Europeans, Indians and The New World

Let me first start off by saying, the nerve of some people. I am not going to say that I am surprised by the brutal and savage ways of Europeans but the textbooks sure left out a lot of things. Unlike the textbooks we read, Europe was not established or thriving in ways of agriculture until the settlement in the Americas. It was a divided country with numerous amounts of internal conflict until Portugal assisted with the expansion. The way it has always been perceived is that Europeans were an advanced nation that brung so many customs and advancements to the culture in the Americas. I know understand why they called them Indians and that seems to be because Columbus’ initial thought was that he had stumbled onto the Indies, so that was clever or insensitive to give a name to an entire culture that he deemed fit. But Columbus stumbling onto the New World seemed to be a double-edged sword. Europeans introduced things such as grains ( barley, oats, and rice) and certain animals (pigs, horses, sheep and etc). Although these things were introduced to the Indians the domesticated animals began to eat the agriculture planted by the Natives. Along with that the Europeans brung over diseases, diseases that were foreign to the Indians causing a mass death toll of around ninety percent of the entire culture. But the one thing that Europeans seemed to hold value to was religion and the advancement of their country. 

So with the advancement of their country over another I noticed a pattern within the three passages that I read and the most noticeable of them all was religion. Spain and Europe both were practicing in the faith of Christianity and seen it as the one religion to rule over all. What baffled me was that by claiming that the barbaric acts they committed were done in the name of Christianity, Europeans seemed to find themselves resting a little easier at night. What seemed outlandish was how they can speak or force their religion onto others who have no understanding of what the religion entails. Even when Christopher Columbus notes that the Indians would have no problem converting to Christianity because they were so willing to please others. And even by saying that the Indians had no religion because their ideologies did not match what they seen as religion was inconsiderate at the least. The fact that he believed they would be so willing to adapt Christianity just to please an entire race or culture they knew little to nothing about seems far fetched. Columbus seems to have embellished his story in order to make it seem as though the Indians were feeble, timid and regarded him as some sort of higher being. When he said the Indians called them people from the sky, makes it sound like he felt the Indians were viewing him as god-like.

Another pattern was the obvious enslavement of an entire culture and seize of vast amounts of land. When its notated that Spain viewed the Indians as “a useable labor force” there was no doubt in my mind that they would eventually enslave the Indians. It was hurtful to read how they would be sustained to exhausting and morbid labor conditions. I wish I could ask someone how is the mistreatment of others and the brutality that they instilled upon an entire culture seen as acceptable in the name of religion. Even when seizing their land Spain maid it seem as it they were giving the Indians a choice of choosing between converting or denouncing the Christian faith. But with the passage of what Bartolome de las Casas wrote he noted that with the inhumane treatment of the Indians he had known beasts to have more freedom. Even the statement that was supposedly read aloud to the Indians during seizure of their lands were seen as a joke by those who read it and even the individual responsible for writing it. So what does that say with how the Indians were viewed? To me it says that there was no regard for human life or the sustainability of an entire culture. There needed to be one dominant culture and religion, and Europe and Spain seen to that the best way they knew how with total destruction and massacre of one of the most prominent and advanced cultures this nation was established upon. 

http://www.racismisnotagame.com/blog/2014/04/28/indians-the-name-the-people-christopher-columbus

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https://cdn.inst-fs-iad-prod.inscloudgate.net/55d06f1b-4fea-476f-91e4-07be1b3b61e2/columbus_santangel.pdf?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzUxMiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCIsImtpZCI6ImNkbiJ9.eyJyZXNvdXJjZSI6Ii81NWQwNmYxYi00ZmVhLTQ3NmYtOTFlNC0wN2JlMWIzYjYxZTIvY29sdW1idXNfc2FudGFuZ2VsLnBkZiIsInVzZXJfaWQiOiI1MTUyMDAwMDAwMDAxNzE5OSIsImlhdCI6MTU2NzYxMzk1NCwiZXhwIjoxNTY3NzAwMzU0fQ.aTeBj_3EFIApUIUtcUNp2nNxv5s9ANW5noxg_Iqs1TfeBVcAiTfotCu37E264fq2SNYAlS0Dcd1JMFbeNGciiQ&download=1&content_type=application%2Fpdf

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/active_learning/explorations/spain/spain_menu.cfm