American Indians In Spanish Court Summary

Convinced of the superiority of Catholicism to all other religions, Spain insisted that the primary goal of colonization was to save the Indians from heathenism and prevent them from falling under the sway of Protestantism. The aim was neither to exterminate nor to remove the Indians, but to transform them into obedient Christian subjects of the crown. To the Spanish colonizers, the large native populations of the Americas were not only souls to be saved but also a labor force to be organized to extract gold and silver that would enrich their mother country. Las Casas’ writings and the abuses they exposed contributed to the spread of the Black Legend-the image of Spain as a uniquely brutal and exploitative colonizer. This would provide of a potent justification for other European powers to challenge Spain’s predominance in the New World.

Casas has a positive attitude towards the natives although it is extremely apparent that those around him do not feel the same. He wants to improve the relations between them and the so – called Spanish Christians, which is why he is writing about these horrors. His approach in improving the relations is to write a brutally honest account of what he witnessed to share with others. He wants the Spanish to realize the brutality they have bestowed upon the natives is unsettling and barbaric for people who call themselves civilized. In this writing, he doesn’t outright tell anyone what to do, but it is implied that he wants the murders and slavery of the natives to end. His story portrays the negative relations between the natives and Europeans from the very beginning of the discovery of the New World.

From Reséndez’s foundation of European enslavement and its far-reaching impact on Native American populations, Reséndez examined racial components in the southwest. It is impossible to separate racial tension from the study of Indian slavery. Christopher Columbus’s journals as contemporary letters show the Spanish perception of

One of the weaknesses of this book was the way in which a strong opinion of the author frequently came to the surface. The impression given when reading was one of bias in that the Spanish were wrong to come in and refine everything. This was reflected in the fact that periodically within the book, when the Spanish conquistadors did something to the Indians, it was pointed out how inhumane it was. Yet, when the Indians retaliated in some way, it was quickly pointed out how justified they were. The mentioned advantages that the Indians gained through the Spaniards were infrequent and underdeveloped.

The Spaniards were known for their brutality against the Indians. “Everywhere Spain went, Indians died by the millions” (Lecture 6). The

Introduction What does Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition reveal about the early European attitudes towards the native population of the Americas? Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition is the first book written by a European between 1527 and 1536 about the making of the Americas. The book is Álvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca’s account of what happened to him as he explores the Americas, in search of wealth (gold) and empire in the sixteen century. The journey started with six hundreds men, and ended with only four survivors: Cabeza de Vaca, an African (who was later held as slave), and two other Europeans. But what does the deadly journey in Cabeza de Vaca’s Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition teaches the reader about the attitudes of the European towards the Indian?

In the 1500s, a clash between two worlds occurred. Although the French and the Spanish had the same religion and economic ideology, their treatment of the natives were vastly different. The Spanish used their superior military to commit atrocities against the natives, while the French allied their military with the natives. The Spanish used their religious zealotry to justify their heinous crimes, and sent missionaries to completely convert the natives, the French, meanwhile, believed the natives should have their religion if they wished, but still sent missionaries to the natives willing to convert. At first contact, the Spanish began to enslave the natives and put them to terrible labor, the French also desired materials from the natives, but they traded goods with them rather than kill and loot them.

After 1492 with the Protestant Reformation, improved navigation techniques, the discoveries of Christopher Columbus, European exploration of the “New World” began in earnest. However, the ways in which they interacted with the Native Americans differed drastically. Some were respectful of the Native American culture, and tried to work with the natives, other tried to conform the natives to their own beliefs.

This paper will discuss the impact Spanish colonization and Mexican control had on the indigenous Indian population in California between 1769 and 1848. As well as discussing the historical origins, social organizations, material conditions, and world-view of the California Indians prior to 1769, this paper will explain the impact of New Spain’s Mission System on the Alta California Indian population between 1769 to 1821 and the response of its system by the Indians.

As a Spanish friar, I, Bartolome de las Casas, came to the New World to aid in converting the Indians into Christians. They have gone against our beloved king’s decision by pursuing war against the Indians. Every action Cortes has orchestrated has ultimately ended in death and hardship for the Indians. Cortes is guilty and consequences need to be served.

Juan Gines de Sepulveda and Bartolome de las Casas held differing viewpoints on the treatment and personhood of the indigenous peoples of the New World. The Spanish contemporaries had perspectives that were both opposing and similar in regard to the Native population during the advent of sixteenth century Spanish domination in the Americas.

He tells about “the most humble, patient, and peaceable” people he saw in his life. People that are so eager to know the more that if they will brought to know the one true god they would be the most fortune people in the world. His Descriptions of the indigenous was the absolute contrary to the “Barbarous, uncultivated and inhumane” descriptions of the indigenous by previous Spaniards. He also describes the horrors the Spaniards did in the new world. His main example is the island Hispaniola. He observes how the Spaniards started their first ravages and oppressions in the island. The Spaniards killed, tortured, and destroyed the native people with the most varied methods of cruelty. He tells how they dealt with the chieftains that rebelled – they hanged them when their feet almost touched the ground in groups of thirteen (as Jesus and his apostles) and set burning wood underneath them burning them alive. To date, these shocking acts reverberate around the world as example of the Spaniards.

He also wrote about the horrific ways they were murdered. Bartolome wrote, “Yet into these sheep came some Spaniards who immediately behaved like wild wolves. The Spaniards killed and terrorized the native peoples in order to gain more gold and to make themselves richer.” This quote shows that the Spaniards were money hungry, and did whatever it took to become wealthier. Some of the horrid ways they killed the natives include burning them alive, cutting them in half, throwing infants at rocks, and throwing infants into roaring rivers (Document

Las Casas states that a nation can be classified as barbaric if there is “ferocity, disorder, exorbitance, degeneration of reason, of justice and of good customs” (Las Casas, 5). The Spanish have met these classifications in the way they boasted their power and the ferocious manner they accomplished it. As well as their lack of reasoning when murdering

Columbus’s use of Christianity, the introduction of new diseases, and use of violence upon the Native Americans sparked controversy among historians all around the world. “uncovered extensive evidence of the damage wreaked by Columbus and his teams, leading to outcry overemphasis placed upon studying and celebrating him in schools and public celebrations” [1.] In textbooks we learn the good things that Columbus did, that he discovered a new world, brought diseases, and Christianity to the New World. However, it did not go into depth of what he did to the Native Americans in the West Indies. His first day in the New World, he ordered six of the natives to be captured, writing in his journal that he believed they would be good servants. He