Civilization and Barbarism The meaning of the word civilized today has a different meaning from the one it had at the time of colonization and how it was used to describe people at that time. In the colonization they could describe the natives as civilized; peaceful people of good behavior or barbaric people; with violent and bloody habits. Today if we want to classify a person as civilized or not we would have to take in considerations different traits; for example his behavior, his way of dressing, his manners, how he relates socially among others. For me a civilized person is the one who has manners and the one that when a problem or situation arises; resolves it with the dialogue and not with the violence. When I think of a barbarian I think of someone who is not civilized, uneducated, that smells bad, has no manners and resolves everything based on violence; for example come to my mind the people of the Stone Age; who fought holding each other by the hair. In the letters of Cortes to the King of Spain the inhabitants of Cozumel and Yucatan are described as people of medium height who use ugly accessories in the nose, ears and mouth. He describes his clothes as long veils that have painted figures. Some women cover their breasts and the rest of the body is exposed. The food they eat is corn and grains but they do not eat it in the form of bread. They get their food by fishing and hunting. Their houses are small and made of stone. The houses of the people who are important had many apartments and the Spaniards considered them cool. The houses also had rooms designated for slaves. In front of the houses they had two to four tall buildings that were their temples and where they prayed and do …show more content…
People who do not complain or are violent. However, he describes the Spaniards as violent people, with a thirst for revenge who hurt and tortured the