives as having souls which could be brought to their God. Spanish conquest of the Americas focused on religion, on their need to convert Native Americans to the one true religion, which was why in the film Carvajal was shown giving a native a bible and there was a statue of the Virgin Mary that was also carried for a brief moment in the film. This comes from the works of Bartolome de las Casas, who thought the natives were capable of converting in to Christians and are of good nature. Bartolome de las Casas states, “The natives are capable of Morality or Goodness and very apt to receive the principles of Catholic Religion.” In the film, Gaspar de Carvajal, a missionary, saw them as capable of receiving the truth of the Catholic Religion; however, he states, “These savages are hard to convert.” Though the native that was given a bible in the film was able to accept it, the reason of his death was due to blasphemy, with the proper understanding the native would’ve been able to have converted. The texts from Juan Gines de Sepulveda and Bartolome de las Casas inform about the practice of colonization in Herzog’s film. Carrying out the expedition to convert the natives into civilized Christians and taking their land. It also shows the hierarchy between the Spaniards and the natives, which shows superiority, something that the indigenous natives don’t have. As said from Sepulveda, “The man rules over the woman, the adult over the child, the father over his children,” which is shown in the film with the native women and men carrying out the same duties, unlike the Spanish women who let the men carry out the labor. This also comes from Sepulveda’s that there are some “who by nature are masters and others who by nature are slaves” implying that the natives are slaves and are uncivil due to their barbarism ways (cannibalism and human sacrifices). Juan Gines de Sepulveda clearly had a foul view of the indigenous natives and belittles them by saying that the war against the natives would be justified. Bartolome de las Casas, had a different view of the natives. In the, Letter from to King Philip of Spain, 1561, from Lope de Aguirre, it is a letter informing the king about his rebellion do to “great distance” and being “no longer [able to] tolerate the great oppression and unjust punishments.” From this text it indicates that when cononist are from a great distance they tend to stray away from the rule of the Spanish crown.
Herzog shows this in the film when Aguirre wanted to continue on in the expedition because he was power hungry, wanted gold, land, and had hopes to become like Hernan Cortes, but unlike Aguirre, Pedro de Ursua, the original leader of the expedition wanted to turn back. Resulting in Ursua being killed through hanging, which was shown in the film. Aguirre also mentions in the letter the harshness of nature, saying “we made rafts, left our horses and supplies, and took off down the river at great risk to our persons...God only knows how we escaped from such fearsome lake!” The film shows the the colonist most of the time on the river of the Amazons on rafts built by the natives, and because of this the colonists had to abandon their horses and some of their supplies. There were definite conflict between the men and nature, and the cruelty of human nature of greed and power shown in this film. Aguirre shows his cruel human nature and wrath for power when he states “they tried to kill me, and I hung them all.”From this letter it could be seen that the process of colonization was a dangerous process against
nature. Colonization, is usually seen to be a quick and straightforward process; however, this is untrue, as was depicted in Werner Herzog’s 1972 film, Aguirre, Wrath of God. Herzog’s film shows that the challenges of colonization through showing the merciless if nature, dark side of human nature, being able to convert the natives, and how colonization was a tedious process.
In the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards, he preached about a stricter Calvinist theology of Puritanism. Edwards delivered it at the Massachusetts congregation on July 8, 1741. He blatantly uses rhetorical strategies to instill fear into his audience if they are to continue to not be active Puritans in religion. Edwards uses polysyndeton, harsh diction and tone, and the appeal to emotion along with the use of semicolons to develop his message.
In the 1700’s the Puritans left England for the fear of being persecuted. They moved to America for religious freedom. The Puritans lived from God’s laws. They did not depend as much on material things, and they had a simpler and conservative life. More than a hundred years later, the Puritan’s belief toward their church started to fade away. Some Puritans were not able to recognize their religion any longer, they felt that their congregations had grown too self-satisfied. They left their congregations, and their devotion to God gradually faded away. To rekindle the fervor that the early Puritans had, Jonathan Edwards and other Puritan ministers led a religious revival through New England. Edwards preached intense sermons that awakened his congregation to an awareness of their sins. With Edwards’ sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” he persuades the Puritans to convert back to Puritanism, by utilizing rhetorical strategies such as, imagery, loaded diction, and a threatening and fearful tone.
From 711-1492, Christian Spaniards lived under Moorish rule until eventually, the Christian Kingdoms took over during the Reconquista. The conflicts between the Muslims and Christians created a militaristic culture in Spain that surpassed that of any other European nation. Furthermore, being trained militarily was often exclusively attributed to the nobility however, in Spain, “many young men knew these skills and used them to their advantage.” Without a doubt, recently reconquering their homeland motivated the Spanish to a basis for expansion and conquest that most other European societies were lacking. In addition, the voyages of Christopher Columbus led to discovering the New World which undoubtedly contributed to added interest in conquest. Eventually, each conquest further raised Spanish hopes for fame and
In the book David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell, the author investigates the correlation between success and the circumstances involved in achieving such favorable outcomes. The argument that Gladwell forms states that despite what the societal norms are, those with less skill and noticeable setbacks can actually have an advantage over the naturally gifted. He then uses this argument to try and convince others that having talent doesn’t necessarily mean that you will always win or come out on top. To construct this argument and inform others of what he believes, Gladwell uses rhetorical strategies such as comparison/contrast, and studies/statistics to help validate his opinions and strengthen the argument at hand.
The fear the Spanish unleashed to the Natives was immense. The armor the Spaniard’s whore terrified everyone who saw them. The loud clamor they made as they marched also installed fear into the Natives heads.
When the colonists came to America, they classified the Native Americans as complete brutal savages. But was that a correct assumption? The Native Americans lived a life that was a complete opposite from the way that the Europeans were accustomed to. The Native Americans believed that the land was shared by everyone and not one person could own it. The Native Americans also had a polytheistic religion which completely went against the beliefs of the colonists. The colonists viewed the Native Americans as savages and barbarians because their ways of living were different.
Prevailing Purposes in “The Crucible” Playwright and essayist, Arthur Miller, in his play, “The Crucible”, utilizes pathos, symbolism, and irony to convey his purpose of how the events of the Salem Witch Trials had detrimental effects on the society and how far the elites went to protect their reputation . Miller’s reasoning is to expand Parris’ and Danforth purpose for their side of the argument during the witch trials. He adapts a contrasting tone in order to appeal to similar feelings with reasoning in his american readers.
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Rhetorical Analysis “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards uses imagery and symbolism to persuade the audience to become more devout Christians by channeling fear and emphasizing religious values. Jonathan Edwards was a Puritan minister who preached during the time of the Great Awakening in America. During this period of religious revival, Edwards wanted people to return to the devout ways of the early Puritans in America. The spirit of the revival led Edwards to believe that sinners would enter hell. Edwards’ sermon was primarily addressed to sinners for the purpose of alerting them about their sins and inspiring them to take action to become more devoted to God.
Cabeza de Vaca, like many other Spaniards, wanted to seek fortune in the new world, but things did not go as planned, and he eventually lost everything. Although he came to conquer in the name of Spain, he ended up living amongst the Native Americans in need for survival and became very close to them. Although originally the Spaniards were very narrow minded and believed the Indians were uncivilized and barbaric, Cabeza de Vaca shortly found out that they were not uncivilized, but quite the opposite. He saw that they were just as human as the Spaniards were and were no less than they were. His perception of humanity altered as a result of living with “the others.”
The Native Americans were referred to as “savages” and the English in their words expressed their fear of them. One could also take the Native Americans’ nature as being shy because upon the English spotting a few of them near the water they quickly ran away (Bradford 59). This was probably because the Native Americans had never seen anyone other than themselves. They were shown to be intelligent people who not only farmed but also built houses (Bradford 60). However, the English also implied the Native Americans to be mean people because they stated that one of the reasons for building large fires was to “…defend them from any sudden assaults of the savages” (Bradford 61). Nevertheless, it was not long until the Native Americans did attack the English and in their minds, it was for no reason. The recurring theme was that the English were always cautious of the Native Americans because they feared they would attack (Bradford 62).
In the year of 1492, the Queen and King of Spain developed thoughts of strengthening their power and seeking new sources of wealth. This being stated the Queen and King had agreed on financing Christopher Columbus’s expedition, hoping it would bring the kingdom wealth (Ellis 2004). On October 12 Columbus had discovered a new location, due to this discovery; Latin America had been colonized by the Spanish conquistadors sent by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Overall, Latin America had been colonized for the sake of seeking wealth (Ellis 2004). Obtaining gold was the simple way of gaining wealth. Gold was the resource that attracted Spaniards to the Island of Hispaniola, because it was also King Ferdinand's interest (De la Riva 2003 ). Thus it ended up becoming the ultimate goal of the Christian Spaniards sent to Hispaniola to acquire gold and swell themselves in riches. (Las Casas 1552).Trading was also the key to getting wealthy; the more resources available for trade the more wealth will be gained. Resources in the New World attracted the Spanish conquistadors to Latin America; it was also what he...
Native Americans were abused by Spanish officials when the Spanish invaded their lands. In an attempt to control the attacks of the Native Americans, they enlisted fear into the minds of the Indians.
The Spaniards arrived at the Americas prior to the English. The Spanish mainly wanted to explore in the first place because after the Black Death, the population increased, and thus, so did the frequency of commerce. There was a sudden new interest in new products and the new strong monarchs who sponsored the journeys wanted to be more affluent. Therefore, explorers such as Christopher Columbus attempted to go west to target Asia. However, he ended up on Cuba and called the natives Indians. The Spanish soon started to consider the Americas less of a blockage and could now see it as a source of resources. In 1518, Cortes arrived into Mexico with his group of conquistadors, or conquerors, which is a proper name because the men after gold exterminated native areas using their military skills, brutality and greed to turn the Southern America into a vast Spanish empire. The smallpox the Spanish unknowingly carried also helped wipe many people out. When they saw the religious ceremonies of the Aztecs that produced many skulls, they thought of these people as savages and not entirely human. This of coarse was quite hypocritical because the Spanish have killed before during the Inquisition for their faith. It was this contempt that made them think it was all right to slaughter the natives. Spanish colonies were established when conquistadors had gotten a license to finance the expedition from the crown to fixture encomiendas. These encomiendas were basically Indian villages that became a source of labor. The Spanish dreamed of becoming wealthier from South America, but they also wanted a profitable agricultural economy and to spread their Catholic religion (the Pueblo Indians converted to Christianity), which became very important in the 1540s.
The Spanish Conquest was a significant expedition in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Cortés’s fleet, crew, weapons, and horses helped him in his conquest. However that alone was not enough to defeat a larger society, and with the alliances formed by Cortés with the Tlaxcalans who hated the Aztecs helped him gain more power in his overpowering of the Aztec empire. The expedition was successful and it brought Spain many goods and riches making it very important to Spain.
but there was no large scale operations anywhere until the invasion of the Spanish. Spain saw all the resources in the Americas as great wealth for the Crown and the entrada leaders saw the opportunity for themselves. They also new that the development of the resources 'ultimately depended on the labor of non-Spaniards. At the begging of the Spanish arrival there were millions of indigenous people