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Compare And Contrast Diego De Landa And Hernan Cortes

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In today’s society access to literature, news and information for the most part is taken for granted. Thanks to technology, humans now have instantaneous access to more literature and information than they had ever had before. However, hundreds of years ago literature and records were valuable. Often times only single copies of books existed, meaning if works were lost or destroyed, reproduction was very difficult or impossible. During the Spanish conquests of the 1500’s, many of these valuable and irreplaceable works were destroyed. Although unable to read and understand them, the Spanish demonized these writings as works of the devil and destroyed them. Native American’s across Mesoamerica suffered greatly at the hands of Spanish colonization. …show more content…

He, unlike many of the time, was opposed to the many atrocities that the Spanish were committing against the Native Americans. This came about after witnessing these cruelties first hand and seeing the effect it had on the native people. Las Casas advocated for the rights of the Native Americans and for the abolishment of the encomienda, the system that allowed for the exploitation of the native peoples (Clayton 27). A high point in his life was reached when the New Laws of 1542 were passed. The New Laws sought to control the exploitations and atrocities of the conquests in the Americas. Its key points were making Indians subjects of the Crown; abolition of Indian slavery and the gradual extinction of the encomienda, which was the primary form of exploiting Indian labor (Clayton …show more content…

In 1535 he wrote a letter about Nicaragua saying, “Nicaragua is the Lord’s paradise. It is the delight and joy for humans. I have seen Espanola and other islands and parts of Tierra Firme, but none compare with Nicaragua for its fertility, so much abundance, so pleasant and fresh, so healthy, so many trees, ordered like the orchards of Castile, and finally, everything for man to enjoy life” (Clayton 102-103). Las Casas view of the America’s being paradise can be seen in his fight for the native people’s rights and against the Spanish atrocities committed against them. The new world was a beautiful place to Las Casas and because of this it would only be natural for him to want to protect the land and its people. Las Casas was one of the few who saw the natives as human beings, unlike many of the Spanish that exploited and hurt them; treating them as

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Zinn also includes a quote from Las Casas that says “two of these so-called Christians met two Indian boys one day. . . and for fun beheaded the boys, emphasizing the often meaningless abuse of Spanish power. Quotations from Columbus and Las Casas along with shocking statistics of death strongly portray the Spanish as patronizing and bloodthirsty to

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The first aspect that De Las Casas addresses about the inhabitants comes within his amazement to the diversity of the people residing in the Indies. Along with that statement, De Las Casas also alludes to his religious perspectives of the inhabitants, saying such things as "People inhabits these Countries, that it seems as if the Omnipotent God has Assembled and Convocated [sic] the major part of Mankind in this part of the World." As Las Casas continues his description of the natives, the concept of humanity is brought into light with his defense of the Indians. As comparative to the Europeans, the natives are supposedly much more malleable as people due to their previously restricted access to other nations in the world. Here, Las Casas

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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.

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Francisco Pizarro and Hernando Cortes have many things in common such as the two conquering civilizations in South America, and the two both being Spanish conquistadors. The Spanish empire would be the strongest empire during this time, the Spanish conquered the most land. The New World was being discovered mainly by the Spanish in the beginning, they conquered the bottom of North America, and the east side of South America. Pizarro and Cortes could have conquered without the use of steel. The reasons being are germs infected many of the Natives killing them while the Spaniards were

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Yet spaniards had completely overlooked this and slaughtered, tortured, and ravished the natives into submission without the need for it. “Whom they so despicably contemned, that they treated them… not as beasts… but as the most abject dung and filth of the earth.” Las Casas was obviously more than discontent with the debasement of

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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.

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The Valladolid debate (1550–1551) was the first moral debate in European history to discuss the rights and treatment of a colonized people by colonizers and even to discuss whether native Americans should be considered as humans. It was held in the Colegio de San Gregorio, in the Spanish city of Valladolid. It was mainly a moral and theological debate about the colonization of the Americas, its justification for the conversion to Catholicism and more specifically about the relations between the European settlers and the natives of the New World. A number of opposing views were expressed; about the way natives were to be integrated into colonial life, their conversion to Christianity and their rights and obligations. A controversial theologian, Dominican friar and Bishop of Chiapas Bartolomé de las Casas, argued that “the Amerindians were free men in the natural

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He showed in his writing how the Natives lived their lives, without the Spanish bias influence. Casas informed people, in his paper, “The Destruction of the Indies,” that Indians were not barbarians, but treated their family and friends with respect and dignity. Later in his paper Casas questioned Sepulveda about the war against the Indians and asked if it was necessary to get rid of the Indians, so called barbarism, because it seemed that the Spaniards were acting as the barbarians. Casas goes on to talk about how the Indians are brothers to the Spanish because Christ died for them too, so the Spaniards should take the Natives under their wings and teach them to read and

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The lyrics of “Over the Rainbow”, composed by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, is in some ways an “Odyssey”, or a long and wandering voyage. The first lyric that shows traits of an Odyssey, was in the first line. Arlen and Harburg wrote,” Somewhere over the rainbow, Way up high, There’s a land that I heard of, Once in a lullaby.” (Citation). This is like an Odyssey, because it takes you away from the land that you are used to.

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Las Casas, believed that instead of just conquering the Indians, they should have a chance to defend themselves. "Hence every nation[s], no matter how barbaric, has the right to defend itself... And take away its

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These differences were also smaller details under the larger ideas of barbarianism, new cultures, and the even bigger idea of inhumanity. The Spanish saw the Native Americans as slaves because they showed to be hard laborers and gave into the Spanish power. The Native Americans had a natural knack for manual tasks, so much that most Spaniards compared them to insects because both insects and Native Americans could do certain tasks that normal humans, such as high class Spaniards, could not. The Spaniards would never do such work as they believed that work was meant for slaves. When the Spanish took over the Aztec capital city, Sepúlveda remarks of how the Native Americans were “oppressed and fearful at the beginning.”

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Christopher Columbus and Hernan Cortes were both famous Spanish adventurers during the Age of Exploration. When the explorers came upon land, they encountered two different cultures. In 1492, Columbus encountered the Taino people, and in 1520, Cortes encountered the Aztecs. The two cultures that the men encountered were different in more ways than they were similar in regards to how the natives treated the men, what weapons they had and their war-like behavior, their technologically advancements, their housing and architectural structures, and even their religion.

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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

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His attitudes towards the natives were the opposite; he did not treat them as a conquest, as did Columbus, but rather as actual people. His narration praised the natives as he described them as patient, humble, and slowest to take offence (p.20). “These people are among the cleanliest…excellently fit to receive our holy Catholic faith and to be induced with virtuous customs…” (p. 20). However, like Columbus, de Las Casas also believed that these people should be converted to his religion.

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This power imbalance and these payments are key in the subjugation of the natives. Furthermore, the paternalism of the Spanish toward the Indigenous peoples is obvious: “Captain [Cortes] stared at him [Cuauhtemoc]…then patted him on the head” (p.117). Post-conquest, and still today, “difficult relations” between the descendants of the Indigenous peoples and the “others” (p.117) still exist. The European view of the natives “as idolatrous savages” or, on the contrary, as “models of natural virtue” (p.175) demonstrate the versatile and often contradictory views held. Similarly, the Aztecs at times saw the Spaniards as gods, and other times as gold-hungry savages who “fingered it like monkeys” (p.51).

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