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This again shows the tension between the two groups. Although it is the Native Americans that did the attacking, it may have been because of the settler’s treatment in document D, when the colonists threatened to kill the Native
This is where Indies were founded but now called the Hispaniola. These Spanish Christians were honest, no grudges, and etc. According to “Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies” there were cons about them, for instance, “…so weak and complaisant, they are less able to endure heavy labor and soon die.” The Hispaniola had a total of 12 million Native Indians on the island and blaming the church being involved somewhat. When the Spaniards noticed some of the Native Indians escaped, he sent out a ship where it took several years to find them to kill.
One of the lasting impact the Spanish settlements had; the settlers created a bad relationship with the natives. The natives had several purposes to contemn the settlers. One reason being, in document c, that it states that the natives inculpated the settlers, or more specifically priests, for transporting disease from Spain to the native’s motherland. Corresponding to the natives, the settlers also have their motives for resenting the natives. For instance, the Apache and Comanches tribes had slaughtered several innocent settlers and soldiers, as well as raiding a couple of missions around San Antonio and La Bahia (doc b).
However, according to Father Junipero Serra, the natives were by far in the wrong with their actions to destroy the mission (Chan/Olin, 60). This argument is obviously one sided, but if the website for the San Luis Rey Mission mentioned the fact that the natives sometimes did not like the fact that they were being taken over by a force that merely controlled them with guns, it would most definitely affect their tourist income in numbers. In addition, the mission website is less likely to mention the fact that there were punishments for those natives who did reject the work or conversion to Catholicism. As mention in Francis F. Guest’s essay, “Cultural Perspectives on Death and Whipping in the Missions”, there were many instances in which the punishments for natives was excessive and superfluous. “There is incontrovertible testimony that delinquent Indians were whipped, sometimes excessively, by the padres”
In Chapter two section “Encountering the Spanish” Nichols stated, “The Indians’ first experiences with the Spanish proved more violent and disruptive than their meetings with most other Europeans.” I believe that the intentions of the Spanish Invasion of 1513 was always of evil and served not for religious purposes, but to further greed and corruption. The invasion was to let the Indians know and be alert that the Spanish wanted them to give up, convert to christianity, or else they will be killed. Furthermore, the Spanish feel that they have met the legal and religious obligation to take possession of the land and wage war against the natives. The requerimiento was a recitation of the Christian history of the world followed by the requirement that the Natives come forward of their own free will to convert to Catholicism.
They often killed and robbed several natives for their gold, as Document Six tells us. They were incredibly greedy, and wanted wealth and riches, as opposed to friendship and peace. Their cruelty grew so terrible that the Native Americans they tormented became afraid of the word "Christian," as the Spanish plunderers called themselves as such. Document Six was written by a Spaniard calling for reform. Document Seven displays Native American life as if it were quaint and quiet.
Native people in general were seen as heathens; uncivilized, savage people who practiced human sacrifice. Christianity was the only way to make uncivilized people civilized, through the belief of their God. Not thinking that these people had their own gods they prayed to, forcing a religion on someone who not only doesn’t understand you and inevitably can’t say no to, in itself is a conquering of people. Cortés and his soldiers in hopes of gaining allies to help defeat Montezuma II, went village to village spreading Christianity to create this idea of brotherhood. (Diaz, 144,191)
In "The Tomorrow Seeds" a young Moki boy, Hopi, has two visions about the future, which Diane Burns adds a deeper meaning to. The story was influenced by a real-life situation that occurred when Spanish explorers reached the Southwest in 1539. In the beginning, the Pueblo Indians welcomed the Spanish peacefully and they all lived in harmony. Until around 1675, the date in which the story takes place in. The Spanish started invading the Pueblo Indians, they were treated brutally and were introduced to new ways of living, like being introduced to new plants such as watermelon.
The colonists lived in a sense of fear that was defined by the idea that the Natives would attack and harm their families or commit crimes like rape. Hostility began to grow from these concerns resulting in attacking the Natives to keep them at bay and act as warning signals to stay away from their communities. However, the Natives actions were more defined by curiosity more so then provoking violence. But, in retaliation, the Natives would strike back as, not only did these settlers take their land but the acts of violence looked to be provocative. This ended in a realization that these Natives would either have to fight for the land they once had or lose it to the colonists that were already beginning to divide the land accordingly to the laws they had placed upon them.
This was the last battle. The natives had no more fight to
While Cortes was moving his armies west, towards the gold, he continuously spoke to the natives about their faith and the barbarity of it. He told the natives that they were blind with their idols, human sacrifice, and many gods. He managed to convert a great many and have a cross erected in one of their shrines, the previous idols no doubt confiscated by his men. This religious superiority gave Cortes a self-given right to govern and take from the natives in order to show them the path of righteousness. This righteousness halted, however, in the face of his greed.
All the Spaniards had done was killing of innocent lives for personal greed and acquiring as much goods as they could for their Majesty, doing so for the money was their justifications for killing the natives. Then we have Cortes, who instead of killing off the Natives of Tenochtitlan, he opened their eyes to the horrors of their religious ways and gave them the revelation of Christianity. Cortes didn’t mention any genocide of the natives, he spoke about the geography and religious views of the natives. He stated, “I will simply say that the manner of living among the people is very similar to that of Spain, and considering that this is a barbarous nation shut off from a knowledge of true God or communication with enlightened nations, one may well marvel at the orderliness and good government which is everywhere mentioned” (SB, 8). Cortes is only praising the natives and their life style because he feels the people have everything figured out in terms of being dominant and true government but, lacked in religion which he left them
After sending them on a search for gold, the ones who found nothing had their hands cut off, and they ultimately bled to death. If some tried to defy his laws, they were hanged or burned at the stake. Columbus and his men literally had total control over the natives, which led to complete domination. With their lack of weapons, they were unable to fight back. Some of his soldiers were so despicable, they rode on the backs of the natives, like they were horses.
“ It should be kept in mind that their insatiable greed and ambition, the greatest ever seen in the world, is the cause of their villainies.” (Las Casas) The people of Spain used murder and slavery as a means to depopulate the Islands due to their greed. According to Casas, the number of slain Indians is about 15 million in the fourty years that the Spaniards have intruded on the Natives land. Young men and rulers were killed, while women and young children were forced to be slaves to the Christians.
Native Americans flourished in North America, but over time white settlers came and started invading their territory. Native Americans were constantly being thrown and pushed off their land. Sorrowfully this continued as the Americans looked for new opportunities and land in the West. When the whites came to the west, it changed the Native American’s lives forever. The Native Americans had to adapt to the whites, which was difficult for them.
