As we look back in history, you would expect for everyone to accept one another and remove any racial prejudices that exist towards certain groups. However, not much has changed in this century and many minority groups including the California natives are still looked down upon. With the arrival of the Spanish in 1769, the land of California has been forgotten as the homeland to the California natives and now recognized as the land of the superiors. The California natives were exposed to harsh cruelty under the Spanish as well as the California settlers during the Gold Rush. Many are uneducated as to what happened here in California and the main reason why so many are uneducated is due to the fact that it is not being taught in schools. The …show more content…
Many Natives were forced to follow a new lifestyle and were forced to destroy and forgot about the old ways. The Spanish saw the natives as people with no moral and no human dignity therefore they saw them as an investment that would help them prosper only on their behalf. The mission system was created around the 1760s and each mission had one goal which was to introduce the ways of the Catholic Church to the California natives. The head of the mission system was led by Juniperro Serra, who now many consider him a saint for the “great accomplishments” he has completed. The mission system flourished by using inhuman tactics that caused the natives to remain submissive to the Spanish. The mission systems were built on lies and torture. The natives were not lured in by goods, they were brought in as slaves to create and sustain the missions, “Consequently, neophytes were lured to mission with beads, trinkets, food, clothing and promises of a better life. Little pressure was applied and likely converts were encouraged to watch, and eventually to help in building the mission edifice itself” (Archibald 2). Some might actually believe that the natives independently agreed to this form of lifestyle. Schools might teach their children that no pain was brought upon the natives when in reality great pain was inflicted upon the …show more content…
The natives were peaceful individuals but the Spanish took advantage of them, “Early Spanish explores found a “multitude” of people on the overland route of Don Juan Bautista de Anza in 1774. Their diaries are filled with surprise at the many people they met, friendly, and helpful” (Costo 10). The natives were not harmful the Spanish took the first step in colonizing them and extracting their identity. Another reason why the Spanish were capable of their actions was because the Spanish did not see the natives as human beings they saw them as animals that needed to be tamed and trained. The Spanish believed that the natives did not have the knowledge to control their lives, “No matter how old they are; California Indians are always children” (Hutchinson 341). The Spanish believed that through their religion they would help the natives achieve a better life. However, the Spanish created a life of pain and torture for the natives. Their religion taught them nothing it only introduced them to a painful life. Many natives were removed from their homes and families and were forced to live among the other natives on the mission. The Spanish saw it as their human duty to give these natives a sense of identity because according to them they had no form of life. However, the natives were in fact living a decent prosperous life. They had their own form of unity
Additionally, this essay would be a good read for those interested in the topic of sexuality, gender and culture or anyone studying anthropology. This essay contributes to understanding aspects of California history that is not primarily discussed. The reader gets and insight on two different cultures, and the effects of them merging together -- in this case, the cultures of the Spaniards and Indians. I believe that this article supports Competing Visions as the text also discusses how “the object of the missions was to convert the natives to Christianity as well as to Hispanicize them…” and both touch upon the topic of the rapes of
When the colonists set sail for the New World, they knew that they would not only have to find a way to survive in the wild new habitat, but would also have to deal with rival nations that were claiming their own share of the new land. There had been long rivalry between France, England, and the Dutch. They had read the stories of Columbus and his voyages, and heard rumors of the wild and strange native people who were considered primitive. The Spanish had two different experiences with the Indigenous
Through visiting La Plaza De Culturas Y Artes, I have learned a lot more interesting, yet, surprising new information about the Chicano history in California. For example, in the 1910’s and on the high immigration of Mexicans and other Chicanos, into coal mines and farms by major corporations, made California one of the richest states in the US. I also learned that most of California 's economy was heavily reliant on immigrants. Immigrants were the preferred worker for major corporations because they didn 't have American rights and were given the harder jobs for less pay.
...ything and everyone that were there. At times they would work with the Natives at other times they would be at war with the natives. The Spanish had been engaged with the natives longer and over time felt the best way to control them would be to convert them or put them into same locations where they could “keep an eye on them”. The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was proof that no matter what they tried, when one man, country, or society tries to oppress another, war is almost always inevitable.
As a result, when the Spanish colonizers arrived they felt that the native race was inferior to their race. As the chapter continues, this false perspective of the Spanish colonizers proves to be wrong. The California Indians knew so well how to use their natural resources that they made it a success the adaption to their environment. They acquire a grand understanding of natural resources which aided them for their everyday survival. The state natives also were capable of inventing a system that would allow them to reuse and replenish their soil by burning the ground; presently a practice used in field plantation to renew the soil.
The Native Americans were the earliest and only settlers in the North American continents for more than thousands of years. Like their European counterparts, the English colonists justified the taking of their territories was because the natives were not entitled to the land because they lacked a work ethic in which shows that the colonists did not understand the Native Americans system of work and ownership of property. They believed the “Indians seemed to lack everything the English identified as civilized” (Takaki, Pg. 33). Because the settlers were living far away from civilizations, to ensure that they were civilized people, the settlers had negative images of the Native Americans so that they would not be influenced and live like the how the natives do, ensuring that these groups are savages who are uncivilized. Many began to believe this was God’s plans for them to civilize the country in which many would push westward and drive the Indians out to promote civilization and progress. While the United States was still in its early stages of development,
The conflict between European Americans and Mexicans was a struggle between Mexican rancheros and Anglo capitalists who bitterly contested control of the state’s best farm lands. Guided by Protestant values and a commitment to white supremacy, these free-labor advocates sought to rapidly undermine the society Mexicans had created in California (73). By the late 1860s the Mexican ranchero class was no longer the dominant economic force in the country. Once the Spanish race obtained the land by conquest, it secured it from all the people that showed little appreciation for its worth (90) (and soon constructed an anachronistic status designation were race became the key organizing principle)
For many years’ native people of the North America lived in peaceful in their homelands. However, one day the lives of the Native Americans would come to an upsetting stop. In June of 1540, Hernando De Soto, a Spanish explorer to led the first European expedition deep into the United States mainland in search of god, glory and gold. Hernando set to out to conquer the empire and to capture the Aztecs, .On his next journey out as govern, he encountered the native’s people. From that day forward, natives would adapt to the settlers ways and even involved themselves in wars.
Differences between cultures are not something new. Many of us can still see it in our daily lives. Four hundred years ago two very distinctly different cultures clashed in what we call the American Southwest. The Spanish presence brought new ideas, new culture, and new way of life to the new found Americas much to the demise of the already settled native tribes. Already having controlled much of Mexico and South America, problems were rising in the outskirts of New Spain. Secular and religious authorities were in conflict and the ever growing animosity of its aboriginal tribe made it difficult to maintain Spanish control. Though, for four generations the Spaniards had begun to feel successful in their endeavors of New Mexico. In early August, the sedentary and nomadic tribes banned together and overthrow the Spanish authority. There are many angles needed to be addressed in order to see why this happened. Historians and anthropologists have been trying to go beyond the bias history to uncover what happen. In the book “What Caused the Pueblo Revolt of 1680”, historians try to answer this question, some theories hold more pull then others in terms of what and why. Through reading this anthology I believe the revolt happened for cultural and religious reasons because the Spaniards were threatening the indigenous people’s very way of life through violence, exploitation of land/resources (food), and demoralization of their old ways and practices.
“To discover, understand, and encounter the cultures and intricate natures of the California Indian people, it is necessary to search the past” –Nancy Wahl. Tracing back in California history, Spanish explorers, commanded by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, found the tip of what is now Baja California in the year 1533 and named it "California" after a mythical island in a popular Spanish novel. It is evident that from the time Spanish monarchs set foot in California, the world as Native Americans knew it was never the same again. The late 1700s initiated and marked the colonization of Spaniards in the “Golden State” which in turn provoked the massive persecution and extermination of Native American population as well as the disappearance of Native heritage and culture. As a result, the recurring despairs and adversities of the Indian population began.
The Americans settled all over the United States and in the 1820s began showing interest in the West because of trade with Asia. Certain leaders were sent out on missions' to "help" better the lives of the Indians and Mexicans. When the white settlers first came to West they viewed the Indians and Mexicans as savages. They did not think of them as human because their lifestyle was unsuitable, or rather different then their own. The only way that they could tolerate them was to try and change their way of living. They attempted to convert them into the Christian religion, to change the way they ate, what they ate, how they ate it, the way they dressed, teach them English, etc. "The object of the missions is to convert as many of the wild Indians as possible, and to train them up within the walls of the establishment in the exercise of a good life, and of some trade, so that they may be able to provide for themselves and become useful members of civilized society."1
From the time when the Europeans first met the Native Americans, to the time after the American Revolution, the Native Americans had to endure inhumane pain and suffering. According to my resources, the original population of Native Americans was over 10 million during the 15th century. Surely over millions of people should be able to defend themselves from outside invaders. However, that wasn’t possible for them. By 1900, only 300,000 of the population remain. Around the time the Natives encountered the Europeans, they suffered from diseases and bloodshed. Later on they were forced by the Spaniards to convert a new religion, Christianity.
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.”
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.
This meant Serra used any methods necessary to have the natives converted. If violence and harsh physical labor was needed then that would happen. The decline of the population of the natives in California was furthered