Preview

Spanish Perception of Native Americans

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1026 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Spanish Perception of Native Americans
Spanish Perception of Native Americans The first Spanish perceptions of the Native Americans were not filled with acceptance, but rather the belief that the natives were manipulative and ignorant people. The overview portrays the main conflicts in the conquistadores’ goals in the Americas. Some were in search of earning great wealth and taking advantage of the Native Americans where as other conquistadores was primarily focused on their mission in bringing Christ to the natives. For both main goals of the conquistadores, neither supports the relationship that may have formed between the two groups. The overall view of the Spaniards in seek of any relationship with the natives were already below the lines of acceptance as they approached the land of Guanahani. In the passage, Christopher Columbus: FROM The Journal of Christopher Columbus (1492), the admiral who is mentioned before the excerpt from Columbus’ journal refers to Christopher Columbus himself. The main point clearly seen in the passage is that the initial intention of the Spanish towards the Americas was not focused on creating a strong relationship with the Native Americans. As cited in the passage, Spaniards were offered many goods, including a silk doublet and an annual pension paid by the King and Queen, for the first to site land. The Spanish clearly had a different motive from encountering the Native Americans, and instead desired the discovery of land and claiming it for the King and Queen. Christopher Columbus’ Journal was not only written for his own reminder of day to day occurrences, but more so for the Spanish and for history. His audience consisted of the King and Queen, so they may return the pensions and other goods as promised from their documented discovery, as well as for recorded history to which we still use today. As the first major encounter between the Spanish and the Native Americans, Christopher Columbus’ journal serves as an informative record of the first views of the
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Summary Of Burying The White Gods
    • 169 Words
    • 1 Page

    Summary Of Burying The White Gods

    In Burying the White Gods: New Perspectives on the Conquest of Mexico, Author Camilla Townsend describes the interaction between the Conquistadors and the Natives during the time of the Conquest. Townsend argues that the tale of Conquistadors being seen by the natives as Gods is a fabricated lie of history by the Conquistadores themselves, but what rather happened is they were seen for what they truly were men with superior technology. Camilla Townsends’ sources are those as follows. One source of which the origins are known, that being the Letters of Cortes. Two more sources from other conquistadors, Francisco de Aguilar and Bernal Diaz del Castillo.…

    • 169 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Victors and Vanquished Study Guide
    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Victors and Vanquished Study Guide

    Stuart B. Schwartz, ed. Victors and Vanquished, Spanish and Nahua Views of the Conquest of Mexico.…

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Summary Of Matthew Restall's Seven Myths Of The Spanish Conquest
    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Summary Of Matthew Restall's Seven Myths Of The Spanish Conquest

    taken by a party, and though the Spanish had different ideas of what “conquer” was, the Natives…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Stuart B. Schwartz's Victors And Vanquished
    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Stuart B. Schwartz's Victors And Vanquished

    The fifteenth-century Renaissance and the beginnings of European exploration, conquest, and colonization are part of the same narrative—one in which culture, science, religion, politics, and power are inextricably intertwined. Innovations in science and technology made long-distance travel and exploration possible. The desire of rulers for wealth and power financed conquest, and the desire of the Roman Catholic church for converts provided religious motivation for the subjection of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Upon reaching Central Mexico, Spanish explorers found themselves confronted with the Nahua people, commonly known as Aztecs, of whom the largest tribe was the Mexica. Stuart B. Schwartz's Victors and Vanquished: Spanish and Nahua Views of the Conquest of Mexico contains opposing versions of the defeat and destruction of the flourishing sixteenth-century civilization of the Nahua.…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of Matthew Restall's Seven Myths Of The Spanish Conquest
    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Summary Of Matthew Restall's Seven Myths Of The Spanish Conquest

    When discussing the importance of Spanish alliances, it is important to discuss Matthew Restall’s interpretation of “the myth of the white conquistador”. A common myth in regards to the Spanish Conquest is that the Aztecs were conquered by a small group of white Spanish men. Within Restall’s book titled “Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest”, he debunks the myth of the white conquistadors. Restall’s argues that “there is no doubt that the Spanish were consistently outnumbered by native enemies on the battlefield. But what has so often been ignored or forgotten is the fact that Spaniards tended also to be outnumbered by their own native allies. Furthermore, the invisible warriors of this myth took an additional form, that of the Africans, free and enslave, who accompanied Spanish…

    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Dbq Spanish Conqueistadors
    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Dbq Spanish Conqueistadors

    The Spanish conquistadors’ motives greatly affected the people living in the new world. These motives influenced the Native Americans in all different ways some ways better or bigger than others. Three of the biggest motives that effected the Native Americans were gold, Christianity, and glory.…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Native Americans In De Las Casas's 'For The Record'
    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Native Americans In De Las Casas's 'For The Record'

    “From the fact that the Indians are barbarians it does not necessarily follow that they are incapable…” (de Las Casas 3). In For the Record, it starts off right away in this section of how the Europeans while not sure of what to make of the Indians they knew that these were not the savages as some had described. De Las Casas goes on to describe of a people that were both loyal and committed to the community and to their fellow man. De Las Casas main adversary, Gines Sepulveda, failed to see the parallel in the fate of the Spaniards at the hands of the Romans and Caesar Augustus. “Now see how he called the Spanish people barbaric and wild” (de Las Casas 3) demonstrates the same philosophy of the thoughts of Europeans as they encountered the Indians. Shall those that are fearful for the loss of all they have worked for not fight back and retain what is rightfully theirs. The Indians, especially the Aztecs had built cities, established political and economic organizations and created richly diverse civilizations. In The Jesuit Relations they recount the gratitude shown to the hospital nuns “The Savages who leave the hospital, and who come to see us again at St. Joseph, or at the three Rivers,…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Relationship Between Dominican And Spanish Conquistadors
    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Relationship Between Dominican And Spanish Conquistadors

    The Spanish conquistadors were well educated, but also profit-minded, and known as having the most powerful navy in the world. They consider themselves, as a “saving souls” of native Indian who most believe had no culture or religion at all. They work with the help of the Dominican and Franciscan friars, but the relationship between them was not peaceful, because native Indians resisted the imposition of Spanish authority, what resulted in slavery and even death of native people. Those, who did not protest against Spanish authority were treated equally, were allow to merry, and conduct the business. Native Indians consider Spanish discovery more as an invasion of their land with very little recognition of their religious claim to the land their where they bore the graves of the dead.…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    History Aztec Final
    • 2748 Words
    • 7 Pages

    History Aztec Final

    The question of how a small Spanish army was able to conquer one of the greatest ancient empires in history is one that has been raised countless times. Often there are no simple answers and frequently super natural omens and religious understandings are presented as the reason. The Spanish were also quick to present the answer that they were simply more intelligent, technically and morally and that they had a superior morale. Historians such as Prescott present the answer that Europeans will always triumph because they have superior mental and moral qualities.1 However historians like Clenninden, Fernandez-Armesto, Townsend and Toderov have argued against these explanations, considering them ‘Conquistador myth’. 2 This essay will discuss the traditional arguments and consider the flaws they present, aiming to challenge the idea of the ‘Conquistador myth’. The aim is in line with arguments by Toderov and Clenninden to prove that the Europeans did not manage to conquer the Aztec empire because of their natural superiority but rather a range of factors that included using different cultural understandings to their advantage, including their weapons, their native allies and the delayed initial reaction of the Aztecs.…

    • 2748 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    7 Myths Of The Spanish Conquest Summary
    • 904 Words
    • 4 Pages

    7 Myths Of The Spanish Conquest Summary

    The myth is that the conquistadors conquered the America’s relatively quickly in a sovereign effort but Restall explains that the Spaniards had a lot of help from the Natives and African’s and the “completion” of conquest was anything but; as mass portions of the land remained unscathed by the conquest. Restall effortlessly explains how the conquistador myths of superior communication between the Spaniards and Natives were just as fabricated as the modern misconception of inferior communication by historians. The communication between the two, or lack thereof, fell somewhere between both myths. Restall uses his concise writing style to explain the resilience of the Natives, debunking the myth of Native desolation and how the myth of superiority derives from Eurocentric beliefs of racial dominance which lead to racist ideologies that “underpinned colonial expansion from the late fifteenth to early twentieth centuries.”…

    • 904 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Culture Collision: Cortes And Christopher Columbus
    • 1411 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Culture Collision: Cortes And Christopher Columbus

    During the 15th century these two Spanish explorers set out to explore the “New World.” Cortes and Columbus were also among the first to encounter the natives of this New World, commonly referred to as Native Americans, or Indians. For the next hundreds of years the Natives would be oppressed by more advanced civilizations such as the Spanish, French and British. They would be forced to endure as their land was seized from them and their families murdered. Eighteenth Century Indians such as Pontiac would push for war while natives such a Logan would mostly become an advocate for peace. Although Cortes and Columbus arrived hundreds of years before Pontiac and Logan, it is interesting to think about how these culturally different people would interact with each other. While Pontiac and Cortes would most likely find common ground in their belief of uniting the Indians, they would disagree on the subject of Religion, as would Logan and Columbus over…

    • 1411 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest
    • 915 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest

    _Myths of the Spanish Conquest_ is broken into seven chapters, each dedicated to a different myth or mis-conception regarding the Spanish conquest. In debunking these myths, Matthew Restall works with three themes regarding the conquest. First, that the European discovery of the Americas was one of the greatest events in human history. Second, that the conquest was the achievement of "a few great men," which he subsequently describes as "a handful of adventurers." These two themes lead to a third theme, or question. "If history's greatest event - the European discovery and conquest of the Americas - was achieved by a mere "handful of adventurers," how did they do it?"…

    • 915 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Cabeza de Vaca
    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Cabeza de Vaca

    Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca is best known as the first Spaniard to explore what we now consider to be southwestern United States. His nine-year odyssey is chronicled within the book The Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition. His account is considered especially interesting because it is one of the very first documents that illustrates interactions between American natives and explorers. However, when examining the exploration of the modern United States, there are many arguments that have to do with the entitlement to the land and the motivations behind settling in the first place. Most explorers were obviously in favor of their own conquests and Cabeza de Vaca is of course no exception. In Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition, Cabeza de Vaca seems to be in favor of this exploration by outwardly expressing superiority and pity towards the Indians while secretly appreciating their accommodating nature throughout the conquest in order to justify his entitlement to their land to the rest of . As him and his Spanish conquistadors make their westward journey on foot they encounter many obstacles among these having to do with natural disasters and the Indians they come across that all prove to be extremely telling of the differences between western cultures and that of the Indians and the historical motivations behind conquest in general. This physical and emotional struggle of accommodation between races…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Latin America colonial times
    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Latin America colonial times

    Beginning in 1492 when the Spanish under the crown of Castile invaded the Americas, where their first settlement was in Santo Domingo, their main motivations were trade and the spread of the Catholic faith through indigenous conversions and economic gain. Due to these objectives they intervened and attempted to change every facet of the indigenous way of life including their ‘notions of spirituality, witchcraft, and intoxication’. The indigenous population had formally been removed from the jurisdiction of the inquisition by order of King Phillip the second in 1571, however the native people of Mexico and other invaded lands of the Americas were still prosecuted on accounts of witchcraft or being Nauatil (witches).…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Imperial Goals of Europe
    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Imperial Goals of Europe

    Secondly to talk about the Spanish imperial goal. The Spanish might have been searching for gold, but religion always came up. After giving up on gold in the 1560s the Spanish killed many religious people that did don’t comply with their religion. Now they Spanish friars weren’t much different with how they treated the Indians. The friars learnt the Indian language, but they would whip anyone that still didn’t practice their beliefs. Under this harsh rule in 1598 the Indians rebelled. The Indians won for a short time the Spanish came back in 1610. Like any other settles the Spanish changed the way of life for the Indians. They did not particularly like that shown by the revolts in 1598 and in 1680 (both quickly squashed by the Spaniards).…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics