The gap between the rich and the poor widened and not everyone prospered. Many people were taken advantage of and maltreated, including particularly Native Americans and African Americans. European Conquistadors conquered Native Americans and their territory and in the process committed genocide. Roughly ninety percent of the Native American population died due to the Europeans’ arrival. If they were not killed, they would be bound to a contract such as the Requerimiento which blackmailed them into obeying the European rulers.
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).
The Spaniards believed they were better than the natives, however, instead of enslaving them, Cabeza de Vaca and his men became enslaved by the Indians. The group lost everything, besides faith. For example, “one of the gentlemen in our company, died; and the boat we had intended to go infoundered and could not float, and later it sank. And as we were in the condition I have described and most of us were naked, and the weather was too severe for marching… that if God Our Loard was pleased to bring them there…” (Castaways
The first Europeans set foot on the New World was by a complete accident. Despite their differences, the Spanish was fed and sheltered by a group of Indians. The Spanish’s warm welcome was cut short when they began to spread diseases to the Indian group, killing over half of them. I can understand how the indigenous people would be enraged at these strangers, however in the Spanish’s defense they were not aware of the threat they posed to the Indian tribe. Eventually, the leader of this Spanish expedition escaped the clutches of the angry tribe and trekked onto Mexico.
One thing that led to this was Columbus’s reports back to Spain which “were part fact, part fiction… ‘There are many spices, and great mines of gold and other metals.’” (Zinn 3) These reports led to the Spanish royalty expecting more riches from the land; however, it was not as bountiful as Columbus made it seem, so he set the Indians to work in search of gold. Along with gold, Indians were sent to Europe, just as Columbus had promised. Many Indians died while laboring or being shipped to Europe; some even committed suicide or killed their children to get away from the European’s
In chapter one of “The Wilding of America”, Charles Derber highlights the importance of wilding in society and explained the different types of wilding that exist in society. Derber (2015) define the word wilding as “self-interested or self-indulgent behavior that harms another and weakens the social fabric”. In the beginning of the chapter, Derber gave us an overview of the Ik society and sharing with us of Ik values of self-interest of individual survival than for the whole society. The author discusses how the Ik society is similar to American society. The two types of wilding are instrumental wilding and expressive wilding.
The conquistadors had many factors that had helped them conquer the large Native American civilizations that had already inhabited the Americas, but the greatest factors working in their favor were disease, technological advances, and tactics they used against the Native Americans. When the Europeans arrived to the Americas, they were set on their conquest to explore and to hopefully gain more wealth from conquering the Native American civilizations. The overall arrival of the Europeans would change the course of history and lead to devastating effects for the Native Americans. One of the first things that the Native Americans were affected by was the diseases that the conquistadors brought over from Europe.
Thousands of Natives died at the hands of Columbus and his men. They found their way into settlements and slaughtered just about anyone who got in their way. about 40,000 natives died on the first expedition, mostly from being thrown to wild dogs, being forced into slavery, or being subjected to torture. Columbus’ main goal in all of this? He wanted to be as rich as possible, cutting off their hands if they didn’t comply with his orders to find him gold.
He also states that the Indians were extremely humble, patient, peaceful, and were not quarrelsome. The Indians unlike the Spaniards were not greedy and were hardly worried about being wealthy. The Spaniards were greedy and gold hungry, which was the reason for killing so many Indians. The land that the Indians were living on contained a significant amount of gold. Las Casas (1542) claims that the Spaniards are acting and have acted like ravening beasts, killing, terrorizing, afflicting, torturing, and destroying the native peoples.
Prior to the discovery of the New World by Europeans, Native Americans populated what is presently North and South America in massive numbers; however, due to massive population loss, mainly caused by diseases introduced by Europeans and Africans, the Native Americans were unfortunately forced to live as inferiors to the Europeans. A major issue that faced native populations of the New World was the fact that the Europeans introduced foreign animals that carried diseases the natives had never seen before. Specifically in Mexico and Peru, the natives had alpacas and llamas in small and isolated groups, so diseases were not able to originate in them [McNeil 178]. On the other hand, the animals that the Europeans brought over, such as cattle,
The early modern era was a time when empires thrived across the globe. The Western Europeans were not the only ones to construct successful empires either. The Russian, Chinese, Mughal, and Ottoman empires added to this phenomenon. Although these empires share many similarities, they also have their differences. During the time, 1450 CE -1750 CE, European empires in the Americas and their Russian, Chinese, Mughal, and Ottoman counterparts are similar in that they all thrived and united diverse peoples and different in that European empires developed something entirely new, an interacting Atlantic World, while the other empires continued older patterns of historical development.
The Native Americans were seen as weak willed, for they barely resisted the conquest of their homes. If the Native Americans showed no incentive of retaliating and were better at manual work, it seemed natural to the Spanish that they be enslaved. The Native Americans, on the other hand, saw the Spanish in a different light as well as they watched many Spaniards become obsessed with gold. The Spanish were given Gold as gifts and went crazy just holding it and lusting for more, like savage monkeys. The Spanish, by nature, couldn’t help but become greedy monsters for gold, because in Europe riches were equivalent to power.
Effects of European Colonization on the Cultural Collisions Between Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans Before the Europeans turned up, highly advanced native cultures blossomed in the Americas. In Central and South America, the Maya, Aztec, and Inca had a huge domain that included large cities with the complex framework of roads, irrigation systems, and controlled government structures. The European explorers and America’s original occupants had both positive and negative impact upon each other. Therefore, it is essential to raise the question on how European exploration and colonization influenced cultural collisions and interactions between Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans.
The Spanish terrorized Native Americans, which led many natives to fear the Spanish, and caused some to revolt against their reign. According to Eric Foner, “the Spanish forced tens of thousands of Indians to work in gold and silver mines, which
Though at first, the Spanish were reluctant, they soon realized that it was imperative to try to heal the sick as their own survival depended on it. Estebanico describes that “the cures we performed may not have healed everyone we attended, but I can vouch that they saved four lives: our own” (Lalami 232). The interactions between castaways and the Indians were substantial in challenging the common European perspective of the Indians as “inferior savages”. Though the conquistadors in the novel were initially wary of the Indians, they later realized that their ways were crucial to
