Thursday, September 8, 2011
Christopher Columbus
So before reading Columbus's letter to Luis de Santangel, I would have NEVER thought of Columbus's discovery to be anything but positive. However, after doing the activity assigned in class, I got a new perspective on Columbus's ways of colonizing and 'discovering' the Americas. The way that Columbus just assumed he could take over the Natives, because they were so weak, really shocked me. He assumed they wanted to leave their own lifestyles and convert to Christianity, becoming just another carbon copy of those in Spain. Could you imagine if someone stormed into your life (who seemed very friendly and giving) and took advantage of you? What if your life and the way you lived was completely changed because someone else took your weakness as a chance to convert you to something you might not want to become?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I had the same feeling as you before I read the text. Before, I saw Columbus as an adventurer but now I see him as a brutal person. But when I think about it, everybody was like that in that time, everybody thought that his own religion was the true one, that their culture and society was the best one. They all wanted their country to conquer others. Not only the europeans, the native americans also fought each other for territory. So maybe, as 14th century person he wasn't that brutal or bad.
ReplyDeleteCedrik brought up a good point, that everything needs to be taken in context. Many of the deaths that he caused were out of his control, such as the diseases that spread to the Native Americans. Columbus and his people were not suited for survival in the New World, it's hard to blame him for taking advantage of the Indians. What if the Indians had been the more advanced ones, and were launching expeditions to Spain? Would they not have done the same thing?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jayme in that I only thought of Columbus as positive. But when it said he traded the Indians for high valued items and he gave them basically garbage in return and how he wanted to convert them and basically control them my thoughts on him changed very quickly. How could the modern day idea of this man be so far off from the truth? Why would we have a day to celebrate Columbus when he didn't even find the place he was looking for? (haha what a great explorer)
ReplyDeleteGreat question and comments so far. Anybody want to try to redeem or defend Columbus? Also, do you guys think that Harriot is more tolerant/open-minded or that he's ultimately just as Eurocentric as Columbus?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I do not have anything to say to defend Columbus. He just assumed that the Native American culture was "behind the times" because it wasn't like the Spanish culture. However, the natives had been surviving for many years before Columbus discovered them, and they weren't the ones needing to find new land so that their people could thrive. It almost seems that the Spanish felt ashamed of the troubles that they were facing so they tried to make it seem like the natives had it much worse (even when they didn't). Also, I believe it was the Spanish who found it necessary to learn things from the natives, not the other way around. Many of the advancements that were taken back to Europe were taught to them by the natives. If the natives had refused to communicate/teach the Europeans do you think they would have figured out a way to survive in the new land?
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read Harriot's account of the New World, I got the impression that he cared more about the Natives' culture and would be more tolerant of their way of life than Columbus. Harriot befriended the Natives and learned all about their religion and traditions. It seemed as if he would let the Natives continue practicing their religion becuase he recognized that they had one instead of immeadiately forcing Christianity like Columbus. But in the end, even after learning about their ancient culutre, Harriot still wanted to "civilize" the Natives and convert them to Christianity. He was ultimately just as Eurocentric as Columbus was becuase even after learning about them accurately he still believed his own culture had the best and only way of doing things. Harriot true intentions were revealed when he stated that the natives would eventually be made to "honor, obey, fear and love us."
ReplyDeleteAt that time, most people were very religious so I guess he was too. All religious people think that their religion and god is the only true one. So he must have believed that because they weren't christians, they would go to hell. This means that he must have thought that by converting them he would save them in the afterlife. So maybe he wasn't such a bad person for wanting to convert them to Christianity. Of course, there might have been other reasons for him to convert them.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Harriot's diaries of his time in the New World, I gained some respect for him. Although he did barge into the Natives lives to evetnaully take over, he did take interest into what their culture was like. Harriot focused alot of the Natives religion to see how difficult it could be to convert them. So, we can take this part of Harriot's focus as bad or good. Was he only focusing on their ways of life to seem interested, but really just want to see how he could take over? Or, was he genuinely interested in their religion to make the Natives transition to Christianity easier?
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that i have to defend columbus is the fact that he thought by converting the native americans, they would be saved and go to heaven. I notice that people saying that columbus did what he did because of the time period, but i think that this is still an issue today. As an example, America still invades other countries to 'spread democracy.' We aren't trying to change peoples religions anymore, but we are still invading and uprooting many peoples lives
ReplyDelete