Juan de Solorzano y Pereyra says that the Indians practiced savage customs or they attempted to commit treason against the Spanish people. Bartolome de Las Casas says that the Indians were gentle sheep and the Spaniards rushed in like a bunch of starving wolves, tigers and lions ready to devour. The Spaniards slew the Indians as if their lives did not matter what so ever. All of this happened throughout Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Mexico (Hispaniola). Juan Gines de Sepulveda Sepulveda said that the Indians are a savage and cruel race and that the Spanish are a superior race that is why the Indians should be treated as if they are inferior.
Throughout the seventeenth century, conflict between Europeans and Native Americans was rampant and constant. As more and more Europeans migrated to America, violence became increasingly consistent. This seemingly institutionalized pattern of conflict begs a question: Was conflict between Europeans and Native Americans inevitable? Kevin Kenny and Cynthia J. Van Zandt take opposing sides on the issue. Kevin Kenny asserts that William Penn’s vision for cordial relations with local Native Americans was destined for failure due to European colonists’ demands for privately owned land.
In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. We all know this catchy tune right? But what we don’t know, is what Columbus thought when he arrived in the North America or what he though of the Native Americans he met. In fact, we don’t know much about all the explorers after Columbus and what they thought. Each explore had their own view of the Native Americans, and three great examples are Columbus, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda and Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolome de Las Casas was born in 1848 in Spain. Las Casas was a Spanish historian and dominican missionary who objected the Spanish treatment of the Natives. Las Casas is known for his famous writings which weren’t published until many years after his death. Las Casas was not like any ordinary man in his time period. He opposed to several things the Spanish had against the Natives.
Before Europeans even knew of the Americas there were Indians. The Indians had diverse cultures and conflicts with each other. There were hundreds of different groups of Indians. Most hated each other and killed each other. Some sought to get beyond murder and cannibalism.
“1491” Questions 1. Two scholars, Erikson and William Balée believe that almost all aspects of Native American life have been perceived wrong. Although some refuse to believe this, it has been proven to be the truth. Throughout Charles C. Mann’s article from The Atlantic, “1491”, he discusses three main points: how many things that are viewed as facts about the natives are actually not true, the dispute between the high and low counters, and the importance of the role disease played in the history of the Americas. When the term “Native American” is heard, the average person tends to often relate that to a savage hunter who tries to minimize their impact on their surrounding environment.
In 1540 to 1700, the Scientific Revolution occured, events and tools created during this time period would change life forever. First, the astrolabe and the compass were both technological advances created to help navigate and explore the world. Also, at this time Asian spices were huge, but Italy and Egypt controlled the trade routes to Asia. Then, explorers started to sail the world, finding new routes and lands. Lastly, Christopher Columbus tried to sail to Asia in late 1492, but messed up on his way there and discovered the New World.
An excellent example within the novel that correctly portrays the Native American’s hostility towards the people that they see as invaders takes place while the group is traveling by rail to Omaha.” They then perceived that the train was attacked by a band of Sioux. This was not the first attempt of these daring Indians, for more than once they had waylaid trains on the road.” The white man treated the Indians very poorly taking their land and their main food source. In result, the Indians fought back, and when they did so, the whites did too with just as much force.
Historians differ on what they think about the net result of the European arrival in the New World. Considering that the Columbian Exchange, which refers to “exchange of plants, animals, people, disease, and culture between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas after Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492,” led to possibly tens of millions of deaths on the side of the American Indians, but also enabled agricultural and technological trade (Henretta et al. 42), I cannot help but reflect on whether the effects should be addressed as a historical or a moral question. The impact that European contact had on the indigenous populations of North America should be understood as a moral question because first, treating it as a historical question is difficult due to lack of reliable historical evidence; second, the meaning of compelling historical claims is contestable as the academic historian perspective tends to view the American Indian oral history as invalid; and finally, what happened to the native Indians is morally repulsive and must be discussed as such. The consequences of European contact should be answered as a moral question because historically, it is hard to be historically objective in the absence of valid and dependable historical evidence.
Throughout the late 1400’s and the 1500’s, the world experienced many changes due to the discoveries of new lands and peoples that had been never been visited before. The new-found lands of the Americas and exploration of Africa by the Europeans led to new colonies and discoveries in both areas. It also brought different societies and cultures together that had never before communicated, causing conflict in many of these places. While the Europeans treated both the Native Americans and West Africans as inferior people, the early effects they had on the Native Americans were much worse. Beginning in the late 1400’s, many different European explorers started to look for new trade routes in the Eastern Hemisphere in order to gain economic and religious power.
In the 16th Century, Spain became one of the European forces to reckon with. To expand even further globally, Spanish conquistadors were sent abroad to discover lands, riches, and North America and its civilizations. When the Spanish and Native American groups met one another, they judged each other, as they were both unfamiliar with the people that stood before them. The Native American and Spanish views and opinions of one another are more similar than different because when meeting and getting to know each other, neither the Spaniards nor the Native Americans saw the other group of people as human. Both groups of people thought of one another as barbaric monsters and were confused and amazed by each other’s cultures.
The Europeans came mostly in peace; however, the Native Americans saw the newcomers as a threat to their livelihood. Amoroleck, an Indian captured by the Europeans after a clash between the two, explained that the Native Americans attacked the settlers because they believed the settlers “were a people come from under the world, to take their world from them.” (Merrell 45) With early conflicts, neither party was coming out victorious with their losses out numbering their winnings between the Indians and Europeans. Eventually, the Native Americans would accept the Europeans and even live jointly, aiding one another whether it was determining the best hunting grounds, planting the right crops in the right area, or incorporating lifestyles by helping round up escaped slaves. The two parties learned to make the most out and how to benefit from each other.
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.
The Europeans gave the Native American both positive and negative things. The positive things were: wheat, sugar, rice, coffee, horses, cows, and pigs. The negative things were: smallpox, measles, bubonic plague, influenza, typhus, diphtheria, and scarlet flower. Then, god, glory, and god. The Spanish came for god, glory, and gold.
Europeans began exploring the Americas in late 15th century. This had many effects on both the land of the Americas and the Native Americans that inhabited them. Many of the Native American cultures perished with the coming if the Europeans while some survived. A good deal of the Native American cultures that did survive, were very small. The Europeans did not mean to find the Americas, in fact, they were on a voyage to find a new route to Asia and The Indies.
