Open Veins Of Latin America By Eduardo Galeano

The lives of Native Americans were impacted by the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in 1492, changing their lives forever. Spain would now rule a vast empire for the next 350 years structured on factors such as labor and exploitation of the Indian population. The conquistadors had aspirations of bringing about Catholicism to non-Christian areas, while extracting riches in the process. With many Spaniards going over seas to find riches, diseases followed them causing problems for New World natives due to their lack of immunities. With the trouble caused upon natives, individuals like Bartolomé de Las Casas attempted to bring awareness and a halt against the oppression of the Indians.

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.

The legacy and impact of the Spanish conquest is continually discussed and analyzed. The struggle in finding native identities while also acknowledging Spanish heritage is a continuing process in Latin America. Modern film and art, such as Salvador Carrasco’s La Otra Conquista and Diego Rivera’s mural the arrival of Cortés speak about the conquest and its effects on Mexico identity. The film challenges myths about the conquest by arguing against the greatness of Cortés, showing power in native agency, and Spanish dependency on interpreters. The mural upholds myths of the conquest like the black legend, minimizes

When the Europeans first came to the New World, They brought diseases from the Old World that the Native’s were immune to. This disease ravaged Tenochtitlan. This spread of infection was also so reciprocal.

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.

John Charles Chasteen chose the title Born in Blood and Fire for his book because the Latin American countries of today arose from the brutal killings, enslavement and systematic genocide of indigenous natives by the Europeans. These countries all possess a common history in which european conquest and colonization dramatically affected their culture and demographic, the results of which are still evident today. The imposition of Spanish and Portuguese languages, religious beliefs, and social institutions were all factors that “fueled this fire”. Chasteen describes

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.

Columbus’s big plan for Hispaniola since the beginning was to take advantage of the natives and take their land, and the gold he believed was located there. He built the first fort in the Western Hemisphere, and left some of his men to find and store gold there. Columbus had to ask for a little more help from their majesties, he convinced them by saying he would take them “as much gold as they need ... and as many slaves as they ask” (Zinn,6 ) Columbus’s plans affected the natives, in many ways; first of all they were going to lose their land, and also they were going to be taken captive for slave labor.

The Native Americans once thrived on the rich land of the Americas, and they built a long-lasting civilization with the help of nature, gods, and organized roles within the tribes. However, the thriving population plummeted after their encounter with diseases and forced labor brought upon them by the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadores. Although at first the conquistadores mistreatment of Native Americans seem shallow and unethical, their conquest of the Americas only partially reflects the claims of the English Black Legends..

In the book The Conquest of America by Tzvetan Todorov, Todorov brings about an interesting look into the expeditions of Columbus, based on Columbus’ own writings. Initially, one can see Columbus nearly overwhelmed by the beauty of these lands that he has encountered. He creates vivid pictures that stand out in the imagination, colored by a "marvelous" descriptive style. Todorov gives us an interpretation of Columbus’ discovery of America, and the Spaniards’ subsequent conquest, colonization, and destruction of pre-Columbian cultures in Mexico and the Caribbean. Tzvetan Todorov examines the beliefs and behavior of the Spanish conquistadors and of the Aztecs.

From 250 A.D. to the late 1500’s A.D., three civilizations, the Mayans, the Aztecs, and the Incas controlled Central and South America. Their decline happened for many different reasons. The Spanish conquistadors was one of the most common and deadliest, due to their advanced weapons and diseases they brought. It seems that wherever the Spanish went, bad things always happened. Innocent people were killed for no reason, cities were massacred and civilizations were destroyed.

Extreme blood mixing was going on. Between the Europeans, the natives, and Africans brought in to replace the dead natives, new races were popping up in Latin America. Right then the population in Latin America was undergoing vast changes.

When the Europeans first arrived in Latin America, they didn’t realize the immensity of their actions. As history has proven, the Europeans have imposed many things on the Latin American territory have had a long, devastating effect on the indigenous people. In the centuries after 1492, Europeans would control much of South America and impose a foreign culture upon the already established civilizations that existed before their arrival. These imposed ideas left the continent weak and resulted in the loss of culture, the dependence on European countries, and a long standing ethnic tension between natives and settlers which is evident even to this day. The indigenous people of South America, which

The history of the colonization of Americas is one written in blood. The Hispaniola is no exception, and the conflict can still be seen today. In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed west. In doing so, he

Open Veins of Latin America is the book to remember. Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano is responsible for the creation of this relevant and controversial masterpiece, which follows the history of Latin America and the Caribbean through centuries of struggle against poverty and those imperial powers who abused of Latin American resources and created inequality. With a leftist political point of view, magic realism and historical events, Galeano epitomizes a Latin America craving redemption and progress. He illustrates his ideas by laying out the story from 1492