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Exploitation of Indigenous Peoples

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Exploitation of Indigenous Peoples
History and Civilization I
11/26/12
Exploitation of Indigenous Peoples

The Native Americans were slaves from the north to the South of the Americas and right across the North American continent. The percentage of Native American slaves was larger than black slaves and they were enslaved far longer than Black slaves. Native Americans were slaves for about 500 years, from the 1400s to the 1900s. Native Americans slaves were for 200 years before African Americans made it to the new world. The slaves of Native American were shipped to several areas around the world, the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East. [1] Native Americans were slaves even after slavery was removed because they were not citizens and the laws did not apply to them, the first Native American group was under Columbus, about 200,000 natives were harshly enslaved by him. Only 500 survived by the year 1550 and the group were extinct before 1650.[2]
When Christopher Columbus discovered the New World in the late 1400s, his goal was to take all it natural resources and take it to Spain, he named it the new resource for Spain. Columbus figured an opportunity to convert the natives to Christianity, to provide another trade point with his mother country, and to learn about a vast extent of the agriculture and animals, as well as interesting cultures that the Old World had ever seen. However, one of the strongest causes of this difference in objectives was Hernando Cortes. Hernando Cortes’s purpose for the occupation of present-day Mexico was the conquest of the native peoples. Through harsh force and dishonesty, he destroyed the native tribes, making the Aztec Empire his own empire. In Bartolomé de Las Casas writing about the indigenous peoples, witnessed a massive murder of the original people of Cuba, and became an opponent to the violent conversion of the Native Americans. He is considered the Father of Liberation Theology, arguing with Juan Gines de Sepulveda. De las Casas argued



Bibliography: Ivison, Duncan, Paul Patton, and Will Sanders. Political Theory and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 2nd ed. publication place: Cambridge University Press, publication year. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=JkqahTHpUmUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA36&dq=exploitation+of+indigenous+peoples&ots=DojNLSzhZd&sig=oW_5zCg8jDjBuKeOQbRVDVO9x9Q#v=onepage&q=exploitation%20of%20indigenous%20peoples&f=false (accessed November 23, 2012). Saco, J.A. “Alonso de Zuazo (1518).” http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/active_learning/explorations/spain/spain_zuazo.cfm (accessed November 23, 2012). TAINO-L. “Bartolomé de Las Casas and His Defence of the Indians.” http://www.hartford-hwp.com. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/40/186.html (accessed November 26, 2012). Columbus, Christopher. “Letter to King Ferdinand of Spain, Describing the Results of the First Voyage.” www.xroads.virginia.edu. http://xroads.virginia.edu/...hyper/hns/garden/columbus.html (accessed November 26, 2012). ----------------------- [1] Duncan Ivison, Paul Patton, and Will Sanders, Political Theory and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2nd ed. (publication place: Cambridge University Press, publication year), 36-39, http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=JkqahTHpUmUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA36&dq=exploitation+of+indigenous+peoples&ots=DojNLSzhZd&sig=oW_5zCg8jDjBuKeOQbRVDVO9x9Q#v=onepage&q=exploitation%20of%20indigenous%20peoples&f=false (accessed November 23, 2012). [2] TAINO-L, “Bartolomé de Las Casas and His Defence of the Indians,” http://www.hartford-hwp.com, http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/40/186.html (accessed November 26, 2012). [3] J.A. Saco, “Alonso de Zuazo (1518),” http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu, http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/active_learning/explorations/spain/spain_zuazo.cfm (accessed November 23, 2012). [4] Christopher Columbus, “Letter to King Ferdinand of Spain, Describing the Results of the First Voyage,” www.xroads.virginia.edu, http://xroads.virginia.edu/...hyper/hns/garden/columbus.html (accessed November 26, 2012)

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