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Analysis of bartolome de las casas
Analysis of bartolome de las casas
Essay bartolome de las casas " A Short Account
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Maria Brito and immigrant from Cuba, came to the United States in 1961. Maria saw the U.S. as a place of endless opportunities, as many Cubans who migrate to the U.S. due to lack of opportunities, poverty and oppression that exist within their own country. Her piece El Patio de Mi Casa, symbolizes the struggles she has experienced with identity and a symbol of transformation once she arrived to this country. The wall in her piece, represents the threshold between the past and the present. The crib symbolizes her childhood and her experiences living in poverty.
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.
It is shown that the respect for the Native Americans helped Cabeza, because he writes,“We were people of ill fortune and no worth... The indians were… not at all convinced… we cured the sick… (the spaniards) killed those who were well”(Document D). The Native Americans respected Cabeza, because he showed them respect. If he hadn’t shown any respect, he would have been taken as a slave or killed. The Native Americans thought the spaniards were bad people, so they would have thought the same if Cabeza had acted the
Throughout history, there have been many literary studies that focused on the culture and traditions of Native Americans. Native writers have worked painstakingly on tribal histories, and their works have made us realize that we have not learned the full story of the Native American tribes. Deborah Miranda has written a collective tribal memoir, “Bad Indians”, drawing on ancestral memory that revealed aspects of an indigenous worldview and contributed to update our understanding of the mission system, settler colonialism and histories of American Indians about how they underwent cruel violence and exploitation. Her memoir successfully addressed past grievances of colonialism and also recognized and honored indigenous knowledge and identity.
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.
Petalesharo’s writing reflected the treatment of Native Americans during the 1800s. Being a Native American himself, Petalesharo was able to give perspective on a point in history typically viewed from a white man’s opinion. The excerpt “Petalesharo” explains how the Native American was able “to prevent young women captured by other tribes from being sacrificed”, making Petalesharo well liked by the Americans (588). Petalesharo gave the “Speech of the Pawnee Chief” infront of Americans to convey the differences between Native Americans and Americans through emotion, logic, and credibility, which showed how the two groups will never be the same, but still can coexist in the world together.
In “The Brief Account of The Devastations of the Indies” Bartolome de Las Casa is an account that speaks on the unfair treatment that indian people went through and endured during the early parts of the conquest to the island of Hispaniola. The spaniards were treating the indians cruel and were receiving less of their basic human rights. The author’s opinion was able to shine most throughout this account not only because of the sacrifices he made in order to make a change but how heavily he was against some of the ways of the Spaniards. He felt that the behavior of the Spaniard christians was unfair and unacceptable. He spends time being very detailed about the loss of indies people on the islands.
One of these captives was given to friend, Michele de Cuneo, who raped the captive and then recorded it in a journal. These negative repercussions were important because it paved the way of Spanish brutality towards the natives in
“Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”, chapter one of “A People’s History of the United States”, written by professor and historian Howard Zinn, concentrates on a different perspective of major events in American history. It begins with the native Bahamian tribe of Arawaks welcoming the Spanish to their shores with gifts and kindness, only then for the reader to be disturbed by a log from Columbus himself – “They willingly traded everything they owned… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (Zinn pg.1) In the work, Zinn continues explaining the unnecessary evils Columbus and his men committed unto the unsuspecting natives.
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.
This book did a great job in doing what it intended to do. Its goal, I believe, was to shed light on the atrocities and injustices done upon the Native American people, spreading across various tribes. Using multiple primary sources, the author is able to bring accounts of witnesses and quotes forward to prove the points that he wishes to. The objective that the author has made is made clear in the introduction of the book.
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).
While his early encounters were similar to almost anyone of the time period, in the fact he didn't consider much of subjugating the local populations while benefiting greatly from it. Having ample supplies and food while local populations barely survived and no consideration or equality had entered his mind until after becoming a priest, he began to see this as what it was; Heresy by disregard for the human spirit and well being. After returning to a seat of power, he argued vehemently against the use of the now perverse Encomiendas system (Baym 39). This resulted in heads of state and religious orders to abolish such practices, but proved to be but one step in this challenge. Casas (and his allies) now also had to deal with people who had directly benefited from this system in the New World, which proved rather
He believed that the way the Indians were treated by Christians was wrong, unjust, and contrary to their beliefs. “This unjust thing, this cruelty without precedent, being seen by the Indians perpetrated upon so many guiltless innocents…” (p. 32). De Las Casas expressed his disapproval of the Spaniards treatment of the Indians. He believed it was wrong of them to act in such a way to the innocent and naïve
Perspective can only be gained in hindsight. The accounts draw both on a retelling of events and on emotionality—which cannot be objective. The Aztecs were victims, and their perspective in skewed in this mindset. When the Spanish burned down the Aztecs’ temple, the people “wept and cried out” (p.109), but when they needed to defend their city their “spirits and courage were high; not one of them showed fear” (p.111). Both are possible; yet, they also glorify, romanticize and victimize the Nahua peoples.
