Christopher Columbus Letter To The Sovereigns On His First Voyage
Columbus
“They have no iron or steel or weapons, nor are they capable of using them, although they are well-built people of handsome stature, because they are wondrous timid” (Columbus p. 5). It amazes me how such kind words from Christopher Columbus was first said about the Native people of Hispaniola and then he turns around and to simply put it, slaughters them. The three readings “Letter To The Sovereigns On His First Voyage” by Christopher Columbus, “The Very Brief Relation Of the Devastation Of The Indies”, and The Coast Of Pearls, Paria, and the Island of Trinidad” both by Bartolome de las Casas displayed two very accounts of how the Natives were being treated, given the letter Columbus sent was the first interaction he had …show more content…
He states, “...they even took pieces of the broken hoops of the wine casks and, like animals, gave what they had, so that it seem to me to be wrong and I forbade it, and I gave them a thousand good, pleasing things which I had brought, in order that they might be fond of us, and furthermore might become good Christians and be inclined to the love and service of Their Highness” (Columbus p.6). He first states that these people will practically give you anything they had to give because they are such friendly people. In my mind this makes Columbus look like such a manipulative human being if he really did give them things just to get information and then turned around and took their property and lives by force. These Natives seemed to be just curious and welcoming humans but money hungry Columbus turns around and is a ruthless human being. In Columbus first encounter he said the Natives “thought they had come from the sky” but soon the natives figured out how unholy the Spaniards were. De la Casa reflects in saying, “ And they committed other acts of force and violence and oppression which
“They have no iron or steel or weapons, nor are they capable of using them, although they are well-built people of handsome stature, because they are wondrous timid” (Columbus p. 5). It amazes me how such kind words from Christopher Columbus was first said about the Native people of Hispaniola and then he turns around and to simply put it, slaughters them. The three readings “Letter To The Sovereigns On His First Voyage” by Christopher Columbus, “The Very Brief Relation Of the Devastation Of The Indies”, and The Coast Of Pearls, Paria, and the Island of Trinidad” both by Bartolome de las Casas displayed two very accounts of how the Natives were being treated, given the letter Columbus sent was the first interaction he had …show more content…
He states, “...they even took pieces of the broken hoops of the wine casks and, like animals, gave what they had, so that it seem to me to be wrong and I forbade it, and I gave them a thousand good, pleasing things which I had brought, in order that they might be fond of us, and furthermore might become good Christians and be inclined to the love and service of Their Highness” (Columbus p.6). He first states that these people will practically give you anything they had to give because they are such friendly people. In my mind this makes Columbus look like such a manipulative human being if he really did give them things just to get information and then turned around and took their property and lives by force. These Natives seemed to be just curious and welcoming humans but money hungry Columbus turns around and is a ruthless human being. In Columbus first encounter he said the Natives “thought they had come from the sky” but soon the natives figured out how unholy the Spaniards were. De la Casa reflects in saying, “ And they committed other acts of force and violence and oppression which