Columbus and Cortes Essay

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.

This section highlights that history has created a false narrative depicting the natives as a victimized people, which they were to some extent but only in the fashion that they did not possess the same technology for warfare, immunity of communal diseases transmitted, and they were not anticipating combat. All other factors considered, the natives stood to be a potential threat. In regards to knowledge obtained by Spaniards prior to arrival and knowledge gained from observation, it would be remiss had they not prepared for battle. This argument is not to be misconstrued in approving their actions; I do recognize colonization as an evil for both the reasons employed and its damaging effects, but rather to change the narrative surrounding that of the native people. While they did experience a tragedy, I feel that it is erroneous to write them into history as being incompetent resulting from their

Columbus and de la Casas make two very different observations of the new world. Columbus made many detailed descriptions in his letter to the King Ferdinand, who had financed his journey with the intentions of completing three very clear goals. The first, “to procure riches for the Spanish empire,” the second, “to find a new route to the East Indies,” and lastly, “to convert native peoples to Christianity (Casper et al., 4).” de la Casas had a much different intention than Columbus for why he journeyed to the new world. He traveled as a son of a poor merchant and observed all of the wrong doings that were happening to the native people. He later returned to Spain for the remainder of his life to write about all of the awful things that

Christopher Columbus and Alvez Nunez Cabeza de Vaca were both explorers for Spain, but under different rulers and different times. The more famous, Christopher Columbus, came before de Vaca’s time. Columbus sailed a series of four voyages between 1492 and 1504 in search for a route to Asia which led accidentally to his discovery of new land inhabited with Indians. Christopher sailed under the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella for his journey to the “Indies,” whom he was loyal to by claiming everything in their name. De Vaca , followed in Christopher’s footsteps and journeyed to Hispanionola for Spain’s emperor, Charlves V, the grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella. Both, Columbus and de Vaca composed a series of letters addressing the

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.

Hernando Cortes landed in Mexico in 1519 and entered Tenochtitlan, city of the Aztecs. The Native Americans here welcomed the Spaniards into the city with the belief that the Sun god had returned to save the people and allowed them to stay for some time there and apparently to move about most areas of the city freely. These Natives did display a much more sophisticated and technologically advance society

Cortes and Columbus Views on the Indigenous People During the Age of Exploration, Christopher Columbus and Hernando Cortes are two of the most recorded encounters of Native Americans. Both explorers had various different encounters with the indigenous people that they made voyage with. Each encounter was by a different explorer and were twenty-seven years apart, as well as many miles apart. With each encounter comes a difference in sophistication and how technologically advanced the Native Americans by Hernando Cortes in the Meso-America to those of the Native Americans encountered by Christopher Columbus on the islands of the Caribbean. Cortes and Columbus were sent out to discover the new Eastern lands. As they set sail to their

viewpoints from one another regarding the natives. Columbus viewed the natives as a source for income through various means, even though the natives attempted to be kind to him. Thus, Columbus took some natives as slaves and he also forced them to work. Also, Columbus viewed the natives as inferior and also noticed that they were lacking in weaponry compared to the Spaniards. In contrast, Las Casas viewed the natives as a more advanced people. He acknowledged that the way women were treated in native society was so well, that it startled some of the Spanish. Furthermore, he explained in his writings how the natives were peaceful and the Spaniards treated them poorly. However, similarly, both Columbus and Las Casas acknowledged that the natives were different from the

“It follows, then that these [Native American] peoples are barbarians…” (Casas Chapter CCLXVII). These words, spoken by Bartolomé de Las Cosas, expressed his true condescending spirit toward the Native Americans. While he claimed to believe that the Native American peoples deserved to be treated as humans and deserved basic rights, his thoughts always came back to this concept. The people they encountered while in the Americas were not much more than simple barbarians. However, while Bartolomé used a condescending tone and conveyed a level of hypocrisy, he brought to light points of organization and valor contained in the Native American culture that were often rejected or overlooked by the Spaniards by creating an understanding of the concept of a barbarian culture.

In regards to the ability to convert them to Catholicism, early in the excerpt he describes the task as a very easy one, because they didn’t appear to be religious. Once he meets another group of the natives, they ultimately contradict his earlier statement by raising their hands to the heavens and showing that they do have some form of a deity. Columbus however, depicts this as them thinking that they are sent from the heavens. Even if the natives actually believed this, them praying solely contradicts his earlier assumption that they are

Columbus’ exploitation of Mesoamerica and consequential enslavement of its people weakened the power of the empires in the New World and caused the power of the global world to be enhanced in Spain. When Columbus first set foot on Hispaniola, he encountered a population of native people called the Taino. The Taino’s were a peaceful and friendly group. Subsequently they willingly traded jewelry, animals, and supplies with the Spaniards. However, at the base of the relations between the two groups, were the malicious concepts, Columbus was waiting to enact.

Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 at Genoa. Genoa was a seaport that was on the Ligurian sea. His name was Cristoforo Colombo and that was translated into English as Christopher Columbus. Christopher Columbus had two brothers, which he was older than both. Christopher Columbus had little schooling just like most of the people during that age. Genoa was a busy seaport and Christopher Columbus learned much from the sailors. Christopher Columbus’s father was a poor weaver. Christopher Columbus worked with his father for a while, but his heart was set on sailing. (“Christopher Columbus.” The book of knowledge, 2000.)

The conquest over the Mexica Empire by Cortes and his conquistadors was a remarkable feat. On the surface the victory of what began as 500 Spaniards against the vast Mexica Empire appears to be an underdog tale of the ages. However, there were a number of important factors that helped shift the odds in the favor of the Spanish forces. The three most important of these factors were the technological advantage that the Spaniards held over the Mexica, the massive devastation caused by the diseases that the Spaniards brought to the New World and the support of indigenous allies. In order to demonstrate the effects of these three factors this essay will first give an overview of Mexica culture. Then it will examine the specific technological advantages held by the Spanish and the effects that these advantages had on the battlefield. After this it will examine the impact that the spread of smallpox and other diseases had upon the Mexica’s ability to defend themselves. Finally this essay will demonstrate the size and impact of indigenous allies on the Spanish conquest of the Mexica Empire. Through examining these three factors this essay will attempt to illustrate how the Spanish were able to face the far more numerous Mexica Empire and why the results were in no way as surprising as the numbers would indicate.

One of the ways in which encounters between conquistadores like Columbus and the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas took shape was the process of assimilation. Assimilation involved attempts by the conquistadores to ‘civilise’ the indigenous populations through spreading European customs and faith. The process itself was based on perceived cultural and religious distinctions, which affected debates over the meaning of the ‘human’. The colonisers’ ignorance towards and dismissal of indigenous customs shows this. For example, Todorov’s interpretation of Columbus’s journals suggests a belief that they were “deprived of all cultural property”, having no religion or law, though Columbus goes on to contradict himself and describes “idolatrous” practices (Todorov, 1984, p.35). Similarly, Hall states that Europeans believed there was an “absence of government and civil society” when there were in fact “highly elaborated social structures” different from European structures (Hall, 1992, p.211). Even when they recognise Native Americans as having their own customs, European settlers often present them as being ‘lesser’ to European customs. Bartolome de las Casas defended indigenous peoples’ living practises as showing a capacity for human reasoning while simultaneously arguing the need to “Christianize them”; indigenous people have morals and rituals, but need to be trained into having European or Christian morals instead (Bogues, 2014, p.214). Fifteenth-century

Hernan Cortes’s first encounter narrative displays the cultural and spiritual roles of Spain, as well as the part Christianity played in creating a sense of belonging . Moreover, how the idea of cultural and spiritual superiority played in the colonization and conquering of The Aztecs. Cortes displays a Eurocentric outlook, “for they had left their native land so long ago and as I had only recently arrived from there, I would better know the things they should believe” (Cortes 58). With this idea that Europe is the nucleus of the world, Cortes has a cultural and religious duty to return the natives back to the fold. Cortes, having painted his view of the world creates a sense of belonging to him and all of Spain, in that, since all life originates in Europe then it’s theirs anyway. He goes about plundering by using Christianity as a moral justification for the colonization of the native population. Beginning by destroying “idols”(Cortes 58) and setting up “images”(Cortes 58)Cartes believes it’s simply what “they should believe”(Cortes 58) . This narrative of cultural and spiritual superiority is echoed in John Heckewelder’s retelling of the “Lenni Lenape”(Heckewelder 68) narrative wherein a group of Dutch missionaries visit the new world and are revered as God’s. Before they depart, they distribute gifts among the natives of “beads, axes, hoes, and stockings” (Heckewelder 70) only to return on their second voyage to see the natives wearing them as