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After examining the writings of Christopher Columbus and Bartolome de Las Casas, it is clear to see that there is a stark contrast between their description of the Spanish settlers. In the excerpt from the Christopher Columbus Journal, 1492, Columbus seems to depict the Spanish as righteous, entitled saviors who have come to help the Indians. An example of this can be found on page four, where Columbus writes, “…Your Highnesses will see from seven that I caused to be taken in order to carry them away to you and to learn our language and to return them. Except that, whenever your Highnesses may command, all of them can be taken to Castile or held captive in this same island.” This quote demonstrates how the Spanish believed they could do whatever
they pleased, because the end goal was to help the Indians. Bartolome de Las Casas, however, wrote a much different account of the Spanish in 1542. In his Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies, page two, he described the Spanish as, “…still acting like ravening beasts, killing, terrorizing, afflicting, torturing, and destroying the native people.” Unlike their opinions on the Spanish, Christopher Columbus and Bartolome de Las Casas seem to agree with each other in their descriptions regarding the Indians. Both writers take care to write of the Natives’ gentle, gracious attitudes toward the new comers. On page four, Columbus comments on their personalities, describing them as, “…quite lacking in evil and not warlike.” The excerpt of Bartolome’s book is abundant with praise for the Indians, one quote saying that, “They are by nature the most humble, patient, and peaceable, holding no grudges, free from embroilments, neither excitable nor quarrelsome.” As one can see, both accounts give similar descriptions of the Indians, yet there is disagreement between their thoughts on the Spanish. To begin with, it is obvious that the Indians really were as wonderful as Columbus and Bartolome claimed. However, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly why there are differences in their descriptions of the Spanish. One theory is that perhaps Columbus was not as generous to the Indians as he insisted. After all, he is writing to his benefactors, not to mention the King and Queen of Spain. One indication that he was lying about being kind to the Indians is how he was willing to take them back as slaves to King Ferdinand. Another reason to explain why these accounts are different could be the contrast of the time periods in which they were written. In 1492, Columbus and his crew were the only Spaniards in the New World. Having just arrived, they were still getting a feel for their surroundings. One hundred years later in 1542, however, is a completely different location (Hispaniola) and set of people. It is certainly possible that with the passage of time, the Spanish became increasingly greedy and cruel.
Christopher Columbus and Alvez Nunez Cabeza de Vaca were both explorers for Spain, but under different rulers and different times. The more famous, Christopher Columbus, came before de Vaca’s time. Columbus sailed a series of four voyages between 1492 and 1504 in search for a route to Asia which led accidentally to his discovery of new land inhabited with Indians. Christopher sailed under the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella for his journey to the “Indies,” whom he was loyal to by claiming everything in their name. De Vaca , followed in Christopher’s footsteps and journeyed to Hispanionola for Spain’s emperor, Charlves V, the grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella. Both, Columbus and de Vaca composed a series of letters addressing the main issue of their journey to the new land, but both were expressed in a different manner, included different material, and were motivated to write for dissimilar reasons.
In Symcox and Sullivan’s Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies, another side of not only Columbus but also his peers is brought to light. I have never read anything written by Columbus’s contemporaries before reading this book, so it gave me some refreshing insight as opposed to the repetitive glamorized content in high school textbooks. I also appreciate how legal documents such as the Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal are included because they give a sense of what else was going on during the time that Columbus was going on these voyages.
Columbus and de las Casas were both explorers of the new world. They both encountered Native Americans and their treatment of them was both similar and different. Columbus viewed the Native American as subhumans. He did not have much respect for the people of the land and treated them as such. In his letter to Luis de Santangel, Columbus says how he took possession of the native’s highnesses by proclamation. He also discloses how no one fought back which then made native Americans seem weak. He also states how he already took Indians aboard with him.At one instance Columbus had a dispute with Spainards and decided to give up Indians as a peace offering. Which he states in the letter to that tey were not his to give
Columbus described the people as being timid and unfitted to use weapons. He wrote, “They have no iron or steel or weapons, nor are they fitted to use them. This is not because they are not very well built and of handsome stature, but because they are very marvellously timorous.” Columbus described them as though they will not provide any resistance because they do not have the skill to use weapons, and that they very timid people. However, as shown in the first quote, Columbus wrote that they did not put up any opposition; he later wrote in the letter that he took some of the natives by force. If the natives did not put up any opposition to Columbus, why would he need to take them by force? Columbus also notes that they had been very serviceable, and would very much be open to evangelization. An important note, Columbus wrote more and provided more detail about the vast islands he had “discovered” compared to the indigenous people, of which he wrote, “ In all these islands, I saw no great diversity in the appearance of the people or in their manners and language.” In the end, Columbus’s description of the Indigenous people was that are serviceable people would make adequate slaves. Columbus’s letter paints a good picture into his imperialistic mind, as opposed to providing information about the
On October 12, 1492 Christopher Columbus landed on unknown territory, however, in his perspective of Earth he thought he made a new route to Asia. He travels throughout the lands, soon, he discovers new forms of inhabitant plants, as well as, indigenous people that were native to those lands. Years later he soon unravels that it was all unaccustomed terrain. The monarchy of Spain also discovers Columbus’s new discoveries, then, they send more explorers to conquer the lands. In 1520, Hernan Cortes goes with the order from Spanish royalty to go to the newly discovered lands to conquer them, also, help expand the Spanish empire. Overall, Columbus and Cortes both reported the new lands they recently discovered back to Spain, however, their descriptions
The discovery and conquest of American Indians inspired efforts to develop an ideology that could justify why they needed to enslave the Indians. The Spanish monarch wanted an ideal empire. "A universal empire, of which all their subjects were but servants. Charles V remained for them the dominus mundi, the legitimate and God-ordained lord of the world." (Weckmann, The Transit of Civilization, 23) Gold and religious conversion was the two most important inspirations for conquistadors in conquering America. Father Bartolome De Las Casas was a Dominican priest who came to the New World to convert the Indians to become Christians. He spent forty years on Hispanolia and nearby islands, and saw how the Spaniards brutally treated the Indians and sympathized with them. The Devastation of the Indies was an actual eyewitness account of the genocide by Las Casas, and his group of Dominican friars in which he demonizes the Spanish colonists and praises the Indians. Father Las Casas returned to Seville, where he published his book that caused an on going debate on whether the suppression of the Indians corrupted the Spaniards' values. What Las Casas was trying to achieve was the notion of human rights, that human beings are free and cogent by nature without the interference of others.
The traditional European Society was both similar and different to that of the West African society. Except certain factors determined how they would vary in opinions, this also affected how they handled situations when they faced an obstacle. The Europeans, Africans, and the Native Americans were diverse in their own ways , they had many similarities , but they took different approaches to situations.(Chapter 1,Page 6)
What he and his men did to the Indigenous people is told in horrifying detail by the Dominican priest Bartolome de Las Casas, “whose writings give the most thorough account of the Spanish-Indian encounter.” Las Casas witnessed firsthand Columbus’ soldiers stabbing Natives for sport, dashing babies’ heads on rocks, and sexually abusing Indigenous women. His testimony was corroborated by other eyewitnesses, such as a group of Dominican friars, who addressed the Spanish monarchy in 1519, hoping to bring an end to the atrocities. At the very least, Columbus was complicit in the actions of his men. He cared so little for the welfare of the Indigenous people that he let his soldiers commit reprehensible acts that would be considered crimes against humanity in the present day. Christopher Columbus’ actions suggest he had no issue with serving as an enabler of the horrifying actions committed by his men against the Indigenous
It is important to remember that Columbus was only the man who gave the orders, they were actually carried out by his men. Even after hearing people like Father Bartolomé de las Casas plead on behalf of the Tainos, Columbus’ men still decided to follow orders and torture, enslave, and murder millions of Tainos. Father de las Casas’ writing says that the Tainos are “gentle lambs” and when Columbus’ men attack the Tainos, they “tear the natives to shreds, murder them and inflict upon them untold misery, suffering and distress, tormenting, harrying and persecuting them mercilessly.” Father de las Casas writing is reliable because he witnessed these horrible actions firsthand. Christopher Columbus, when writing to the King and Queen, even says, “Of these [weapons] they do not dare to make use, for many times it has happened that I have sent ashore two or three men to some town to have speech with them, and countless people have come out to them, and as soon as they have seen my men approaching, they have fled, a father not even waiting for his son.” Columbus was on the island of Hispaniola and knew firsthand that his men had no reason to kill the Tainos because there was no way that they would fight back or stand a chance against them. Because Columbus’ men chose to follow Columbus’ orders and attack and kill the Tainos when they had
Although this essay is historically accurate it lacks important details, which might paint a different view of Columbus. Boorstin writes favorable of Columbus and depicts him as a heroic and determined figure who helped shape history, but he neglects to include Columbus’ unethical acts committed in the world that was not supposed to exist, the Americas. When Columbus first discovered the New World, he took care that the royal standard had been brought ashore and he claimed the land for Spain in front of all, including the indigenous population who had been sighted even before Columbus made landfall. According to the medieval concepts of natural law, only those territories that are uninhabited can become the property of the first person to discover them. Clearly this was an unethical act. Thus, the first contact between European and non-European worlds was carried out through a decidedly European prism, which ensured Spanish claim to the islands of the Americas. Faced with a colony in an inhospitable area, the Spanish soon inaugurated the practice of sending regular military parties inland to subdue the increasingly hostile natives. Members of the indigenous population were captured and enslaved to support the fledgling colony. The object of Columbus’ desire changed from exploration and trade to conquest and subjugation.
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.
De Las Casas, however, is not as dishonest in his accounts of the Americas and how “well” the Europeans were spreading their nation. “The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of Indies,” was strictly written to inform the Spanish Royal Court of the wrongs their explorers were committing against the Natives. The voyagers were given the task to convert the Natives to Christianity and Spanish culture, but instead were on a major assassination bender for gold (in which only a small percentage of the gold was given to the Spanish Royalty). Missionaries like De Las Casas wanted to bring justice to new domain.
Bartolome de las Casas took part in this exportation of Natives but in 1514 he freed his Indian slaves and protested the mistreatment of Indians under Spanish rule. “He also called for Indians to have the same rights as other subjects of Spain. Largely because of Las Casas’s efforts, in 1542 Spain promulgated the New Laws, ordering that Indians no longer be enslaved. But Spain’s European rivals used this treatment to twist their own agendas and made it seem they were rescuing them from Spanish
The idea of colonizing the new world was not something that seemed to be in anyone’s mind until its accidental discovery by an explorer who we can consider as being part of the “in-group” named Christopher Columbus. Previous explorers like Marco Polo had discovered riches past the Atlantic Ocean, which is why in 1492 Columbus convinced the king and queen of Spain to finance his expedition also beyond the Atlantic to the Indies and Asia for gold and spice. It was in October of 1492 when Columbus landed in one of the Bahama Islands and encountered the Arawak. The Arawak, which we can consider part of the “out-group”, were noted to be a free spirited people, strong healthy, and trusting. Columbus quickly assessed their financial potential for the Spanish crown, and how easy it appeared it would be to convert to Christianity. In Columbus’ journal he notes “for with fifty men they can all be subjugated and made to do what is required of them…” It was because of this initial contact
They did seem more primitive than the people of Spain because of their lack of clothing. When Columbus says, “…, and all of them I have taken possession for their highnesses,” (Brophy, pg. 383) he is saying that the people of the Canary Islands do not have the same appreciation for wealth, land, and possessions like the people of Spain do. In the letter he relays to the King and Queen of Spain how the islands look. He tells other factual information like the demographic of people on the new islands and the high population of natives he encountered. He states that the people of the islands are not that diverse, that means that physically they all share common features such as skin color and hair color. He also states factual information when he talks about the physical geographical features and climates of the new land. He talks about the mountains and sierras that exists and also talks about the harsh sun and tropical climate. He writes in his letter that the “Indians” do not wear clothes and do not have any iron weapons. He refers to the natives as Indians various times in his letter, so I think that he thought that he landed in India. I am surprised that at this point that India was not explored enough for Christopher Columbus and his crew to not realize that he was in a whole different area. At first I was surprised that he had anything positive to say about the natives who he viewed as primitive, there was various times when he referred to the natives as generous. Columbus said, “And this does not come because they are ignorant; on the contrary, they are of a very acute intelligence and are men who navigate all those seas… ” (Brophy, pg. 383), that was surprising because in certain parts of the letter it seems that he was looking down on the natives. It was surprising that he actually