Compare And Contrast Columbus And Bartolome De Las Casas

de la Casas describes the second voyage that he embarked upon with Columbus. He described how each island was depopulated and destroyed. His observations of the land were no so descriptive of the native people and the land, but of the gruesome images the Spanish painted upon the Indies. de la Casas says, “…the Indians realize that these men had not come from Heaven (9).” He goes into detail about how the Christians would take over villages and had no mercy describing one particularly crude act to show how ruthless the Spanish were. He says, “Then they behaved with such temerity and shamelessness that the most powerful ruler of the islands had to see his own wife raped by a Christian officer (9).” The Spanish were so coward and angry anytime an Indian was actually capable of slaying a Spanish man that a rule was made; for every Christian slain, a hundred Indians would die. Natives were captured and forced to work jobs like pearl diving where they would very rarely survive due to man eating sharks or just from drowning and holding their breaths

Spanish Expansion- Spanish conquistadores were the reason of the Spanish Expansion. The spanish conquistadores expanded into the new world, as one of the firsts. As they would expand into the new world, the spanish

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

Throughout recorded human history, authors, leaders, and researchers, have documented the past from many different perspectives, and viewpoints. Not every historian has the same stance on a certain issue, therefore, differences in point of view occur in almost every writing. In the textbook The American Pageant, A People’s History of the United States by Larry Schweikart, and Michael Allen, and Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, the reader can see many different perspectives throughout each reading. The infamous explorer known as Christopher Columbus, has been documented in many different ways. Depending on the reading, Columbus has be called everything from a “[...]symbol of the new age of hope”, to an inhuman tyrant who captured Indians and turned them into slaves.

Christopher Columbus and Bartolome de la Casas are similar in most ways but have a major difference. They were both explorers of the New World and came to convert the natives into Catholics. The two explorers worked on the Spanish’s behalf. Columbus wrote accounts of the New World in his journal. La Casas wrote the Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies. Both gave accounts of the native people they saw. Columbus’s journal entries aim to give a positive light on the Spanish and their relationship with the natives. La Casas’s Brief Account does the opposite. While this is true, both explores worked faithfully in favor of the Catholic Church, but they each held different beliefs on the treatment of natives as slaves.

During the European age of expansion in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, various European nations were colonizing the newly discovered Americas. Spain and France would become prominent players in the Western Hemisphere, both conquering and colonizing new territories. However, each country had different methods of developing their colonies in the New World. Spanish and French settlements contrasted greatly with one another in terms of economic development and Native American relations.

During the 15th through 17th centuries, advancements in technology and the desire for new resources spurred the exploration of the New World for both Spain and England. Spain's interest in exploration soon surpassed the rest of the countries in the Old World and the nation began to claim the majority of territory in Central and South America. Spain sent conquistadores to assert their dominance in the New World through violent conquest which resulted in difficult relations with native populations. Although the English did not settle in North America until the early 17th century, well past the period of the Spanish conquest, their methods of colonization were more successful in the long term. The English were able to find economic success

It is thought by many that Christopher Columbus was a skilled sailor on a mission of greed. Many think that he in fact did it all for the money, honor and the status that comes with an explorer, but this is not the case entirely. Columbus was an adventurer and was enthused by the thrill of the quest of the unknown. “Columbus had a firm religious faith and a scientific curiosity, a zest for life, the felling for beauty and the striving for novelty that we associate with the advancement of learning”. He had heard of the legendary Atlantic voyages and sailors reports of land to the west of Madeira and the Azores. He believed that Japan was about 4,800 km to the west of Portugal. In 1484, Columbus wanted support for an exploratory

Christopher Columbus and Cabeza de Vaca were both well experienced explorers of the New World. They both traveled to the New World to find out what was out there and if what they would find, could help them and their country. In the narratives, “Letter of Discovery” by Christopher Columbus and Castaways by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, they exemplified the overall environment of the New World. Each explorer had quite the experience within the New World and interactions with the natives but they were not quite the same. Columbus’ journey consisted of learning about the new land and obtain resources to bring back to his country. Cabeza de Vaca also wanted to find resources and goods but mainly wanted to explore the land and try to understand if it was possible to create a society alongside the natives. As they went into the New World, they had found new discoveries but their purpose of the journey lead them down paths that would give off two different perspectives.

1). The Nations of Europe sought to expand their empire because they were on the verge of overpopulation.Between 1550 and 1600 the population grew from three million to four million people. Also, England and Spain were at a war for power. The Spanish attempts at colonizing the New World had been extremely successful, for they had gained both wealth and power. The English did not see such success, as their ships would crash, be lost to the seas, or their colonization efforts would cease to be useful. Through the Spaniards control over the Americas they had gained a massive naval army, noted as the Spanish Armada. The Spanish attempt to invade England in 1588 failed which lead to the beginning of the fall of the Spanish empire in the New World.

During the sixteenth century Spain had control over land in the Caribbeans and America that was ten times the size of Spain. One of the most famous conquerors was a man by the name of Cortes. His first target was the Aztec Empire one of the richest empires in America. After a very bloody battle Cortes successfully conquered the empire “converting” its people to Christianity and taking their gold. From this Cortes became on of the richest men in the world. This event inspired many others to do the same with many choosing the life of a conquistador to find their riches in the new world. The amount of conquistadors started to make Spain worry if they were to try and rule New Spain and that they were killing more Indians instead of converting

For my compare and contrast paper I decide to write about Christopher Columbus because he is big in geography and his name is known throughout the world, and not only in the United States, and he did a lot in his lifetime. And I know every student will learn about him in schools. Christopher Columbus is mentioned in Davis’ book; however, I also decide to do my own research as well.

Beginning in the early 15th and 16th centuries, people began settling in places like Europe, Africa, Asia, and the New World. Like many of the surrounding people and empires, the Iberians wanted to reach the wealth of Asia and get their hands on the New World first to possibly gain world dominance. The Iberian presence in Asia, Africa, and the New World in the late 15th and early 16th centuries helped aid the Spanish and Portuguese to become world powers. Combining with the conquering of new lands in the New World and parts of Africa, the use of Christianity and the converting of conquered people, and the exchange of goods with foreign countries helped make this mission a reality.

The native’s encountered by Columbus and those encountered by Cortes were similar in how they treated the newly arrived Spaniards. They were greatly different, though, in their religious beliefs. The Aztecs seemed to be a very religious group of people. In Cortes’ letter he says, “This great city contains a large number of temples, or houses, for their idols.” Cortes says that those in priesthood wear black and do not curl or comb their hair their entire time in priesthood. Cortes says, “I said everything to them I could to divert them from their idolatries and draw then to a knowledge of our God.” The Aztecs would not convert though, showing the strength of their beliefs. In contrast, those Native Americans encountered by Christopher Columbus did not exemplify any religious beliefs or practices.

In his treatise as well as Cruelties of Spaniards, Bartolomé Las Casas supported the Native Americans by explaining that they were just as human as the Spaniards were. He states in his treatise that “…it is unlikely that anyone will resist the preaching of the gospel and the Christian doctrine.” Because he has been in the New World, he has seen the acceptance of Catholicism from the Natives, unlike the crown whom have never seen such cooperation. He continues by taking shots at the Spaniard colonists who fought with the Natives, even though their kings “have prohibited wars against the Indians of the Indies…” It’s rather confusing to find out where Las Casas