Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
Religion in colonial times essays
Religion in colonial times essays
Religion in colonial times essays
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Religion in colonial times essays
Religion in colonial times essays
Religion in colonial times essays
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Religion in colonial times essays
the Spanish saw the natives abundance of gold and that they were not Christian, and they felt justified in mistreating them because they thought they were helping them religiously
Religion was a key factor in the way La Casas and the Spaniards protrayed the indigenous people of the Caribbean. Queen Isabella 's role in the avocation of converting the native people to Catholicism allowed Religion to play a major role in the Spanish ConquestLas Casas mentions Queen Isabella’s religious influences in the opening chapter of the book. He also states that her death and the disappearances of her influences is the reasons the Spaniards genocide of the native people increased. Both Las Casa and the Spaniards agreed that religion was a reason for the conquest of the Caribbean. However, they concept influenced their portrayal of the natives in different ways.
This type of book was worked in an epic style about the main events of the Conquest, from its beginning until the fall of Tenochtitlan, and other happenings that followed in this conquest. One of the criticisms that Bernal Diaz del Castillo has by my point of view is that he never learned to speak indigenous languages and yet is able to describe whole dialogs indigenous from the first day he stepped on the continent. Some of the chapter, he mentioned “Well, I will not continue describing this.” For that reason, many people describe the author as a simple to writer. So, I imagine him that this book was wrote while he was talking about what he saw in the conquest and he was writing while he was thinking about that.
The first meeting between Cortés and Montezuma are described two different ways as “The True History of the Conquest of New Spain” by Bernal Díaz excerpt notes “When Cortés was told that the Great Montezuma was approaching, and he saw him coming, he dismounted from his horse, and when he was near Montezuma, they simultaneously paid great reverence to one another. Montezuma bade him welcome and our Cortés replied through Doña Marina wishing him very good health. And it seems to me that Cortés, through Doña Marina, offered him his right hand, and Montezuma did not wish to take it, but he did give his hand to Cortés and Cortés brought out a necklace which he had ready at hand, made of glass stones”. The “Florentine Codex” by Fray Bernardino De Sahagun “ And when they [the Spaniards] had come as far as Xoloco, when they had stopped there, Moteucçoma dressed and prepared himself for a meeting, along with other great rulers and high nobles, his rulers and nobles.”
1. In my personal opinion, I think that Bartolome de las Casas wrote to try and free the Indian slaves owned by Spain. Equality never comes easy but it is certainly rewarding in the end. With that said, Las Casas decided to fight for many years trying to generate equality for the Indians.
According to Columbus the Caribbean is a much better island than any other island he has visited. Columbus describes the Caribbean to have a variety of many trees, mountains, rivers and mines of metal along with a great number of inhabitants. Along with the great scenery description, Columbus includes that the Caribbean is very welcoming because of its inhabitants even though they are very timid at first. Las Casas, in his account, lets us know that the island Hispaniola was known as the largest and happiest before the Spaniards took over. The way that Las Casas describes the island during the time that the Spaniards were taking action to take over, includes only destruction, brutality and struggles for the indigenous people and their land.
On the other hand, Las Casas is not writing a history book. He does not need to prove his facts with credible sources, because A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies is his perception of the killings of natives. "The way they normally dealt with the native leaders and nobles was to tie them to a kind of griddle consisting of sticks resting on pitchforks driven into the ground and then grill them over a slow fire, with the result that they howled in agony and despair as they died a lingering death" (De Las Casas 15). Even though the way the killings were described can not be proven, Las Casas wanted to portray the feeling in which he felt during that time. In this situation, readers get a better understanding of the atmosphere than if it was written exactly how it
He saw the torture the Natives received by the Spaniards. Las Casas tried to convince people to change their ways with the natives. He fought slavery and violence that was brought among harmless people. When the Spanish arrived, they encountered the Natives. The Spanish, however, seemed to ignore the fact that the Natives were gentle people.
Christianity was an essential component for empires in 15th century Europe. Religion became a powerful driving factor for the Spanish to convert and colonize the Americas in a process they justified as divine duty. Invoking religion was not a simple solution to this controversy as it could be used with great efficiency by both sides. Although the Spanish conquistadors generally pressed the importance of converting the natives as a justification for their conquest, conversion being a core tenant of the faith, Bartolome de Las Casas highlighted the grievous sins committed by the conquistadors and how this fundamentally violated the precepts of the faith itself. Thus, mounting convincing challenge to the fidelity towards these religious principles.
Spain had confidence that their culture was superior than any other beliefs. If anybody didn’t accept their religion as that, then those people were uncivilized “heathens”. This was the reasoning that justified their colonization of the New World. The Spanish travelled to the New World with the primary goal of “saving” the Indians. By converting them to Christianity the Indians could gain freedom, according to them.
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
In addition to death by disease from Europeans to the New World, the Europeans’ ambition towards gold, turned into a tragic chain of events that ended up with the assassination of millions of Natives. As a result, Europeans killed innocent children and infants and raped women along the way. Bartolomé de las Casas, wrote many different letters to the king of Spain reporting the tragic events that Europeans had done to the Natives. According to one of his letters, Native Americans were the most docile people he had ever met, “innocently simple, altogether void of and averse to all manner of Craft, Subtlety and Malice, and most Obedient and Loyal Subjects to their Native Sovereigns; and behave themselves very patiently, submissively and quietly towards the Spaniards, to whom they are subservient and subject…”(BDLC). Europeans, used this generosity as an advantage to take over their territory and allowed them to get the gold, jewels and slaves as they so desired.
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
There was not a simple clear and distinct dichotomy between the “good” and the “bad”. As established previously, the Aztecs did not all live in perfect harmony, leading to tensions, and side-taking when Europeans arrived. A number of Indigenous peoples had a part to play in the downfall of the Aztec empire. Furthermore, the importance of gold in these relations was of great significance, and “Cortes bullied… tortured the Aztec lords… to obtain gold” (p.116). León-Portilla chooses to end on the topic of the tributes of “gold that had been lost in the Canal of the Toltecs” which the Captain expects to be returned to him.
From our readings of early American literature, we see many themes and ideas that cause us to expand and find the deeper meaning or purpose behind these accounts. From our readings we experience a reoccurring theme of Violence as we see in the cases of Bartolomé de las Casas’ “ Account of the Destruction of the Indies” and Mary Rowlandson’s “Narrative of Captivity”. In both of these writings our authors give us a first-hand look at their experiences in early America that weren’t exactly the easiest of times that they had expected or intended. In both of these writings we experience many scenes that depict grueling violent experiences that both of our authors experienced.