When Jesus Came The Corn Mother Went Away Analysis

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

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.

In colonial Latin America, one aspect of life that was constantly under attack and had to be guarded at all costs was the ideal of one's Honour. Women in colonial Latin America had to especially be on their guard to protect their honour, as an unanswered attack to their honour could ruin a family's honour. But if a woman's honour was attacked there were ways for her to protect it. The honour women possessed at the time was said to be not as important as the honour of a man, but it is, in fact, more important then the man's. By using Richard Boyer's document Catarina Maria Complains That Juan Teioa Forcibly Deflowered Her and Sonya Lipsett-Rivera's document Scandal at the Church: Jose de Alfaro Accuses Dona Theresa Bravo and Others of

Ramon Gutierrez’s When Jesus Came, The Corn Mothers Went Away is an exploration of the merging of Spanish, Franciscan and Pueblo Indian cultures throughout Spain's “frontier” in its colonial American empire before Anglo contact. Gutierrez builds a foundation for his analysis by discussing Pueblo Indian life prior to outside contact, Franciscan theology, and the class structure of Spanish communities in each of its respective book sections. He examines meanings of the cultural interactions of gift exchange, ownership, trade, sexual rights, labor, kinship, social status, religious beliefs, and honor among many others using marriage as a window. His interpretation of the complex cultural meanings of marriage illustrates the ways in which the

When the Europeans arrived in the New World, they brought along a host of diseases which were devastating to the Native American population. Due to the adaptations that the Native people had undergone to adapt to North America, they no longer had any natural defense towards these diseases. Because of this, about ninety percent of the Native American population was wiped out, with much of them never meeting a single European. The elimination of so many Natives would benefit the Europeans by eliminating any potential resistance towards their eventual conquest of America. In addition to disease, the Europeans also subjected the Native Americans to slavery, in attempts to “Christianize” them. Both of these contributed to the “black legend” attributed to the Spanish explorers, which detailed a “legacy” of misery and destruction. With so many accounts of torture and murder, this black legend fit the Spaniards well. Though they did provide many contributions to their new lands, the amount of human life that was lost in order for the Spanish to take control of said lands outweighs their contributions. Even though a whole new culture of people may have been created, multiple cultures were lost in the process. The amount of death and destruction caused by the Spaniards outweighs their final contributions, which shows that the Spanish did deserve being part of the “black legend”.

Bartolomé de las Casas was one of the first major fighters for human rights in the New World. In 1542, Las Casas wrote to the Spanish crown, who at the time was Charles V, “A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies,” which spoke of Spain's treachery towards the native peoples in the Spanish colonies, and asked for it to end.1 During the Spanish conquest of the New World—the region of North America and South America—the Spaniards establish dominance over the natives. They took their land, placed them without consent into the lower social class, and put them into labor. Las Casas was infuriated, especially by the hypocrisy surrounding the treatment of the natives; he felt that a society of Christian belief could never justify the behavior of the Spaniards.2 In Las Casas' letter to the crown, he denotes three key points, indicative of his goals. Las Casas wanted to end the downright enslavement of the natives, he wanted to end the war-like conquering of them, and he wanted the Spanish crown to act upon his requests—in the end, he found grand success.

In a 200-year period spanning from the early 1500s to the late 1600s, three prominent titans of Europe would set their eyes on the New World with the goals of colonization and profit. When Columbus first sailed to the New World, he came across the Taíno, a native people of the island of Hispaniola. Upon seeing them, he remarked, “They were very well built, with very handsome bodies and very good faces...They do not carry arms or know them...They should be good servants” (Poole). This statement was simply the foreshadowing of something unimaginable; a series of conquests that would leave millions dead and millions more enslaved. Although the Native Americans were treated fairly by the French but at constant odds with the English, the true terror

For more than 300 years, since the days of Christopher Columbus and the Spanish Government, an attempt of genocide of the Native American Indian has existed. From mass brutal murders and destruction by Spanish and American armies, to self-annihilation through suicide, homicide, and alcohol induced deaths brought about because of failed internal colonialism and white racial framing. Early Explores used Indigenous inhabitants upon first arriving to the America’s to survive the New World and once they adapted, internal colonialism began with attempts to convert the Indians to Christianity, repressing their values and way of life, forcing them into slavery, and nearly exterminating an entire culture from existence.

The stories Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress and A Patriot’s History of the United States have a greater difference than they do similarities. Each story has a different tale of how Native Americans were treated by the Europeans. One story told of gallons of bloodshed, torture, enslavement, and overworked Indians, while the other one told of glorified Europeans here to help their fellow man. Even though, both stories had their differences; they did tell of a similar time in which explorers reach the New World to establish colonies, and to use and turn the native tribes against one another for the benefit of the European nation.

“And this was the freedom, the good treatment, and the Christianity the Indians received” (De Las Casas, 32). This was the religion the Indians were exposed to that caused the cruel and unusual treatment towards them. This treatment was revealed to many who disowned it showing it through documents and accounts of the Indians’ tough life caused by the

Christopher Columbus “discovered” the New World, creating the search for profits determining the direction of Spanish exploration. In 1504, Hernando Cortes had sailed the Atlantic Ocean with 600 men, ten cannons, weapons and horses. They had come to fight and conquer “To justify their own imperialism, the rival Europeans elaborated upon some very real Spanish atrocities to craft the notorious persistent “Black Legend”: that the Spanish were uniquely cruel and far more brutal and destructive than other Europeans in their treatment of the Indians. (American Colonies p.51)

The conquistadors ventured to the America’s in approximately the 1500s. During the process of settlement the conquistadors, led by Hernan Cortez encountered numerous natives who originally inhabited the land. When two unfamiliar civilizations encounter each other the end result can be unpredictable. Each human being has an unique thought process. Therefore numerous spaniards viewed the native americans as a peaceful, and kind civilization, while on the other side of the bridge, several spaniards like Hernan Cortez viewed the indians as a threat to their wellbeing. However, Bartolome de las Casas viewed the native Indians in a different manner. Bartolome de las Casas viewed the natives as a genuinely kind civilization, therefore the people

The original motivations for the Spaniards going to the New World were to spread Christianity and grow wealthy; however, when they arrived, the actions of the Spaniards against the natives of the Americas did not reflect these original goals and led to unanticipated consequences. One such unexpected consequence was a reliance on slave labor. In order to accomplish the work necessary to make the profits that the Spaniards had expected, they turned to the natives as a work force. This need for laborers led the Spanish to enslave the natives, which led to conflict and cruelty, which went against the initial goal of spreading Christianity; if the prospective converts are being mistreated by those hoping to do the converting, the conversion itself becomes much more difficult due to the negative relationship. The Spaniards strongly believed that it was their sacred duty to “save” the faithless natives of the Americas by introducing them to God, and so they did all they could to see this happen, despite the negative impacts on the relationship between the natives and the Spaniards. This also made it more difficult to easily exploit the resources of the region against the wishes of the natives, because the growing bitterness between the Spanish and the natives made it impossible to successfully work together in an economic setting in the same way as the Dutch and the French. Thus, the actions of the Spaniards upon reaching the New World worked mostly against their original goals of

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.

Upon analysis, the Iroquois are kindhearted and candid whereas the Spanish are avaricious narcissists. In “the Iroquois Constitution”, the ethical requirements for all Iroquois lords are laid out. Iroquois lords are expected to be “honest in all things”, have “endless patience”, and have a heart “filled with peace and good will” (Iroquois 89). The Iroquois have a strong moral compass which must be visible in their leaders. In contrast to