Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
engine of souls | forum -> AP United States History -> Primary Source #1: Columbus & Las Casas
Post Info TOPIC: Primary Source #1: Columbus & Las Casas
mr e

Date:
Primary Source #1: Columbus & Las Casas
Permalink  

Use the documents provided in class (the diaries of Columbus and the writings of Las Casas) to answer the following questions.  Email me (mre@engineofsouls.com) if you have any questions or need any help.

1.  Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.

2.  What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus?  What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?

3.  How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?



__________________
Alexa

Date:
RE: Primary Source #1: Columbus & Las Casas
Permalink  

mr e wrote:

 

Use the documents provided in class (the diaries of Columbus and the writings of Las Casas) to answer the following questions. Email me (mre@engineofsouls.com) if you have any questions or need any help.

1. Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.

2. What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus? What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?

3. How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?

 



1. The Spanish thought that the indians were lesser beings. They didnt care what happened to them because they were slaves. They were just there to be used to make children, and work. It says in the text "Except that, as Your Highness will see from secen that i caused to be taken to Castile or held captive in this same island" They are just like animals to the Spanish.

The Indians on the other hand thought that the spanish were godly. They had new weapons and new technology that they had never seen before. When the spanish told them to do something it was like a higher being telling them what to do. In the quote "this piece of land might in two days be cut off to make an island, although i do not see this to be neccessary since these people are very naive about weapons, as Your Highness will see from seven that i caused to be taken in order to carry them away to you and learn our language and to return them." They thought thought that since they spoke a different language they were even more godly.



2. I learned that Columbus wasnt as nice and heroic as everyone thought he was. He was mean and cruel. He treated others like they were lesser beings and that he was the greatest. In my earlyer thoughts of him, he seemed like he was a kind person, who helped the indians. He plans to search the island for gold and he killed at the indian people because of his search. What is missing from his plan is that he doesnt know if there is any gold and by killing all the indians he killed off a population that could have helped him search.


3. At first I thought that the Spanish coming to the island was a good thing because they discovered new land, but it wasnt a good thing. It was a bad thing because many innocent people were violated and killed. The consequences were uncalled for, the indians didnt do a thing to spanish and they killed them anyways. This view does make the Spanish less heroic because it makes them out to be cowards. They were afraid that the indians would overtake them so they killed them off just because they had better weapons.

__________________
Daniel S.

Date:
Permalink  

1.  Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.

 

When the Spanish came to the New World they found primitive peoples which they mistakenly called Indians.  The Spanish considered them less than human and because of that justified that they could be used as slaves.  They also believed they could take complete control of the Indians, their land, and possessions not only because they had the means to but also because the Indians were more than willing to share.  Christopher Columbus also justified the Spanish taking and doing anything they wanted to the Indians and their land by saying it was for the greater good (of Spain) and that God allowed them  to do so writing in his message back to Spain: Thus the eternal God, our Lord, gives victory to those who follow His way over apparent impossibilities.

 

On the other hand, the suffering of the Indians at the hands of these Spanish Christians seems unjustified. The Indians were not less than human but just socially and technologically primitive.  They first saw the Spaniards as angels from Heaven but later saw what the Spaniards really were.  It was not justified to force a population of people who are peaceful and generous to submit when they are willing to cooperate as Las Casas describes: these people are the most guileless, the most devoid of wickedness and duplicity, the most obedient and faithful to their native masters and to the Spanish masters whom they serve.  The Indians had done nothing to deserve any bad treatment yet the Spanish treated them cruelly and without remorse and often made fun of it.  The Spanish treated them worst than beasts by killing, robbing, torturing, raping, and enslaving them and only after they had done this did the Indians decide to fight back or flee.  The Spanish erroneously used their faith to justify their actions as Las Casas had stated: Christian men, forgetting Christian virtue, hold in slavery those people [Indians] In one instance the cacique Hatuey, right before he was to be burned at the stake for fleeing the Christians and defending himself against them, asked if all Christians went to Heaven and When told that they did said he would prefer to go to Hell.  All of these atrocities were unjustified as the Indians were humans too for the Spanish were just brutal, greedy, and gluttonous.

 

2.  What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus?  What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?

 

I learned that Columbus didnt just discover the Americas but also committed mass murder in search of gold and slaves.  It differs completely from my previous views for I had seen him as just a regular historical explorer famous for finding the New World.  His plan for Hispaniola was to turn it into a fort and to mine for gold there.  He says that for as many as their majesties ask the population will become slaves.  What is missing from his plan is that he doesnt really know where or how much gold there is and that the Indians are weak and fragile for hard slave labor.

 

3.  How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?

It shows what the Spanish really did in more detail than my older textbooks would care to tell and that because of what they did basically wiped out an entire people.  Yes this view does make them less heroic because they slaughtered an almost defenseless people without regret and in the first place I never really found them to be heroic.



__________________
Joanna

Date:
Permalink  

  1. Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.  

 

From the Spanish standpoint, I think they thought they were serving their country well. By fullfing the orders from the king and queen in any possible way. Even if that meant enslaving, and conquering the natives. For example in the text: They would make fine servants With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them so whatever we want.  Basically the Spanish wanted to get gold and they used the natives to get it.

 

From the side of the natives, they were nothing but nice and generous and they got taken advantage of. They were slaughtered like animals. For example in the text it states that : The Indians had been given an impossible task. The only gold around was bits of dust garnered from the streams. So they fled, were hunted down with dogs, and were killed. That is no way to treat another group of human beings and it is sad that the natives had to deal with it.

 


2.  What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus?  What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?


I learned that Columbus wasnt as great as people make him out to be. Okay, so this guy is famous for making a mistake by finding America, this is the story I was taught when I was little. I was miseducated about the situation. It wasnt until sixth grade that I actually got some information leading to the truth. Somehow it is forgotten how many natives were killed, mainly for gold by Columbus and his so-called Christians.  His plan for Hispaniola was to find gold in mines. His plan ended up killing many Native Americans because of the harsh labor ultimately decreasing the population. The fact that Columbus doesnt even know if there are large amounts of gold to be found is the missing part of his plan.

3.  How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?

 

      The two readings from Las Casas changed my understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere. I never really understood actually how brutal the Spanish were.  They just killed innocent people for no reason. I had no idea how many people died. They wiped out a whole nation of people which is mind-blowing to me. Yes, I feel if the Spanish explorers were big bullies that picked on the natives because they were afraid to face the king and queen, because they were wrong about the land that they discovered.



__________________
ashley

Date:
Permalink  

mr e wrote:

1.  Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.
From the spanish perspective the Indian peoples were a stepping stone to get what they really wanted.  They were unimportant, expendable and a means of information.  Columbus said "I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and give me information of whatever there is in these parts."  Therefore when they could not supply Columbus with what he wanted, he killed or mutilated them because they were not important.  But it was all a show to get the others to work harder and help supply the spanish need for goods.  After all, "it's for the greater good."

The Indians were a generous people and would have given anything to Columbus if it had been possible.  Powhatan said, "Why will you take by force what you may have quietly by love?"  The Indians were willing to help and could not see why the spanish hurt them.  They were unaccustomed to cruel treatment and lived quiet lives.  Their lives being disrupted by the spanish was an atrocity in the timeline of human history.

2.  What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus?  What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?
I had not had the privelage of previous knowledge on the fact that Columbus had killed many Indians in such a ruthless manner.  I was given the gradeschool perspective that he was the founder of the New World, and was not informed of this information until last Thursday.  I must say that i am outraged that my teachers felt that my mind was unworthy of this knowledge, but that is not the point.  I now see him as a man that was small minded and ambitious to the point of acts of violence against a peaceful community.  
His plan for Hipaniola is to build a fort as a type of outpost for the Spanish empire.  His plan is to do what ever is necessary to make the king and queen happy.  This would most likely mean to rid the island of them (the natives), or make them do slave labor to help progress in the new world.  From this plan he is missing the fact that the natives would not want to be removed and so they might try to fight back, or they would be too delicate for the labor and perish.

3.  How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?
The native people suffered greatly for unforseen consequences from the exploration of foreign lands.  They were killed by human hand and by disease and by being overworked.  They did not stand a chance in the face of spanish exploration and expanshion. 
It does make the spanish explorers a little less heroic to me.  They were fighting against a child.  That is the reality; they had no real opposition.  Yet they fought to kill, or just killed for no reason other than sport.  To my mindset they seemed to view the Indians as expendable animals, not as humans.  They viewed them as lesser unlearned and unneeded.  It is not heroic to injure those who can not fight back, and it is not heroic to kill for no reason.  It is inhuman, unchristian, and just ignorant.




__________________
Anna

Date:
Permalink  

mr e wrote:

Use the documents provided in class (the diaries of Columbus and the writings of Las Casas) to answer the following questions.  Email me (mre@engineofsouls.com) if you have any questions or need any help.

1.  Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.

The intentions of the Spaniards from the beginning was to find an all water route to Asia to get riches and spices. When they accidently landed on the islands in the West Indies, their intentions did not change. In his diary, Columbus stated that "Nevertheless, my intention was not to pass by any island of which I did not take posession, although if it is taken of one, it may be said that it was taken of all". In fact, the discovery of the West Indies and their inhabitants was a help to the Spaniards. It didn't take too long for the Spaniards to realize how easy it would be to take advantage of these giving, gererous, and for the most part defensless Indians. The Spaniards used the Indians as slaves, working in mines to find gold. When the slaves didn't find enough gold, they were mudered brutally. Eventually, if they tried to excape from the island they were on, they were killed in gruesome ways. They Spaniards felt they were overall sucessful and probably didn't realize the hundreds of thousands of Indians that they completely wiped out. They felt that they were doing a good job for their mother country back in Europe.

On the other side of the story, the Indians were very generous and giving and pretty much carefree. They welcomed the Spaniards to their islands with gifts, song and dance, and food. They never showed hostility or anger towards the new island visitors. The Indians were soon taken advantage of for their hospitality and were forced to find gold in mines under unberable conditions. They were made into slaves and killed if they didn't obey. The Indians suffered greatly at the hands of the Spaniards and in many history books, this isn't metioned.

2.  What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus?  What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?

My view of Christopher Columbus has changed drastically. Before, in my eyes, he was a well mannered seafaring captian who was one of the first Europeans to stumble upon the New World. Now, I think it would be okay for me to call him a mass murderer. Okay maybe that is a little extreme, but only a little. He slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Indians and wiped out entire populations and tribes. I don't see how my previous history books failed to have mentioned this fact. It is kind of impossible to have just accidently "left it out" of history books.

3.  How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?





These two readings have made me see that it is evident that from the very beginnning, european contact with the New World hasn't resulted in very positive ways. I feel that the Spanish explorers should recieve as much credit as they have been given because it is simply not fair. The Indians who were on these lands should recieve a lot of credit because they founded the New World way before any Spaniards. All of this information about how cruel the Spaniards were to the first inhabitants of the New World was never taught to me until recently. This article really opened my eyes to how throughout my life, I have been given only part of a story.



__________________
Calisa

Date:
Permalink  

mr e wrote:

Use the documents provided in class (the diaries of Columbus and the writings of Las Casas) to answer the following questions.  Email me (mre@engineofsouls.com) if you have any questions or need any help.

1.  Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.

2.  What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus?  What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?

3.  How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?


1.  Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.

2.  What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus?  What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?

3.  How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?
 
1. The Spanish wanted to settle onto the Indians' lands and tried to claim it as their own so that they could search for gold. They destroyed the Indians to get what they wanted. The only cause of their villainies was "insatiable greed and ambition." The poor Indians were welcoming to these strangers comming onto their land. Upon the Spaniards arrival, the Indians presented them with "balls of cotton, parrots, and javelins." The Indians traded everything they had to accuire the new devices that these newcommers had. The Indians were brutalized and killed by selfish, greedy Spaniards with no remorse.

2. What i have previously learned about Christopher Columbus was that he decided to sail west with three ships in search of a less expensive route to India for spices and other Indian goods. Instead of comming to India he arrived in the Bahamas and wrongfully named the inhabitants Indians. In summary, without planning it, he discovered the Americas. I now know that on one of the ships, he greedily stole the glory of spotting land first from one of his shipmates. When arriving in the Bahamas[Indies] he treated the "Indians" with no respect whatsoever and abused them mentally and physically. Forcing them to take him to where they accuired their gold and retrieve it for him. When that wasn't enough, he forced them into captivity where most of them either were killed or died on their own. Those who survived this ordeal were brought to Hispaniola, where they were sold as slaves. As slaves they were all required to work and got little to no nutrition. Kept apart from their families, the children died of malnutrition, the parents died in the mines and the fields, and since the parents were always working and never together, there were no new generations, thus the population died courtesy of the great founder our country. Columbus' shouldn't be bullying the Indians into helping him get gold, he should be as grateful to be there as the Indians were originally welcoming them. Staying on someone's bad side, even if by force or threats, isn't going to get you far in the long run.



3. My new understanding of the European contact with the Indians is that they[Indians] were brutalized and treated horribly. The Spanish explorers came to the lands currently inhabited by Indians and took it over. They came, like many others, in search of gold and land but ended up destroying the Indians in the process. The Spaniards attacked without guilt, without remorse and spared no one. They would assinate infants right next to their[infants] mothers, bet on who could decimate the victims worse. "Who with one stroke of a sword, could split a man in two or could cut off his head or spill out his entrails." The Spanish were sick conquerers and i am absolutely positive that makes them a little less than heroic.
 




__________________
Erin

Date:
RE: Primary Source #1: Columbus & Las Casas
Permalink  

mr e wrote:

1.  Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.

The Spanish sent Christopher Columbus out to try and find a way to Asia that was faster than the land route of Marco Polo and the proposed water route around Africa that was proposed by Portugal. They knew that if they were successful that they would be the richest empire in Europe. Christopher Columbus was determined to prove he could find riches. When he stumbled upon the Indies. He unknowingly "discovered" a New World. He figured that he could at least manage to bring some gold and slaves back to Spain. As Las Casas explains it "Their reason for killing and destroying such an infinite number of soulds is that the Christians have an ultimate aim which is to acquire gold and to swell themselves with riches for a very brief time."

Columbus from then on did more harm then good in the eyes of the Indians. They had been so initially open to sharing their gifts with the Spanish that the Spaniards now felt they use them for their monetary benefit. They were used as slaves to harvest the gold in Hispaniola, of which there was very little. He brutally murdered thousands of Indians for the sake of a bit of money, which as it turns out never existed.


2.  What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus?  What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?

We all grew up with the particular image of Christopher Columbus as the founder of America. We aren't ever taught of the terrible things he did and all of the pain he caused but only of something he came across by mistake. I had never heard about the people of Hispaniola who he brutally murdered until I read the diary entries. His plan to use the native population as slaves was horrible and cruel. My opinion of him was completly changed.

3.  How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?


The readings shed some light upon what really happened when Europeans came across America. To me the way the Spanish explorers reacted to the kindness and generosity of the natives is appalling and definatley made me view them as something other than heroic.



__________________
Kelby

Date:
RE: Primary Source #1: Columbus & Las Casas
Permalink  

1.  Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.

The Spanish were seeking wealth and new land for Spain.  Since the monarchy of Spain had financed the voyage they expected a profitable return and the Spaniards who took part in the journey wanted to please the King and Queen. Bartolome de las Casas tells us that Columbus "was anxious to please the King".  The Spaniards did not believe that the natives of the new land were civilized and because of this they believed that they would make good slaves.  This is evident in the diary of Columbus when he writes "the island natives would make great servants".  The Spaniards also believed that they would be helping the natives by converting them to Christianity. Columbus worte that he believed that "they would become Christians very easily for it seemed that they had no religion".  


The Indians on the other hand were victims of the Spanish.  In all of the writings of Columbus he portrays the native people as friendly and peacful.  Columbus writes "they do not bear arms and do not know of them". Columbus also writes that the natives "are so naive and so free with their possessions" giving testimony that they were an easy going and giving people. The Spaniards were so focused on finding gold though that they never intended to befriend the native people they only wanted to use them to find gold.  Las Casas writes that Columbus "was so anxious to please the King that he committed irreparable crimes against the Indians".    The Spaniards were overcome with greed and because of that greed they did not give any consideration to the natives.  In the readings it is stated that the Spaniards had no more consideration for them than beasts and this is evident in the way that they treated them.  Las Casas tells us that "the Spaniards killed,terrorized tortured and destroyed the native people".  The actions of the Spaniards on the natives of Hispanola, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and other islands that they inhabited caused the native population of these islands to nearly dissapear.Nearly twelve million men,women and children were unjustly slain and the reason for killing all of these people was to "acquire gold and to swell themselves with riches".  All this at the expense of a group of people who were friendly and giving and native to the lands that the Spaniards found.



2.  What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus?  What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?

After reading these diaries I am very upset with the way that Columbus viewed and treated the natives of the New World that he discovered.  Throughout my earlier school years I was taught that Columbus was a great and brave explorer who discovered America.  I now see that he was a mass murderer.  Columbus's plan for Hispaniola was to find gold.  He built a fort as the first European miltary base in the Western Hemisphere and left thirty of his crew to man the fort.  He further instructed the crew to find and store the gold.Columbus believes that his plan to get gold will be easy because the natives "are free with their possesions and when you ask them for something they never say no".  I think that he believes that they will work hard to find the gold and then just hand it over to the Spaniards.  In his plan Columbus does not care about what happens tot he Indians or how his treatment of them will affect them.  Missing from his plan is the fact that he has not really seen the source of any gold to be making promises to the King that he will bring back large amounts of gold.  He alos does not think that the Indians will try to defend themselves against the thirty men that he left at the fort in Hipaniola.



3.  How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?

I knew that European contact had some consequences for the Indian people but these two readings actually provided me with more information than I had before reading them.  I know that the Europeans brought diseases that were foreign to the Indian people but these two readings have increased my understanding of the consquences and I am very upset to learn that the Europeans were so brutal to the native people. It is disgusting that they killed so many of the native population of the islands, that they basically destroyed all of the native populations living there.   It definitely changes my opinion of the Spanish explorers.  I always thought that they were brave to leave Europe and explore new territory but now I think that they were just greedy and cruel cowards.  I am disgusted to learn that they could commit mass murders and other crimes against the native people without any regard for them as people especially knowing that the natives were peaceful and friendly toward them.



__________________
Valdir

Date:
Permalink  

1. The invading Spaniards were by all means fulfilling their purpose as intruders, albeit savagely. As Columbus puts it, my intention was not to pass by any island of which I did not take possession. When the Indies were founded, Spaniards went their with the intention of settling the land and enriching mother Spain. The light of religion and the glare of gold may have distorted their objectives, but the Admiral and his men never faltered in their drive to serve the crown, and it could be said that since no good comes without consequence, the deeds done by the pioneering Europeans were inevitable and justified, and only a trinket in the crown of an impending Spanish empire.

 

The natives Columbus encountered werent infested with the greed their visitors unfortunately succumbed to. They gave willingly and were in no way justly treated or dealt with. A more recent Native would later expound rather articulately these sentiments; Why will you take by force what you may have quietly by love. The Indians who gave with open arms had no attention of having those limbs severed. Nor their women raped, or children starved. What the Spaniards committed wasnt only unjustified, it was downright despicable, and no amount religious valor or nationalistic ideals could excuse the treatment of the Natives at the hands of the Spaniards.

 

2. These excerpts shed plenty of new light on the Christopher Columbus discussion, at least in my opinion. The magnitude of his cruelty is astounding. The fact that the people whose lives he meddled with seem to be in his eyes not really people at all. It reminds me exactly of a cartoon I know weve all seen; in it, two friends are sitting, starved, and at the edge of death near each other. One than looks at the other and instead of seeing them for what they are, sees a huge pork chop waiting to be devoured. Instead of seeing lives, Columbus saw money bags. Money bags walking around in the nude and covered in black paint. And even worse, he wasnt one to shy away from shedding blood. To me, almost all of this is new territory, and all of it differs from previous opinions I came to learn.

 

From the readings I would say Columbus plans on transforming Hispaniola into a site whereupon he could reap the island for all is worth, through the mining and searching for riches, and by the enslavement of the Native people. Columbus of course in blissfully unaware that he has not landed in the land of silks and spices, and that peoples he intends to be slaves are extremely susceptible to the maladies he and his countrymen have unknowingly brought with them.   

 

3. These readings have definitely had a role in my current perception of the European conquest of the New World. Everything wasnt as casual and good-natured as most of my learning made it out to be. The excerpts definitely make the Spanish explorers seem less heroic since it strips them of any qualities that any sane person would classify as heroic. The entire thing was a calamity, one that wont ease over relations or help our understanding of the conquest the more we try to sweep it under the rug.             
                                                   


__________________
Breanne

Date:
Permalink  

1.  Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.

2.  What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus?  What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?

3.  How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?


1. The Spanish perspective, after reading these entries, is hard to defend. I feel the only way to justify the Spanish explorers' actions is to say that since they had never seen people like the Indians before, then they didn't know how to treat them, therefore they were horrible to them. "They do not bear arms, and do not know them..," Columbus must have felt that the Natives were an easy target because they didn't have anything to protect themselves with.

On the other hand, the side I agree with more, the Natives were wrongly attacked and killed by the Spanish explorers. The Natives were there first, and the Spanish had no right to steal everything away from them. They were usually cruel, "two f these so-called Christians met two Indians boys one day, each carrying a parrot, they took the parrots and for fun beheaded the boys," and were not heroic whatsover.

2. I learned a lot of new information about Columbus from these diary entries. I learned that Columbus is no where near as great a hero as I thought he was before I learned that he caused the deaths of so many people and that he lied to the country of Spain when he went back. Before reading this, I thought Columbus was a hero who helped people. I pictured him helping the Indians when he came to America. Columbus's plan for Hispaniola was to take slaves from the island and also to make the Natives ther find them gold and have them executed once they did it. He knew the plan would kill off Natives, but he only cared about gold and ways to find it. I don't think he realized what he would do once all the Natives were gone and he still didn't have the gold when he went back to Spain.

3. These two readings changed my understanding of the consequences of Europen contact on the native people because it  makes them seem like they only brought bad to the Americas. When I read these excerpts I lost all respect for the Spanish. They did seem a lot less heroic, since they killed most of the people already there. They did nothing good and only hurt the people there already.



__________________
Dylan

Date:
Permalink  


1. Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.

2. What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus? What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?

3. How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?

 



   1) The Spain sent Columbus out to find a new route to Asia, instead of taking the Silk Road or going around the tip of Africa. If it was possible to make it to Asia just by sailing across a vast ocean then Spain could become one of the richest countries in Europe. When Columbus landed in the Carribean, he thought it was Asia and could not go back to Spain without gold or something of value. When he found out the land was not full of gold as he believed, he took slaves back to Spain just as a way to show that there was something of value over there. So this became a form of payment since he couldn't find a lot of gold.

    The Natives to the land suffered as a cause of this because Columbus brought disease and killed them by the thousands. The Natives were to generous and were not taken as a threat to Columbus so he raped and made them slaves bringing them to Spain to be sold. Even though half the natives died on the way to Spain.

    2) I have learned that Columbus could be considered a genocial killer whether or not he meant it. Growing up learning that Columbus was a explorer and he was friendly to the Indians was true but it wasn't the whole truth. His plans are to find gold and bring it back to Spain and to prove there is another way to get to Asia. What is missing is that he doesn't know if he will even make it there or find any gold.

    3) Europeans really had an affect on the lives of the natives to the western hemisphere. They really killed so many natives by the thousands, killing most of the race. This makes the Spanish explorers less heroic because it's not like they were meaning to explore and became allies with the natives. They killed, raped, and made them slaves for no reason.

 



__________________
mitchell gauvin

Date:
RE: Primary Source #1: Columbus & Las Casas
Permalink  

mr e wrote:

Use the documents provided in class (the diaries of Columbus and the writings of Las Casas) to answer the following questions.  Email me (mre@engineofsouls.com) if you have any questions or need any help.

1.  Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.

2.  What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus?  What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?

3.  How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?


            
        1. When the spanish hit land they believed that they had landed on the coast of India and had given the name of "indians" to the natives that they had met. The progress that the Spanish had was without a dought very fast and productive. When columbus arrived he the natives had been very generous and traded for almost anything. The natives were very primitive when it came to wepons as Columbus discribed in one of his journal entrys. "They do not bear arms, and do not know them..," he took advantage of this and took back some as slaves and forced others to work for him and find gold and other presses objects adventually leading to genocide.




The natives believed that Columbus and the Spanish were decendence from the heavens and catered to their wishes. They traded for anything Columbus stated in one of his journal entrys. When he begain to realized that he had control over them he stated to take everything he wanted by force causing natives to become slaves and being shipped off back to Spain. The Spainish saw them as less then human because of the way the natives did things. When the Spainish attacked the natives had little ways of defending themselves against the Spanish technolgy Christains, kidnapped, maimed and killed the people of Hispaniola in pursuit of gold. Then when the Spaniards settled they still behaved in the same manor , torturing, terrorizing, and afflicting distruction on the natives for the simple fact they did not want them on the land.


2. I learned that Columbus was not the hero that he was thawed out to be as we read about him in history books as children. Although he was a poor man in Spain he came onto land that the natives were happy to share and blew it up in their face by enslaving them killing them and causing many to even commit suicide. His plans for Hispaniola was to create a fort on it and mine gold there with the slaves that he captured and tortured. Not only did he Enslave many natives but he also killed them. The ones that got away often commited suicide in fear for their childern or own lives which drematically decreased the populations to the point of genocide. The part that was missing in his plan was the fact that he was not completely sure if there was gold on Hispaniola and the disease and damage the lang had on the Spaniards.



3. I knew the Europeans had taken much of the land by force, but i had never guessed that they took taking over the land to the extream and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Indians. I never guessed that the europeans had commited genocide wiping out every Indian tribe they came across. As far as them still being heros i am not to sure. They are in the sence that they had acomplished creating a new world to thrive and finding a new land becoming much more ecomically stable but not in the sence that they had wiped out the entire race of Indians by torturing, enslaving, and forcing some to commite suicide. i believe that there could have been another way for the Spanish to stay their but it would be very possible that they would have not progressed as well and quickly.



__________________
Chris

Date:
RE: Primary Source #1: Columbus & Las Casas
Permalink  

1. Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.

The role of Spanish progress in the New World though extreme, may have been justified by the Spaniards catholic zeal coming to this new continent. Many of the Spaniards (including Columbus) were staunch Catholics and although they journeyed to the Americas mainly for pecuniary purposes, they still meant to Christianize the heathen natives by brute force, which was a tactic used in Europe during the inquisition to convert heretics which was still going on at that time. They may also have believed that their mission of conquest have been ordained by god. Columbus himself said Thus the eternal god, our lord, gives victory to those who follow His way over apparent obstacles.

The Natives however viewed the Spanish in a very different view. Instead of the heathen and savage titles given to the Indians, (at their first encounters) the Indians viewed Spanish almost godly and transcendent. The natives having little or no concept of property ownership gave much of what they had to the almost otherworldly Spaniards, having no idea that their ignorance of European culture (and basically any monetary concepts) would leave them completely defenseless against the Spanish onslaught.

2. What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus? What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?
I already knew about Columbus harsh treatment of the Native Arawaks (and others) but I didnt know the degree of cruelty he imposed upon the Indians. The butchering of hundreds of Indians and other specific tales of the Spaniards malicious governing, like the tale of the two boys who were beheaded just for laughs were so far beyond what I thought I knew about Columbus that it blew my mind.

Columbus planned to conquer the lands of the New World for Spain, bring gold and riches back to his country, and sell the inhabitants as slaves. Unfortunately for Columbus the natives inability to fight of the western diseases and the fact that their was little or no gold on the islands he explored the two biggest parts of his plan backfired.

3. How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?

The accounts of Spanish atrocities by Las Casas definitely dampened and severely damaged the Spanish heroic image a great deal but the contributions and discoveries of the Spanish conquistadores cannot be dismissed any more than the French in Canada, the Portuguese in Brazil, or more relevant to the U.S. the British. The two accounts have definitely changed the way I think about the European Colonization of the New World as being more negative than positive, but as I said the European contributions cannot and should not be brushed off.



__________________
Cassandra Furtado

Date:
Permalink  


1.  Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.

Christopher Columbus was sailing west to find a new water route to the Indies, but instead he discovered a "New World" inhabited by natives. Not having found a new water route, these enslaved natives
and whatever little gold they possesed, or gold that was given by the natives as gifts to the Spaniards was all that Columbus could use to prove his worth to Spain in this expidition as well as other subsequent expeditions. As Las Casas tells about the treatment of the Insians by the Spaniards "Endless testimonies...prove the mild and pacific temperament of the natives...But our work was to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy; small wonder, then, if they tried to kill one of us now and then...The admiral, it is true, was blind as those who came after him,and he was so anxious to please the King that he commited irreparable crimes against the Indians..." The Spanish did not respect the natives nor did they care, these were heathens, beasts and by no means ever considered human. This was Columbus' only means of possible justification.

In the Indians defense, they were not animals, they just had a different culture than the Spaniards. Just because the Spanish didn't agree with the Indians, they were no less than human. The Spaniards shouldn't have bombarded the Indians with crulety because the Indians was generous, kind, and peaceful to the Spaniards. In the passage it states "These Arawaks of the Bahama Islands were much like Indians on the mainland, who were remakable...for their hospitality, and their belief in sharing." The Spaniards took advantage of the Indians, which is not Christian-like even though Columbus was very religious and anhilated a race of people not only in the name of Spain but in the name of God.  

  
2.  What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus?  What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?

As we honor Columbus might as well honor Adolf Hitler, they both wanted to remove a certain race and the only difference is that one had more weapons and tecnology for mass destruction. Obviously we are lied to as children in history books and this is allowed by our scholars and officals of schooling. Not only did they lie about the type of person he was we were also lied to about the true discoverer of America. The goal of Hispaniola was Columbus' pot of gold. The Natives' population decreases from harsh labor, disease, and reproduction. The missing part of his plan is that their was no large amount of gold to be found.   


3.  How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?


I'm upset because all of these years we're lied about who Columbus really is. Why is he made to be a hero as the discoverer of America even though he's neither? Of course it makes the Spanish explorers less heroic. First of all, they didn't know where they were, and second, they wiped out a whole race of people for their own greed and to insure that they as well as Spain would benifit from their expeditions. Cloumbus lied, murdered, and commited atrocities in order to protect himself and insure his place in history as a hero.



 



__________________
Andrew L.

Date:
Permalink  

mr e wrote:

Use the documents provided in class (the diaries of Columbus and the writings of Las Casas) to answer the following questions.  Email me (mre@engineofsouls.com) if you have any questions or need any help.

1.  Justify the role of progress from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter 1. Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such progress.

2.  What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus?  What is Columbus plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population? What do you think is missing from his plan?

3.  How do these two readings from Las Casas change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?


1.  I think that the Spanish viewed the Native Americans as being less human than them. At one point, Columbus literally compares them to animals while referring to a slave auction.  He also mentions their friendliness and naivity, and used these traits to take advantage of them and turn them into servants.

The Native Americans probably felt somewhat betrayed by the Spanish and their actions, seeing as they trusted them. The Spanish took from them by force what, as Powhatan said, they may take "quietly by love".

2.  it would seem as though Columbus was more violent during his exploration of the New World than I had been previously taught. The text books seem to leave out alot of the bloodshed. He was displayed as being more cunning, however in this depiction, being able to trick the Native Americans.  His plan for Hispaniola was to create a fort for mining gold, using the Native Americans to help him.

3.  Las Casas diary entries reveal that many people died during the European contact with Native Americans, whether through disease,  being overworked, or killed by explorers.  The Native population decreased. Although the Spanish may not have meant to cause so much harm, they do seem less heroic.


Sorry about the delay, I havent had access to a computer, and I would've given it handwritten today, but we had a substitute.


__________________
Page 1 of 1  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.
engine of souls | forum -> AP United States History -> Primary Source #1: Columbus & Las Casas
Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse 		Powered by ActiveBoard