In his 1990 literary article “The Snake Warriors-Sons of the Tiger’s Teeth” Neil Whitehead criticizes the shallow methods of data collection and analysis used to understand the mainland Carib people of what is now Venezuela and Guyana. To correct this he provides a more detailed look into the tactics and social significance of war in these cultures as well as the impact European intrusion had on the stablished practices.
Due to consistent foreign harassment and aggression Whitehead notes that the culture and customs in relation to war of the Caribs became “exaggerated and altered” (P.148) as a defensive necessity. The perpetual encroachment and atrocious conduct forced the Carib people to be in a constant cycle of warfare and violence. This circle created a means of “justifying military action” (P.149) against them where the European powers could give one-sided accounts of a constantly violent population while omitting the actions that caused such behaviour. If the perception of these people was of bloodthirsty cannibalistic savages instead of
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Slave trading and eventually settlement nearly forced them to complete annihilation and in defence they had to evolve long lasting traditions. When viewed without carefully contextualizing European impact these people can be misrepresented as aggressors who lived for war and carnage. An image Spain was happy to circulate. Actions the Europeans deemed deplorable such as cannibalism were entrenched rituals with highly respected significance and meaning. Whitehead wishes to analyse these customs as the local populations saw them and not what became of them when faced with the onslaught of gun powder. It is easy to dehumanize people beyond ones understanding but it is impossible to truly analyse the conflict and social upheaval the Carib population faced when viewed through the simplistic lens of barbaric
When Europeans encountered the Native Americans, the encounter was fraught with difficulties for both sides, for the Native Americans more so than the Europeans. Europeans conquered the Native Americans, forced them into labor, and spread diseases which the Native Americans had no resistance to. In addition to this the Europeans considered themselves superior to the Native Americans. Despite this, the Europeans and Native Americans, both had things the other wanted and so they often engaged in trade with each other. However, the Native Americans thought that, despite not having the luxuries the Europeans had, they were better off than the Europeans. This sentiment is exemplified in “Your People Live Only Upon Cod” by French priest Chrestian LeClerq who was traveling with the Micmac Indians. It is a documented response by an unknown Micmac leader to European, particularly French, claims of superiority. In analyzing this document, we will find that the cultures of the French and the Micmac were vastly different. We will also discover what the Micmac and the French thought of each other.
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.
The crown depicted the Indians as intractable, only to find that settlers resorted to violence against the Indians precisely because of their supposed intractability. Indigenous peoples, for their part, fought among themselves and against advancing settlers. All groups sought to “territorialize” their societies to secure themselves against competitors. In the final chapters, Langfur extends and qualifies this complicated story. In the later eighteenth century, settler pressures grew, stressing crown policies and threatening indigenous social orders, until all-out war broke out after 1808. For Langfur this was no Manichean battle between European invaders and indigenous victims. To a dominant narrative of violence he juxtaposes a “parallel history of cooperation” among Europeans, Africans, and Indians, and he concludes that war itself must be understood in terms of “the relationship of cooperative enemies.”
“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.
There have been many instances throughout history in which indigenous people have unwillingly suffered the consequences of foreigners’ interaction with their culture. In the case of the Huaorani two foreign groups, the oil companies and the missionaries, invaded their land and gravely affected the life they led in the Ecuadorian amazon. In the book Savages Joe Kane gives a firsthand account at how the Huaorani fight to preserve their land and traditional way of life.
The first instance of colonialism forced upon the inhabitants of the Dominican Republic was the “discovery” by Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492. Ernesto Sagas and Orlando Inoa presented the interaction in their book The Dominican People: A Documentary History. The confrontation between these two diametrically opposed cultures proved to be “far from equal; the Amerindians’ Stone Age culture was no match for European military technology. The initial encounter took place on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, part of which is now the Dominican Republic” (Inoa pg. 1). This was the first step in a trek through five and a half centuries of Dominican Republic history, and unfortunately much of it was filled with
In his essay “Of Cannibals”, Michel de Montaigne presents Native Americans as a mirror image of European racial and cultural superiority, placing their barbarous cannibalism in context in order to critique the widely-held belief of their inferiority. Montaigne’s comment on the European perception of Native Americans as uncivilized is ultimately undermined by the extreme nature of the arguments used in his critique.
-1A COMPARISON OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS ENCOUNTERED BY COULUMBUS ON THE ISLANDS OF THE CARIBBEAN WITH THE ENCOUNTERED BY CORTES IN THE MESO-AMERICA.
The history of Venezuela is not necessarily unique in regards to resistance to and domination by European imperialism. Many countries in South and Central America underwent similar transitory periods between colonization and independence. Venezuela is different in the way it continues to resist imperialism in the Common Era. The indomitable spirit of the indigenous peoples of the region still prevails in
The author’s purpose in writing this article was not to show the “Nacirema” as an example of how extreme human behavior can become, but how an outside perspective can affect your perception of an alien culture. If one were to look at the “Nacirema’s” cultural behaviors regarding physical appearance and health without any insight or knowledge of the specific beliefs or values of that culture, they might seem bizarre and even incomprehensible. By showing behaviors and “rituals” performed by this unknown tribe, Miner allowed others to see that the way studies were representing distinctive cultures was narrowminded and defective. Without the proper comprehension of the basis of any society, huge cultural misunderstandings could occur. Of
When Europeans arrived in North America, they encountered the Native Americans. This encounter was fraught with difficulties for both sides, for the Native Americans more so than the Europeans. Europeans conquered the Native Americans, forced them into labor, and spread diseases which the Native Americans had no resistance to. In addition to this the Europeans considered themselves superior to the Native Americans. Despite this, the Europeans and Native Americans both had things the other wanted and so they frequently engaged in trade with each other. However, the Native Americans thought that, despite not having the luxuries the Europeans had, they were better off than the Europeans. This sentiment is exemplified in “Your People Live Only Upon Cod” by French priest Chrestian LeClerq who was traveling with the Micmac Indians. It is a documented response by an unknown Micmac leader to European, particularly French, claims of superiority. In analyzing this document, we will find that the cultures of the French and the Micmacs were vastly different. We will also discover what the Micmacs and the French thought of each other.
The process of colonization in the Americas was a complex and complicated series of events, each driven by the varied interests of an array of European empires. For some, the Americas were a world of untold riches, while for others, this discovery allowed for missionary efforts to convert Native Americans to their faith. Regardless of the reason, violence against the many Native Americans who inhabited this “new land” was a common colonization tool to achieve these means. Direct violence is the most well-known approach, one that Spain wielded so effectively that the Black Legend was created to attest to their cruelty. Yet, the violence used was not all direct in nature. Cultural violence, which England employed itself, was used just as often. Overall, though the Black Legend has led to Spain being viewed as the most violent colonizer in the Americas, England’s use of indirect violence through engagement in the fur trade and missionary efforts was just as destructive to Native Americans.
“Christopher Columbus discovered the ‘New World’ and Europeans conquered the native lands with little resistance due to their superior weaponry.” These stories have been at the heart of the American education system for as long as American history existed. But this type of Eurocentric view does not provide the entire narrative for the events that occurred during the colonial era in the Greater Caribbean. Between Britain’s esteemed navy, France’s leadership, and Spain’s army, who would’ve guessed that mosquitoes could’ve tipped the scale of power and changed history forever? J.R. Mcneill addresses the key significance of mosquitoes in the colonial Greater Caribbean by utilizing existing information and presenting them in the format of a
This research paper will delve into the topic of cannibalism in native tribes of Brazil during the Portuguese colonization of the South American country. My research only the topic yielded very interesting results. Some scholars suggest that cannibalism (in the instances involving the Tupinamba tribe and their ritualistic practices) didn't even occur. This isn't to say, however, that cannibalism was completely nonexistent in Brazil, but arguing that it did not occur in the “savage” ways often described. I could easily sum up the accounts of various witnesses of cannibalism, but I will focus on the material that will mostly discuss the effect that cannibalism had on colonization in Brazil.