Caught Between Rivals Summary

Matthew Restall, a Professor of Latin American History, Women’s Studies, and Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University. He also serves the Director of the university’s Latin Studies. Throughout “Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest,” he discusses many false truths that have been passed down through history. For instance, he discusses, “The Myth of Exceptional Men.” “The Myth of Spanish Army,” and “The Myth of Completion.” For the sake of time, I will discuss three myths that correlate with class lectures and serve as the topic of this paper, “The Myth of Exceptional Men,” “The Myth of the King’s Army,” and the “Myth of the White Conquistador.” It should be noted that Restall speaks to his audience assuring us that his “...his purpose is not to degenerate this technique of historical writing completely...Nor do I mean to create a narrative in which individual action is utterly subordinated to the larger structural forces and causes of social change.” (4). He states that his intentions are to react to more than just the works of Columbus, Pizzaro, and Cortez.

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.

For decades, the history of Latin America has been shrouded in a cover of Spanish glory and myth that misleads and complicates the views of historians everywhere. Myths such as the relationship between natives and conquistadors, and the individuality of the conquistadors themselves stand as only a few examples of how this history may have become broken and distorted. However, in Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest Matthew Restall goes to great lengths to dispel these myths and provide a more accurate history of Latin American, in a readable and enjoyable book.

“Victors and Vanquished,” through excerpts of Bernal Diaz del Castillo The True History of the Conquest of New Spain and indigenous testimonies from the Florentine Codex, represents the clash between European and indigenous cultures and how there was no simple “European” or “indigenous” view. Rather, there were a variety of European and indigenous opinions and interpretations that were influenced by personal interests, social hierarchy and classes, ethnic biases and political considerations.

1. What was the view of Las Casas in relation to Spanish treatment of the indigenous people of the Indies?

Myths of Harmony by Marixa Lasso is a harrowing account of racial tension and deceit in the Age of Revolution in Colombia. The main theme of the book is that racial harmony is a myth that was cultivated during Colombia’s fight for independence (9). The author states that the lower classes were not any better off after the Revolution than before (4). The culture was known for caciquismo (patron-client relations) and fraudulent elections. These claimed racial equality, but in reality discriminated against certain races (4). Lasso discusses the role of the pardos - free Africans - community as a whole and their role in the political landscape. Racial identities were formed during the Age of Revolution by the struggles of the time period (152). The colonial wars during the Age of Revolution shaped the racial identities of numerous nations. Through racial visionaries, these nations chose a racial identity.

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

Hello im Jack Meland and I choose the book “The Rivalry” by John Feinstein, because of the imprinted football on the front cover it really felt like it was going to be touching and a great story . I gave it a 4 star review because it was a little all over the place.However, I love how the book is a little of everything action, sports, mystery, romance, and drama and I think everyone will like the book if they are interested in reading. It’s nice how it’s written because it leaves a cliffhanger on every page it feels like which is smart of Feinstein to keep the readers engaged. I have played football since I was in kindergarten so it seemed like a great book to relate to. The teenagers are young journalists, Stevie and Susan Carol write about a football games usually college football games. Their biggest story that they have to write is going to be the

In the book They Came Before Columbus written by Ivan Van Sertima, chapter twelve, “Mystery of Mu-lan-pi”, there is a reoccurring theme of disproving the notion that Columbus brought over many different things and products from his expeditions to American to the Eastern parts of the world when in reality there is factual evidence that Africans made contact with America far before Columbus did. The author of this book, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, has his undergraduates degree in African languages and literature from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Van Sertima also worked as a journalist in Great Britain and did broadcasted to the Caribbean and Africa. With and extensive knowledge and work experience in African American Studies it is clear why he chose to wrote this book. The idea that Columbus was the first to bring things like maize from America is widely believed to be true but Van Setima saw that this was false and published They Came Before Columbus to show the facts and evidence that Columbus was not the first person to accomplish this. After writing this book Van Sertima went on to complete a master’s degree in African Studies at Rutgers University and even became a professor of African Studies at the same university. In this essay I will be going deeper into the theme and its relationship to African American history and discussing three other articles that can be related back to chapter twelve of They Came Before Columbus.

In the 16th century Spaniards Herman Cortes and Christopher Columbus set out on endeavoring journeys in search of new worlds. Christopher Columbus encountered, in the Caribbean islands, a group of extremely simplistic Native Americans. Herman Cortes however encountered a much more advanced Native American group in Meso America; we formally know this area to be Mexico. In my essay I will be comparing and contrasting several aspects between both of these Native American Civilizations including sophistication, technology, housing, weapons, religion and their reaction to the Spaniards. Letters written by Columbus and Cortes will be used to make these comparisons.

The purpose of this book is to offer his perspective on how Africans were treated in the Americas from 1550 to 1812.

In Jeremy Baskes’ article, he argues against the view that the Repartimiento de Bienes were an institution that forced Indians to buy goods from the Spanish government against their will, but rather that the Indians used this system voluntarily and often benefitted from it. He begins by focusing on the economic and political position of the repartimiento, explaining what they were and how they developed in the first place. He also goes into detail about how the alcades mayores distributed the goods given on credit through the repartimiento, and how they received payment, or, when they didn’t receive it in a timely manner, what they did to recover their profits. He then analyzes the claim that the repartimiento was used to force Indians to pay

The late 15th century marked the beginnings of a period of discovery and expansion for Europeans. During these years of discovery, great forces behind drive for expansion existed. The Spanish and Portuguese's main forces included: the lust for the wealth of gold and silver, the acquisition of new lands which brought nobility, and the spread of their Christian based religion. The Spanish and Portuguese conquest of Latin America provides us with insight of these drives in the ultimate search for power. Unfortunately, these motives caused a European-Indigenous syncretism that virtually changed the native peoples way of life. Ultimately, syncretism meant survival for Native Americans in a world where their way of life did not suit the life

Prior to taking this class, the Haitian revolution was an unknown phenomenon. The background of the Black Jacobins by C.L.R James provided a thorough insight into the relationship surrounding the French and the Haitian revolution. James did an outstanding job at analyzing the interweaving economic progress achieved through the black race and the struggle against the successive invasions of the French, Spanish, and English powers. In this book, James examined San Domingo, the city which was the ultimate focal point of the African slave trade.

Destroyers, written in 2008 by David McKay, is a futuristic story that takes place in Shinyalu, a small ‘unnotable’ village in, Kenya. Shinyalu is one of many poverty-stricken villages in the world where the villagers consider running water and electricity a luxury and not an essential part of daily life. The main character in the story is Moses, a 14-year-old impetuous boy, who has a natural sense for business that keeps him one step ahead of his competitors. When Moses accepts a loan from a micro-bank he does not realize the changes his life and village will have. A series of events allows Moses to learn about several western business strategies which he is able to use to his advantage and bring increased completion his village. Competition