Week 2: The Birth of “America”: The New World Forged
This week we explore the long, shared history of the pre-contact Americas and Afro-Eurasia. As Taylor argues, changing the "lens" allows for a deeper, richer understanding of the interactions between Indigenous and Afro-Eurasian societies over thousands of years. Below are some different points of entry for you to explore these issues:
Pre-contact Meso-American societies shaped all of the Americas with the spread of the "three sisters" (corn, beans, squash), artistic sensibilities, and diverse products. See link for examples of these influences:
Archaeologists keep pushing the arrival date of humans to the Americas back to an earlier period. See link to map of Bering Straight, where the first human migrations originated:
The "Columbian Exchange" has been a controversial topic among historians. See link for a historian's perspective of the topic:
Image of the "exchange" in the colonial period:
On Monday we also discussed some of the larger themes of U.S. history that continue to shape our public discourse. Op-ed pieces are a great source for "taking the pulse" of American consciousness and the (mis)use of U.S. history. The anniversary of 9/11 provides ample examples:
Questions for blog discussion:
List and analyze 2 quotes from the reading. What is Taylor arguing in these passages? How is this related to the larger themes of the week discussed in class?
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ReplyDeleteDuring the class we discussed two themes that had stuck with me. The first was "freedom" in America and the fact of how pathogens were strength in Europe and so much stronger than those of the Natives.
ReplyDeleteTaylor writes about European persecution "Men who indulged in innovative scientific speculation risked the persecution for heresy by church courts." (p.25)
This struck to me because while in class we discussed how "free" America is we are still held back by no longer the church but other organizations. Many scientist can not study or practice things like cloning or something very serious like steam cell research. If we are as "free" as we think we are, why are we holding back our scientific community?
The second quote is very long but it gives the three examples of why pathogens were able to develop so powerfully in the Old World.
"Three factors helped develop especially powerful pathogens in the Old World. First, long-distance trade and invasions were more routine in Europe and Asia... Second, urbanization was older and more widespread in the Old World than in the New- and especially virulent diseases develop where people live in permeant concentrations... Third, the people of Europe, Africa, and Asia (but not in the Americas) lived among large numbers of domesticated mammals, including cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and horses,..." (p.41-42)
Even though Europe was so much more advanced and had cities and were living what we would consider a modern life, it costed them a huge cost because the living conditions were so bad that it would spawn epidemics.
A perspective and theme that challenged me was the idea of the Native Americans relative advancement in the areas of agriculture and trade. Taylor writes, "By 1500 B.C., Indians in central Mexico had learned how to cross maize-'Indian corn'-with other wild grasses to create hybrids with multiple ears, protective husks, and cobs with multiple rows of kernels." (p.10)Typically when I think of the Europeans first visit to America, I imagine the European community introducing new technology to the natives. However, both this statement and the opposite were true; ideas and technology were shared both ways in the Colombian exchange.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, ideas and technology were shared greatly between the myriad native tribes of America. "At Archaic sites in the Midwest or Great Basin, archaeologists find marine shells from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts; on the coasts they uncover copper from the Great Lakes and obsidian from the Rocky Mountains. Ideas and innovations traveled along with these objects...." Where in Europe and Asia travel was made swiftly due to use of sea faring ships, trade in the Americas had to be done primarily on foot. The Tarahumara Indians for example, would run hundreds of miles on trade routes. Now that's impressive!
http://www.ultrarunning.com/ultra/features/world/chapter-i-in-the-beginnin.shtml
"Capitalist societies compel much more work from common people and extract far more energy and matter from nature than do the less ambitious economies of aboriginal peoples subscribing to animism." (P.21)
ReplyDeleteHere, Taylor makes a strong assertion, of which connects to the differences ready to clash during the so-called "Columbian exchange." However, Taylor's assessment is simplistic because it generalizes natives as less "ambitious" and the first chapter's animism tends to homogenize complex native cultures. Furthermore, although Taylor's assertion is partially true, what about the preservation of native economies, and the exchange of cultural--even societ habits that continue today. On the other hand, I believe capitalism does do this, and takes much away from the common people, as capitalism seems to lead to more hierarchical patterns, and to me captilism's inequality are medieval and primitive. I appreciate animism commitment to the earth, and thus, it supernatural connection that we lack so much in the present.
"Spain pioneered transaltantic voyages, thanks to aggressive ambitions, religious mysticism, and navigational prowess of Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus.
I disagree that Columbus had a navigational prowess in the discovery of the Americas. Although, it is clear that he was prior to the mistake. Furthermore, religious zeal to conquer the Americas was more of justification that a true motive. Religious zeal seems to play more of an explantory real, as violent, and conversion thristy Spaniards created a native "other" and asserted social and racial strafitication in the quest of economic prosperity.
The ability of the natives to adapt to new environments and prey was an interesting and impressive topic to me. "The changing climate and demise of the mega-animals induced the nomadic bands to pursue more diversified strategies to tap a broader range of food sources. The natives had to learn their local environments and more ultimately to harvest shellfish , fish, birds, nuts, seeds, berries, and tubers. The indians obtained more of their diet from fishing as they developed nets, traps ,and bone hooks."
ReplyDeleteThe natives, particularly in this example the Paleo-Indians, traveled from siberia into what is now North America. They hunted consumed and moved on. however as populations grew there was a demand for more food which resulted in the dividing of these groups. as some animals diminished others became a more predominant form of food such as deer, antelope and elk. Natives were able to adjust to these new sources of food with the development of new tools like baskets nets and the atlatl or hunting spear made to throw at smaller prey. Overall the Natives were able to adjust to the land and develop tools and strategies to thrive in this new land.
"During the 1550's the explorer Jean de Lery reported that America was so different from Europe, Asia and Africa in the living habits of it's people, the forms of its animals, and in general in that which the earth produces, that it can well be called the new world" (p.24).
ReplyDeleteThroughout the text, Taylor continuously mentions that the Natives were very different than the colonists in many ways. Colonists were technologically advanced but the Natives had their own ways of life that worked for them. It is sometimes ironic that America was considered the New World even though the Natives had been there far longer than when the Europeans arrived.
The colonists viewed the Indians as savages and animals. When they came over, the diseases they brought along with the help of their weapons helped annihilate the Natives. They killed them for many different reasons but in reality, they needed them. "Indian relations were essential to the development of any colonial region" (p.49). Taylor ends chapter 2 with this sentence. I believe this is very true. The Natives had valuable things the colonists wanted such as resources, land and other things. They also could have helped them with trade because although the colonists were trying to colonize them, the Europeans learned a thing or two from the Natives as well. The gained new crops and also probably took some of the ideas the Natives had when it can to making things using what resources they had. Without using the Natives as slaves as well, they probably would have not been able to get certain things done because they too were being killed off.
At one point, Taylor argues that colonization united the world in terms of trade and environment. I agree with this because although the colonists took from the Natives, they gained many viable resources and crops that became useful to the rest of the world.
In the two weeks we have been in class we discussed how the Europeans discovered the Americas and brought "freedom" to their citizens and advanced the style of living in the Americas.
ReplyDeleteThe following quote caught my attention because many people in class said the Europeans traveled to get away from their old habits and rules.
"They do not have arms and they are all naked, and of no skill in arms, and so very cowardly that a thousand would not stand against three (armed Spaniards). And so they are fit to be ordered about and made to work, plant, and do everything else that may be needed, and build towns and be taught our customs, and to go about clothed." quote Columbus pg. 35
This quote means to me that Columbus and other Europeans were hypocrits. Yes they wanted to find a better life and find riches to better their home state from the muslims and other trading neighbors. But as soon as they found out that it was easy to boss people around, they were doing exactly what they were running away from. They pushed their beliefs on the Natives. The word "free" was already established in the "New World", and the Europeans didnt see that.
Pg 45
"By introducing the New World crops to the Old World, the colonizers dramitically expanded the food supply and population"
When the Europeans came to the Americas they brought horrible diseases that killed off many Natives. The Natives even though they were looked at as being cowards and slaves, had a very advanced system of agriculture. Trade was huge in the world and the Europeans had the advantage of taking control of food and supplys that could be sold in Europe.
"Few colonizers recognized that native intelligence and creativity ran in different channels" (Taylor, page 20)
ReplyDeleteThroughout most of Europe during this time period there was an unspoken general understanding that the Native people of the Americas were "uncivilized" and "savage". However this was not the case at all. Once explorers reached the new land they instead found that many of the settled tribes were quite advanced. They understood farming and systems of irrigation, practiced their own form of religion developing a spiritual connection to the land, developed effective hunting methods and used herbs and other things for of medicines. Many of these first medicines formed the basis for medicines we still use today. At first the Native Americans were very misconstrued and this gave many people a false perception of just how advanced a society they were.
This also relates to the theme in class of what is America because they helped formulated many of our first cultural tendencies.
“During the fourteenth century, the focus of European trade shifted westward beyond the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic" (Taylor, Page 28)
The reason for the sudden shift of pursuit during this time period was that the fourteenth century was all about expansion and exploration for Europe. They wanted to overtake as much land as possible. Moving into the Atlantic was a great unknown variable for them and therefore provided a great allure. They thought it was the land of riches that could present them with new trade opportunities that could move them past their growing rivals in Asian. Later on they used these resources to compete with the formation of the East Indian trading company.
This is relates to class because we talked briefly about Christopher Columbus and exploration.
"Cities were fewer in North America, largely restricted to central Mexico, and usually much cleaner than their European counterparts." Pg 42.
ReplyDeleteIn this passage, Taylor is describing the way cities were in North America during the early 1600's. This image of a sprawling America was not as grand as some may have thought. Although the American cities may have been cleaner, there were much fewer of them, and they were located in Mexico, where temperatures are often much higher than in Europe. With less cities, overcrowding would have plagued North America if too many immigrants had come in too short of a time.
Another topic that I was interested in was the ability for Natives to "humanize" their landscape. In order to survive easier, "By 1500 B.C., Indians in central Mexico had learned how to cross maize...with other wild grasses to create hybrids with multiple ears, protective husks, and cobs with multiple rows of kernels." Pg 10.
The Natives, when they began to settle and experiment with horticulture more, had to adapt to stay alive. They eventually learned how to create better crops, which then created more food. With more food, a burst of population occurred. However, it is interesting that the same thing the Natives created to keep themselves alive, was what eventually killed them. The corn robbed soil of all nutrients, and when they could no longer grow as much food, many died from starvation or they broke off into separate tribes in search of more food.
My first quote is: “Although their experiences contradict the romantic myth of the Indian as environmental saint, it would be equally misleading to depict all natives as just as environmentally destructive as their European contemporaries” (Taylor 17).
ReplyDeleteTaylor is explaining how Indians are not these absolute environmentally centered individuals that we usually picture when we think about native americans. Though Taylor points our that they are not as environmentally disconnected or destructive as the Europeans were. I found this intriguing because I know we will be watching many movies in the class and many of the Hollywood movies portray Indians as being these “environmental saints” and everyone else is destroying their land and everything else. This is true to some extent but they are guilty of it as well.
My second is: “Indeed, the expansion of cleared fields and the growth of the human population reduced the habitat for wildlife” (Taylor 10).
Taylor is explaining a transition phase of the natives and explaining horticulture. This quote caught my attention because we had focused so much in class about the hunting and gathering aspect of the natives. The sentence before explained how the natives started to stray away from hunting, gathering, and fishing to focus on maize, squashes and beans.
"Indian animism should not be romantically distorted into a New Age creed of stable harmony. In fact, the natives regarded the spiritual world as volatile and full of tension, danger, and uncertainty. To survive and prosper, people had to live warily and opportunistically. Engaged in an always difficult balancing act, humans had to discern when they could trick and manipulate the spirits and when they should soothe and mollify them. Sometimes people could take fish or kill game with exuberance; more often they had to limit their take. The logic of restraint tended to preserve a nature that sustained most native communities over many generations." - pg. 19
ReplyDeleteThis quote, I believe, relates to the theme presented throughout the week in class, the idea that the interpretation of history changes. Taylor repeats this idea of not falling for the stereotypes that we grew up with, in this case the notion that the Native Americans were "one with nature", but rather they did the best they could do with a force they could not control.
"Columbus's slaughter and enslavement of Indians troubled the pious Spanish monarchs, who declared in 1500 that the Indians were 'free and not subject to servitude.' But Ferdinand and Isabella failed to close the legal loophole exploited by Spanish Colonizers. It remained legal to enslave Indians taken in any 'just war' which the colonists characterized as any violence they conducted against resisting natives." - pg. 37
Again, this shows how the story o history can change. The idea that monarchy didn't approve of Indian slaves surprised me at first. This detail adds more to the ever-growing and ever-changing narrative of history.
"Urbanization was older and more widespread in the Old World than in the New." Pg41
ReplyDeleteBy saying this the Author is referring to the perception that cities in the old world were much more populated and advanced than in the New World. This was true for the most part, but as we discussed in class there were cities in the New World that were quite large. An example of this was the city that stood by what is now St. Louis. In the 1320's t was twice the size of London.
"Neither the Anasazi nor the Hohokam had beasts of burden...Nonetheless both built substantial stone and adobe towns." Pg 12
The Author s talking about how even without giant animals like Oxen or Horses or Donkeys to move heavy objects t is surprising that they were able to move the materials that it takes to build such large areas and towns. In class we talked about how these tribes were thought to be very migratory and yet in real life they would sometimes build these magnificent towns.
"Gender structured work roles: men were responsible for fishing and hunting while women harvested and prepared wild plants." Pg 9
ReplyDeleteThis quote relates to our "old world" theme in the way that men took control of the harder tasks such as hunting and fishing, while the women stayed at home and worked in the gardens and took care of the children. In the new world, we all know, women aren't always the ones to stay home. The old world was very traditional and it was very common for men and women to have these roles.
"First, long-distance trade and invasions were more routine in Europe and Asia, providing vectors for the exchange and mutation of multiple diseases." Pg 41
It was interesting how Taylor said they were made "routine". Not only was it normal but it was done without question. People to invaded each other and because of that, diseases mutated and people's immune systems became stronger. It related to our disease and old world topic in class because, because of the long distance trading, these diseases were spread across the world and made many people sick, as well as stronger.
"As people became dependent on corn, they had to live most of the year in villages near their cultivated fields." Pg.11
ReplyDeleteThe author conveys the same thing we started to talk about in class this week, where before people were nomadic tribes following animals as their main source of food now they are forming villages and hierarchies. Also having crops as part of their food source the tribes gain a sustainable food source that will be there unlike buffalo or wild dogs which are both unpredictable food sources.
In an expedition led by Hernando de Soto between 1540-42 this was said, "They were impressed by the number of indians, the extent of the maize fields, the quantities of their storehouses, the dignity and power of their chiefs, and their disciplined warriors." Pg.16
In class we were talking about what the difference between old history and new history was, and we came to the conclusion that history is just history. And that just because something isn't written down doesn't mean it didn't happen. Hernando de Soto is exploring this land and thinking that these people are primitive and savage wherein reality they are almost as civilized as the European countries that are sending expeditions to the "New World", they just lack some of the technology
that Europeans had recently discovered.
“Drawing upon Mesoamerican precedents, the Mississippian peoples built substantial towns around central plazas that featured earthen pyramids topped by wooden temples that doubled as the residences of chiefs. Like the people of central Mexico, the Mississippians regarded the sun as their principal deity, responsible for the crops that sustained their survival; they considered their chiefs as quasi-sacred beings related to the sun; and the practiced human sacrifice. When a chief died, his wives and servants were killed for burial beside him, as companions for the afterlife.” (p.14) The natives living in the upper North America used ideas and practices from other native cities. The most common was ideas from the Mesoamerican who taught other natives how to build and run their own cities. Taylor is basically saying that there were no new ideas on how to create a flourishing city during their time. Each native city built off of the main ideas from the Mesoamericans with their own twist to suit their climate and environment. The Mesoamericans largely influenced the defining of early North America and how the Europeans would come to find it.
ReplyDelete“Natives could and did damage their local environments, but they certainly did less enduring harm than the colonizers who displaced them. By all accounts, the nature found by the European explorers was far more diverse and abundant in plants and animals than the nature they had left behind in their Old World. Having depleted the forests and wildlife of Europe, the colonizers came to do the same in their New World.” (p. 17) When the colonizers first came to the Americas, it was an entirely “New World” to them. There were many more plants and wildlife that surpassed what they had known and lived with in their “Old World.” Taylor is essentially arguing that the colonizers used the environment to their liking and destroyed it to where it would look like the environment back in Europe. They did not care in preserving the environment because there was much more to the forests and wildlife, and therefore more to take from than in the forests in Europe. Mainly, relationship of the Old World to the New World was one of exploitation. The colonizers used the natives, their ideas, and land for their own taking and used them for their own expansion of influence in both the New and Old Worlds.
"Especially during the sixteenth century, the colonizers valued Indian bodies and souls even more than they coveted Indian land". (Taylor, 43)
ReplyDelete- This fact also captured my attention because at first the colonizer's primary focus was attaining land and allowing expansion throughout North America. They're encounters with the Native Americans slowly created a bond that shifted gears. The colonizers heavily relied on the Indians to aid in the formation of a new nation.
"When in the most isolated and least developed pockets of North America today, we like to think that we have rediscovered a timeless "wilderness" and that we experience there the nature known by Native Americans before 1492" (Taylor, 49)
-This particular quote captured my attention because it seems to convey
that in a way we become enraptured by the experience of sharing the same phenomenon that was originally manifested by the Natives to our country. Taylor argues that as Americans we gain pleasure from feeling an emotional connection to a phenomenon of the past. Taylor continues to express that we can see physical characteristics within nature that portray the struggles the Native Americans and colonizers faced when restoring the nation.
These quotes relate to the major themes discussed in class because it depicts the opportunities the colonizers were seeking in forming a new colony that would enforce the "City on a Hill" perspective for nations around the world.
"Through some combination of climatic change and the spread of highly skilled hunters, almost all of the largest mammals rapidly died out in the Americas. At the same time that the largest mammals became extinct, the environment became more diverse. Over generations, the global warming gradually shrank the grasslands and expanded forests"(8).
ReplyDeleteIn this section of the book, Taylor is talking about what the continent looked like before global warming started and various animals started to go extinct. It also displays the many changes that happened not only with climate but the lively hood of people living as well.
"Because land was more abundant than labor in the colonies, the colonists reduced their work by building their fences around their relatively small crop fields "(47).
As the settlers started to adapt to the new land, they were able to form barracades to protect their crops. It interested me how Taylor was able to describe the many changes that occurred before and after the Europeans conquered America.
"Rather than horticulture, the most significant development for these people was their adoption of the bow and arrow after about A.D. 500" (pg.12)
ReplyDeleteOne of the themes in class that we talked about was the development of technology and how it affects history. Taylor is arguing that the development of a newer technology was the most significant in helping Indians to survive.
"Natives could and did damage their local environments but they certainly did less enduring harm than the colonizers who displaced them." (pg.17)
Another theme we talked about in class was that when we talked about America we said its a paradox. We think we are the biggest and the best but we are slowly deteriorating ourselves. In the book Taylor argued something similar to this. At the time the Europeans thought they were the biggest and the best. They considered themselves superior to the Natives but in turn they were damaging their environment.
"The 'anthropocentric' implications of Christianity enabled western Europeans to develop the economic culture of capitalism (to varying degrees) during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries" (p. 21). In this quote, Taylor argues that religious views influence the size of the economy. I agree with this because this explains the mass of differences between the native tribes and their European captors. The Europeans differed from the natives in terms of the level of exclusion or inclusion found in their respective religions. The Europeans wanted to expand and make sure their religion spread as far as possible. Thus they made an extra effort to produce better technology. Even if the first guns were crude and primitive, they had the potential to improve, but the natives had mostly inferior weaponry, seeking little opportunity for enhancement. However, this is not entirely their fault. The natives generally had no real access to resources. Taylor argues that "by contrast, the Europeans of 1492 were the heirs to an older and more complex array of domesticated plants and animals developed about nine thousand years ago at the eastern end of the Mediterranean" (p. 18). I can agree with this statement because it is clear that the Europeans would obviously have more access to resources due to the fact that they were not even remotely nomadic with the exception of a few explorers i.e. Vasco de Gama and Marco Polo. The natives had to migrate across the Bering Strait before they settled in North America, and even once they landed in North America, they still had to scatter across a continent much larger than Europe. This makes it easier for the Europeans to accumulate not only more resources in general, but they may also gain new types of resources, such as livestock. This allows the Europeans to be better fed than the natives, which in turn means the captors are more likely to be able to focus on battle than the natives, giving them an easier time with their mission.
ReplyDelete^My theme which I focused on was the economic and agricultural tools used by two competing factions, the natives and the Europeans, in the formation of the "New World."
ReplyDelete"It was hard, cold, and generally short life in which hunger alternated with the episodic binges of a big kill. Because the people had to remain on the move (on foot) in pursuit of the herds they could not develop permanent villages and did not accumulate heavy possessions."(5)
ReplyDeleteTaylor expresses the same thing we had talked about in class where before these people from tribes followed animals for their main sources. So they were not able amass heavy possessions of personal items.
Another quote that i thought was pretty interesting that Taylor wrote was " At Archaic sites in the midwest or Great Basin, archaeologist find marine shells from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts; on the coasts they uncover copper from the Great Lakes and obsidian from the Rocky Mountains." (10)
For the Europeans and Asians they made their trades easily by Ships. Though for the Tarahumara Indian tribe they would have to make almost all of there trade on foot. They would run nearly one-hundred miles in trade routes to trade materials like the shells we had talked about in class this week.
"As the Archaic Indians proliferated and specialized in harvesting the particular local resources, they became distinguished culturally, developing different languages, rituals, mythic stories, kinship systems, and survival strategies. The native peoples of North America spoke at least 375 distinct languages by 1492."
ReplyDeleteIn this quote, Taylor begins to lay out the vast expansion and differentiation done by native peoples in the pre-colonial era. In class, it was mentioned that California was home to hundreds of tribes, all with distinct aspects of their cultures.
"The invasion by European colonists, microbes, plants, and livestock eroded the biological and cultural distinctions formerly enforced by the Atlantic Ocean. Newly connected, the two 'worlds,' old and new, became more alike in their natures, in their combinations of plants and animals. [...] American colonization wrought an environmental revolution unprecedented in pace, scale, and impact in the history of humanity." (p. 24-25)
Taylor mentions the changes that took place after the European explorers settled in the Americas, explaining that colonization favored the new settlers and was harmful to the natives. This also gives reason to today's romanticized notion of the Americas lacking a history pre-colonization, as we discussed in class -- the "new world" is just as old as the "old world," but colonization brought so much change to the continent that it became near unrecognizable.
"From the start, he (Columbus) treated the Carribean Islands and their Taino inhabitants exactly as the Spanish treated the Canaries and the Guanche-as places and people to be rendered into commercial plantations worked by forced labor."(35)
ReplyDeleteTaylor's voice comes through in this passage as showing the dominance of those exploring the Americas. This dominance was a topic we explored last class that ties into the theme of power. With new land and resources comes power and the early settlers like Columbus knew this. The main reason many countries started to explore the western hemisphere was for resources because resources lead to income and money was power. This desire for power was one of the major engines of history and the exploration that came with it.
"After 1492 the European diet improved, in part from enhanced long-distance transportation for produce and better techniques for rotating and fertilizing traditional grain crops. But above all, the improvement derived from the adoption of new food crops first cultivated in the Americas." (45)
This qoute shows an important aspect of the reason for shifting views towards the America's and Taylor does a nice job of showing a basic necessity like food as an advantage gained from the America's. The population as shown by Taylor erupted in Europe and an increase in food is a probable cause. This follows our discussion about exploration of the Americas for opportunity. Europeans already had access to food because they were a more advanced for their time and farming was easier for sedentary people. This provides an emphasis on how great the impact was from the Americas and how Europe benefitted. Food is a basic opportunity held by the Europeans alongside the other topics we discussed in class.
Christopher Columbus was the first to discover the new world or the Americas. However after its initial discovery this new world became subject of all European nations. The Natives were called Indians by Columbus because he initially thought he had landed on India. Europe being much more powerful than the Natives could easily exploit them. It took no time at all for all of Europe to want part of this new world.
ReplyDelete"With the assistance of the pope, the Spanish and Portuguese negotiated the 1493 Treaty of Tordesillas which split the world of new discoveries by drawing a north-south boundary through the mid-Atlantic west of the Azores."
The inhabitants of America had had their land distributed without even the slightest knowledge. many used the justification of spreading Christianity as the reason for colonizing the new world. While a noble goal it was a bit more than just spreading religion the land was full of new resources, plants and animals that the Europeans wanted. We talked briefly of colonization in class and the developments that the Europeans brought, however the Natives were exploited in order to make the colonies the most successful and prosperous.
What interested myself about the reading this week was the information offered up concerning Columbus. In school at an early age, most children, myself included, are taught Columbus was a gentle, and even clumsy man (due to his mistake in discovering the New World instead of finding India), but in the Columbus section of this weeks reading it was revealed that he was indeed a "[D]evout and militant Catholic who drew upon the Bible for his geographical theories"(33). In reading this, we see Columbus's true intentions were to reach India not only for trade and commerce, but mainly to convert the residents of Asia. I almost feel as though his Catholic beliefs can be a foreshadowing of the phrases referring to the Christian faith in the Declaration of Independence. Secondly, the epidemics brought to the New World by the new explorers peaked my interest, "[T}he exchange of pathogens was so one-sided because the Indians lied in a hemisphere with fewer and less virulent diseases"(41). The Natives were protected by their ancestors track from Siberia into North America because the cold benefitted them by killing most pathogens that would cause them harm. Just the fact that something that had been so beneficial 12,000 years earlier to the immigrants could turn out to be so deadly is ironic.
ReplyDelete"In general, men's activities entailed wide-ranging travel and the endurance of greater exposure and danger, while women's activities kept them close to the village, where they bore and raised children." (Pg.9)
ReplyDeleteIn this quote, the author describes the social role of men and women living in this specific time in history. This interests me because the work roles of men and women were structured based on gender. For example, men were responsible for fishing and hunting while women harvested and prepared wild plants.
"Archaeologists have found that some relatively small and highly valued objects could pass hundreds and even thousands of miles through multiple bands." (Pg.10)
In this quote, the author describes the efficiency of the trade networks that developed over very long distances. This caught my attention because it shows how resourceful the people were even though they were limited to transportation. In my perspective, making trades over hundreds and even thousands of miles long is quite impressive.
" the new horticulture also promoted economic differentiation and social stratification as the food surplus enabled some people to specialize as craftsman merchant priest and ruler" pg11
ReplyDeletethis is a example of the advancement of the native culters to a more "civilized" community in the eyes of european. it brought the group together and put together a more sophisticated social structure.
"along the pacific coast , the huntung gathering fishing complex was so productive that native peoples did not feel the pressures that elsewhere led to horticulture" pg 12
the whole advancement to a sedentary living was a main experience of plains Indians that fallowed the herds. unlike the people of california where they had an abundance of naturaly grown food and relied mainly on fish and sea mammals they were not forced to find new ways of supporting there communities
1. "[in] the North America of 1492, only the Aztecs of Mexico constituted an imperial power capable of governing multiple cities and their peoples by command" (page 18).
ReplyDeleteThis quote relates to the idea of hierarchy and government throughout the New World. In class we discussed the differences between the governments that had been established in the Old WOrld and if there was any, what type of governments would we have seen in the New World. Many people from the Old world would have no thought to the fact that natives could create a type of government to command it's people. Taylor explains in this very sentence that at least one of the tribes/groups was able to. And did they not only control one city, but multiple. This also shows that the Indians were not as uncivilized as thought to be.
2. "Although shrunken in number and shaken by catastrophe, the native peoples proved remarkably resilient and resourceful in adapting to their difficult new circumstances" (page 49).
Not alone does he address the idea of change, but he also touches upon the fact that the natives were built upon strength. In class we touched upon all the differences between the two worlds, and in this sentence, Taylor address most of them. The New World was being taken over by the Old World and through it all, the natives were bale to maintain who they were. Yes there were difficulties for them regarding new food, animals, farming, religions, and customs/values; many natives were dying and yet they learned to "adapt" and survived through the tough times.
"From the start he treated the Caribbean Islands and their Taino inhabitants exactly as the Spanish had treated the Canaries and the Guanche-as places and people to be rendered into commercial plantations worked by forced labor. He rationalized that such treatment would benefit the Indians by exposing them to Christian salvation and Hispanic civilization” (35).
ReplyDeleteAfter this quote, Taylor quotes Columbus describing the Natives basically as savages that need order and discipline. When I read this passage, I immediately thought of the way that Americans treated their African-American slaves. The slaves were treated as property, and the Americans were doing them a favor by taking the slaves out of their “savage” lifestyles in Africa and exposing them to Christianity in the United States. Columbus and the Spaniards paved the way for the next 350 years of slavery in the United States, and I believe it is possible that if when the Spaniards had arrived, had they not immediately began treating the Natives as slaves, this country could have avoided a lot of turmoil.
“In sum, native peoples and their nature experienced an invasion not just of foreign people, but also of their associated livestock, microbes, vermin, and weeds” (49).
Taylor here draws an interesting metaphor. Every single being or object that entered the Americas carried with it something that would increase the “invasion”. What is interesting about this is that Columbus and the Spaniards believed that they were helping the Natives to better their lives by bringing things like hay, pigs, bees, horses, and many other goods. Although now all of those are considered staples of life here, they were foreign to America in the 1400s. Columbus did the opposite of helping the Natives-he simply lowered their life expectancy and made their shorter lives more difficult and filled with strife.
"Both the Anasazi and the Hohokam manifested, to a varying degree, the influence of central Mexico, the preeminent cultural hearth of the country" (P12). Here Taylor argues that these two societies were the backbone, of what is now central Mexico, to its traditions. They had a form of currency, were taught by Mesoamericans how to weave cloth, and had ball courts like those found in present day Mexico.
ReplyDelete"Capitalist societies compel much more work from common people and extract far more energy and matter from nature than do the less ambitious economies of aboriginal peoples subscribing to animism" (P21). Here, Taylor is arguing that societies like those of the Europeans use more of their natural resources that the natives use sparingly. The want and need of these resources may be the reason behind why things such as power and greed came to be. This is also why Thomas Morton observed them as living a more free and happy life.
These relate to our larger discussions in class because the Europeans implanted their version of freedom into the Americas, pushing out what may have been the more free ways of Native Americans. Also, the ways of the Anasazi and Hohokam suggest that they do have historical backgrounds and the world before 1942 should not be referred to as prehistoric.
One of the interesting points that caught my attention from this weeks reading was the topic of Columbus and how it described his actions of discovering america in a such a way that has never really been taught just because we are brought up to think a certain way about him. For example on page 35 when columbus was quoted with how the natives should be treated. " they do not have arms and they are all naked, and of no skill in arms and so very cowardly that a thousand would not stand against three armed spaniards . And so they are fit to be ordered about and made to work, plant, and do everything else that may be needed and build towns and be taught our customs, and to go about clothed". This was surprising to me because i had never read anything that blunt about columbus and also what struck me as interesting was that fact that columbus and the spanish crown were such devoted catholics that they some how justified how they treated the natives because they feared for them to spend the rest of their lives in hell. And could not just sit back and let them go on living the way did. Just seemed very contradictory to the religious beliefs of catholicism when a main principle of the religion in a sense is treat others the way you want to be treated.
ReplyDeleteSpain pioneered transatlantic voyages, thanks to the aggressive ambition, religious mysticism, and navigational prowess of the Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus" (p. 32-33)
ReplyDeleteI found this quote interesting because most history books present information like that as facts, when in truth history is only relatively true. The statement that Columbus was from Genoa, which there is evidence that he is, but there is also evidence that he is not and they fail to acknowledge that. In the book im reading "Lies my teacher told me" they say "Columbus was not able to write in italian even when writing t people in Genoa" so the question presents itself why can he write in his own language? there are probably many known and unknown reasons why but this shows that history has many discrepancies that are often over looked.
"The new colony was supposed to feed itself, Recoup the costs by remitting hides gold, sugar and slaves to Spain" (P.36)
I found this interesting because most of the Slaves brought from Haiti died from European sicknesses on the way back or in Spain. And although at first Columbus couldn't find the gold he was looking for because the natives threw it all in the river, when he did find it it put places that exported gold like Guinea out of business and the only thing they could export after that was Salves. so in turn Columbus was indirectly the catalyst for the surplus of slaves coming out of Africa