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columbus

columbus In 1492, an event took place that would change forever the way the world is viewed, and the way people viewed themselves. When Columbus set foot on that Caribbean island on an August morning over five hundred years ago, he set in motion one of the greatest migrations the world has ever seen. Two separate and distinct worlds met that day, even though both had populated their separate continents. One world, the old world, was made up of Europeans looking for fame and fortune, not necessarily for new and uncharted lands. Divine supports this idea by stating, “They (explorers) came not as colonists but as fortune hunters seeking instant wealth, preferably gold, and they were not squeamish about the means they used to obtain it” (Divine, p.9). The other world, the new world, was made up of “Indians”, or the people native to this newly found hemisphere. They had their own cultures, and treated the newcomers like Gods, not knowing who or what they were. In document two of Gorn, Columbus supports this by saying, “ …and others in loud voices called to all the men and women: Come see the men who cane from the heavens” (Gorn, p.9). The opportunistic and power hungry old worlders took quick advantage of this, eventually either subjugating or outright slaughtering these unsuspecting natives. In document two, Bartlolme de Las Casas states, “And they (Spaniards) committed other acts of force and violence and oppression which made the Indians realize that these men had not come from Heaven” (Gorn, p.13). Why did these adventurers choose to take advantage of the natives they encountered, rather than try to peacefully coincide and cooperate with them? I will try to answer this troubling question while chronicling the documents of Columbus’s journal, Bartolome de Las Casa’s point of view on how the Spanish conducted themselves, and on the Aztec account of the Spanish conquest. I will be focusing my attention on how each party conducted their first meetings with the natives, and what motives came into play on their explorations such as; religion, gold, and slavery. When these explorers met the native population, they encountered a people who had never had contact with anyone besides inhabits of their own world. The Europeans, on the other hand, had been trading with Africans, Muslims, Mongols, East Indians, and other Europeans for differing periods of time, thus being exposed to different types of culture in the past. On the other hand the isolation of the natives began some thirty to forty thousand years ago, when the last major ice age occurred. Divine supports this by saying, “The first people to cross this land bridge were small bands of Siberian hunters in pursuit of giant mammals…the migration of these nomadic groups took place over thousands of years” (Divine, p.3). Gradually, new and different societies and cultures developed among the natives, depending upon the region where they settled. Divine mentions this by saying, “Over the centuries, relatively isolated tribal groups had developed their own cultures, patterns of kinship, and spoken languages” (Divine, p.3). When Columbus initially arrived, he found only primitive inhabitants, he states this in the first document of the first chapter of Gorn, “a very poor people … they do not carry arms,” (Gorn, p.8). In reality the natives were not primitive but very intelligent and self-reliant. Even though these peoples did not have modern conveniences, such as iron tools or beasts of burden, they nevertheless constructed huge buildings, devised accurate calendars, and speculated about the solar system. Divine supports my idea by stating, “ The Maya and Toltec peoples built vast cities, organized sophisticated government bureaucracies, and developed an accurate calendar and a complex form of writing,” (Divine, p.3). The quotes from both Divine and Gorn show us how a group of people can identify the natives as either intelligent or primitive. So, what were the main reasons for coming to the new world? What were the reasons behind the exploitation of the natives? First and foremost greed was the main reason for the exploitation of the native peoples of the Americas. Spanish and others who voyaged to the new world went to make money, and conquer new lands for their home and country. When Cores led an expedition to Mexico, he was only supposed to be there for exploration and trade, at least that was the official reason for his journey. But when one hears the statement that: “On November 18, 1518, Hernan Cortes, a minor government functionary in Cuba, and a small army set sail for Mexico…and after reaching their destination burning his ships to cut off his army from a possible retreat…” the intent of the voyagers becomes obvious, (Divine p.9). In document 3, Gorn also showed us their intentions by saying, “that when they (Cores and his men) arrived at the treasure house called Teucalco, the riches of gold and feathers were brought out to them…. The Spaniards immediately stripped the feathers from the gold shields and ensigns…they gathered all the gold into a great mound and set fire to everything else, regardless of its value,” (Gorn, p.16). These quotes depict a man that was not out for finding land and trade but for finding wealth and fame. On the other hand, Columbus discovered the new world by accident as he was trying to find a new and faster way to reach the Indies. The main reason behind going to the Indies was to find gold and become famous. It seems all the Europeans, Columbus included, had an obsession with finding gold and other riches, and once they found natives, to convert them into Christians no mater what the cost was to the native population. Besides the collection of goods, the use of slave labor was not only thought about but also used extensively throughout the Americas. In Columbus’s journal, he states, “ They should be good and intelligent servants…”(Gorn, p.8). Substituting slave labor for material goods was a perfect way for the Europeans to procure the workers they needed. Unfortunately, the Indians were not able to maintain this type of labor and soon the Indian population started to suffer. In document 2, Bartolome de Las Casa shows us that the Spanish had attempted to enslave the natives but seemed to have failed by stating, “…they are less able to endure heavy labor and soon die of no matter what malady” (Gorn, p.12). Divine also shows this by saying, “The death of so many Indians deprived the conquerors, especially the Spanish, of indigenous workers needed to operate new mines and plantations” (Divine, p.5). Due to the Indians being insufficient slave labors, the colonists had to start looking else where for slave labors. Divine explains this by saying, “This loss may have caused colonists throughout the new world to seek a substitute labor force in Africa” (Divine, p.5). Regardless of how they were treated, this system relegated the natives to a status of being inferior and uncivilized. Another situation that compounded the exploitation of the natives was the initial belief that the newcomers were gods arriving to punish the Indians. In document 3 Motecuhzoma says, “Our lord, you are weary… you have come to your city…your have come here to sit on your throne, to sit under its canopy” (Gorn, p.15). The leaders of the “gods”, the conquistadors such as Columbus and Cortes, all seem to have exploited the native population, due to the fact that they were treated like kings in a foreign land. In addition to outright greed being a reason for the exploitation of the native populations, a misconception of who the Indians really were, and a naiveté when faced with the truth led the European conquerors to take advantage of their new subjects. Many Europeans viewed the new world as a mythical land without adversity, like the Garden of Eden, a Heaven on Earth. We can see this when Divine says, “…carrying civilization to the peoples of the new world and opening a vast virgin land to economic development” which one can see that the Garden of Eden was considered pure just like a virgin is considered to be pure, (Divine, p.2). Each document depicted a land made of only great things, it seems as though it was a type of pick-up-line, as to entice many to follow them to the new world. Columbus pointed this out by saying, “ This island is quite big and very flat and with very green trees and much water and a very large lake in the middle and without any mountains; and all of it so green that it is a pleasure to look at” (Gorn p.9). In document two, the Spanish describe the new world as, “ The least felicitous of them were more fertile and beautiful than the gardens of the King of Seville.” (Gorn, p.12), which also depicted a land of glorious magnitude. If this was how they viewed the new land, then how did the newcomers view the inhabitants of guardians of pristine virtue, as noble savages who were the friends and allies of the whites? The conflicting view then would put the natives morally inferior, violent and vengeful, and in direct contradiction to the European rules. A justification of exploitation that ties in with the above view is that the Indians were saw at the beginning as pure, this would deny the ethnocentric myth that Europeans were the superior culture on the earth. Our class discussion would coincide with this thought when professor Nashel said, “ they came out of hiding with nothing on but cloths to cover their privates, which could suggest Adam and Eve” (lecture, 9/13/99). They then had no choice but to regard the Indians as a race of people that were not civilized or pure enough to be set on the same pedestal, in which the English placed themselves on. Religion played a large part in this chapter and in each document, and was also a factor in the exploitation if the Native American population. The main objective of the explorers, after finding fame and fortune, was the conversion of the native population to the European’s religion, which was usually Christianity. Columbus states, “ I Believe that they would become Christians very easily, for it seemed to me that they had no religion” (Gorn, p.9). The Spanish and Portuguese believed that in attempting to convert the Indians to Christianity, they offered the Indians a gift worth any earthly pain: “ They are very clean in their persons, with alert, intelligent minds, docile and open to doctrine, very apt to receive our holy Catholic faith, to be endowed with virtuous customs, and to behave in a godly fashion,” (Gorn, p.12). All three documents illustrated everyone coming over to the new world with basically the same outcome: exploiting the Indians in the name of God and civilization, and gain as much wealth, fame, and power as humanly possible. Not one of these explorers perceived the natives as their own people, to be left alone and live, but they saw them as people to change and rule. Each one saw the Indians as an obstacle to overcome and eliminate, so that they may be the most powerful and wealthy person or nation. Overall, each group of explorers sought a new and better life, one that involved exploiting the Indians for the good of the explorer’s culture. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1970