This week explores the concept of "conquest" and early globalization. During the 16th century, many Native societies of the Americas experienced various forms of conquest and colonialism. Conquests, though, were sometimes ambivalent and not so clear cut.
At the same time, the foundation of the U.S. is not only built on conquest, but the exchange of ideas and goods.
Points of entry:
"Devil's Miner" website:
The account of Cabeza de Vaca, an early Spanish explorer kidnapped and sold into slavery for 7 years provides a fascinating window into the more "ambiguous" conquests that occurred during this period. See the link below for this account:
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?
"The acquistion of so much gold and silver rescued the Spanish(and by extension all of Europe) from their previous imbalance of trade with Asia, enabling the purchase of unprecedented quantities of Far Eastern spices and cloth." (P.63)
ReplyDeleteThis fact, more or less, exemplifies Europe's move to the core of the world, as opposed to being on the periphery. Moreover, it enabled the Europeans to establish more centers of trade, thus particulary in a polycentric world, this is contingent to their economic growth from 1500s to 1800s.
"In wooing investors and the crown, the West Country promoters aslo addressed a pervasive anxiety over the proliferation of poverty, vagrancy, and crime in sixteenth-century England. They pitched a radical program of overseas colonization by appealing conservative fear that the hierarchical society of England was eroding."
The advertisments serve as the guidelines, or at least the philosophical euphemisms, in which people sought the "New World." Although, it is plausible that religious zeal, and expansion are viable concerns, the colonists must have been concerned with settling, starting anew, and establishing a world free to exploit, expand economically, and more or less conquer. This ideological conceptions can be traced as the steps to "manifest destiny" which gave a idyllic purpose to the expansion, even though it was not inevitable or fate. It was murder, expansion, and even leaning towards displacement and genocide. Moreover, the colonization that stems from these ads illustrate a world open to the "grace," and ready to be at the English's will.
"Cabeza de Vaca's long, harsh, and unsettling experience had chastened and transformed the former conquistador...But Cabeza de Vaca had to reenter a society that valued what he had learned only as a means to further conquest" (Pg.70)
ReplyDeleteI really like this story, it relates to the whole idea of stepping into someone else's shoes and seeing what they go through. Cabeza de Vaca transformed his way of life to survive with the Indians. His views on native life helped, later, change policies that enabled the Spanish to conquer land from the natives. It eventually decreased the native deaths. The experience Cabeza de Vaca had, sort of set the foundation for a new way of conquering.
(English Trader) “They are marvailous subtle in their bargaines to save a penny…They will beate all markets and try all places, and runne twenty, thirty, yea forty miles, and more, and lodge in the Woods. To save six pence”
(Pg. 97)
As the Americas were being established, Europeans believed that the Indians were foolish, duty, dumb, and worth nothing. As they kept interacting with them, they realized they had qualities that were useful. Two major qualities were slavery and food. As they continued to communicate, the Indians began to trade their goods to European people. They didn’t like trading to non-native foes because of the spiritual value. That all changed as time went on. The interactions with each other broke apart some of the cultural differences between the two. Natives were slowly becoming more “modernized” compared to the European’s.
"By 1675 it had become abundantly clear that the Christian God could not protect the Indians from epidemic diseases, drought, and nomadic raiders, much less from exploitation by the Hispanics."(88).
ReplyDeleteThis qoute brings into play the main factors discussed in class such as religion, conquest and labor. The natives were learning no matter how well they adapted to the system imposed by Europeans, they were not being helped. They were submitting in many instances to their own inevitable death. The conversion of natives was done in order to bring the peoples together in a common idea so that working for the Europeans was not fought against but understood and done without struggle. This quote shows the natives realizing the truth of their situation. Conquest led to the many negative aspects of the natives lives and as discussed in class, labor and the exploitation of such was inevitable by the Europeans. There has to be a loser so that there can be a winner. The natives were not the latter.
"Previously, colonial officials of all empires had forbidden the sale of guns to Indians, even if allies, but as the fur trade grew more competitive, traders recognized the immense profits in selling what the Indians wanted most."(101-102)
The advancement of trade in the Americas is shown above. Trade was a way of life as argued throughout Taylor's chapters and this way of life continuously expanded in the early years of the Americas. By branching out to natives, the trade was no longer solely European. The oppurtunity for profit, which was the overall goal for a better life by the new settlers, had multiplied. The worry for safety was trumped by the opportunity for profit showing priorities during the times. The exchange of items was a topic discussed in class and is shown throughout the readings as well.
“To provide new slaves, Spanish military entrepreneurs raided the mainland of Central
ReplyDeleteAmerica, grabbing Indians for profitable sale to the miners and planters of the islands” (Taylor, 52).
-In this passage Taylor is describing how the Spanish had treated the Native Americans as if they were objects and property, rather than as actually human beings. This passage shows how slavery occurred in every part of the Americas, including Central and South America. Taylor shows how the Spanish did not have any respect for the Indians and worked them to death during horrid conditions. When any of the Indians would pass away during times of labor they would just be replaced by new Indians that were taken away from their homes and families. The improper way the Spanish were treating the Indians was also seen in the German video that we watch in class; where the Spanish were looking for the city of gold, El Dorado. In the movie the Spanish tied up the Indians in chains and forced them to carry cannons, supplies, and even people while exploring the Americas. The video also explained how many deaths had occurred from common diseases, which seems to be a constant theme in the early American exploration and civilizations.
“Preferring to explore for gold, the colonists expected the Indians to feed them…The colonists did not understand that the local Indians had scant surplus, raising little more than they needed every year” (Taylor, 131).
-In this passage Taylor is describing how the Natives used to fight back when the colonists would try and take their food. A lot of the colonists travelled to the New World in search of new opportunity, a new life, and religious freedom. But as a result of their migration to the west they resulted to enslaving innocent people, as well as taking their land and food. The colonists made their efforts to befriend the natives just so that they could capture them and use their resources for their own benefit. Taylor also describes the colonists’ effort to capture the head chief so that they can enslave all the Natives of their tribe. This passage ties in with the theme of racial superiority because the colonists felt that they could do anything to the local Natives so that their new town could thrive and prosper. It was alright for the colonists to succeed while the Natives were being robbed and killed because the colonists were from Europe, had weapons, had a financially upper hand, and had the concept of fear and power.
An aspect of colonization that I found interesting was the early settlers reliance on the natives for survival. Although Europeans deemed the native Americans culturally inferior, they retracted many uses from the Americans, not only for manual labor but also as a source of ideas and alliances. Taylor writes, "Trade, alliance and war entangled colonizers and natives in ways that they could not have predicted, could rarely control, and might not have chosen- had they had that luxury."(113) Essentially, although Europeans tried to separate themselves from the natives sociologically, this was impossible.
ReplyDeleteMore specifically, I was amazed by the Europeans alliances with the Americans in the northern regions. French trappers sided with the Montagnais, Algonkin and Huron in the north in order to establish lines of trade. Unlike the Spanish, the French learned the native languages of these tribes. Meanwhile, the Dutch established trade south with the Iroquois tribes, the sworn enemies of the Huron, Algokin and Montagnais. Taylor explains;
"Ironically, the French also came to depend upon Iroquois hostility as a barrier that kept the northern Indians from traveling south to trade with the Dutch...Because the northern Indians possessed better furs, they would, in the event of peace, become the preferred clients and customers of the Dutch, to the detriment of the Iroquois. as inferior suppliers of furs, the Iroquois had a perverse common interest with the French, an inferior source of manufactured goods. They both tacitly worked to keep apart the best suppliers of furs (the northern Indians) and of manufactures (the Dutch)." (106)
This quote explains the depth of the Europeans' reliance on the Americans for success in trading and survival. Without these competing alliances, the Dutch may very well have taken control over the fur trade of North America, rising above the French and establishing a more permanent empire in the Americas.
The exploitation of the natives began almost as soon as the colonists landed in America however, it was not long until it turned into slavery.
ReplyDelete"The Spanish desperately needed replacements to work their gold mines, cattle ranches and sugar plantations. To provide new slaves, spanish military entrepreneurs raided the mainland of Central America, grabbing Indians for profitable sale to the miners and planters of the islands."
with the vast amount of land and people wanting to expand and develop the new products , the demand for workers was high. The slave trade began as a result of this need and Natives were put to work in these mines and plantations. In class we watched two clips one of which was about the mine at potosi. This mine was discovered in the 1500's and was the largest silver deposit found in America. the video went on to say how 8 million people had died in this mine. imagine throughout the years all the slaves forced to work in these mines that would eventually claim their lives.
America turned out to be rich in minerals and the two most important were of course gold and silver. in the first 150 years of mining 181 tons of gold and 16,000 tons of silver. This was beneficial because it originally balanced out the trade with Asia. this was because Asia loved silver and used it for many things including their currency!
"But the gold and silver sent homeward was a mixed blessing. the infusion expanded the money supply faster than the growth of the goods and services contributing to a dramatic inflation of prices that spilled over into the rest of Europe."
Since their was more money than goods the prices were raised in order to balance the amount of currency however this had negative effects bringing about poverty. it also resulted in certain countries not trading especially with spain because of the insane prices. This lag of the spanish would turn ou to significantly weaken them
“The acquisition of so much gold and silver rescued the Spanish from their previous imbalance of trade with Asia, enabling the purchase of unprecedented quantities of Far Eastern spices and cloth” (Taylor, Pg 63)
ReplyDeleteThis quote all but exemplifies why the Spanish set out to conquer new lands in the first place. They had found the land of riches that they were hoping the Americas would be. Once they had the wealth this then opened up more lines of trade. This relates back to last weeks discussion about the Columbian exchange and got traded and why. The relatively quick acquisition of a lot of wealth caused problems for the European economy. Inflation grew faster than expansion causing a devaluation of Spanish goods, in turn leading to more imports. This quote also reminded me of the film we saw in class, The Devil’s Miner, because in the movie they gave the Tio Cocoa leaves, something that was a valuable part of their culture, in exchange for his protection. The Spanish was the same way. They gave 1/5 of all of their profits from the mining of precious metals to the king, and in return he supplied them goods, food, and protection.
“Tobacco’s profits increased the value of indentured servants, which stimulated the flow of emigrants t Virginia.” (Taylor, Pg 134)
During this section of the text, Taylor is talking about the immense profits that could be made from tobacco during the time period. After many other exports had failed, colonists were desperate for a profitable export. Once citizens were able to own there own land, they discovered the lucrative business of exporting tobacco. The large profits that could be made led to an increase in the number of slaves coming to America. The reason for this was that if an indentured servant could survive his time, he was granted free land that he could then use to grow this cash crop. The reason I chose this quote was because it brought to my mind the idea of the blending of cultures, like in the music we listened to during class. Tobacco, at first was a largely Indian crop; the white Europeans then used the crop to export it to England. Meanwhile the tobacco was bringing more and more slaves over to the new Americas. It shows how one crop acted as a mixing pot combining many cultures in order to most effectively market the product.
Danielle Quinones
ReplyDelete"But the conquistadores held that their greed served other, nobler motives: to extend the realm of their monarch and to expand the church of their God." (pg.58)
Taylor is arguing that the Spanish used their religion to back up everything they were doing. They felt they were "saving" the natives by conquering them and using violence and force to make them believe in their religion. All throughout class religion has been a theme brought up as something very important to the victors and they justified themselves with it. It was part of their idea of expansion.
"The Spanish crown longed to consolidate an empire in a New World where almost everything was in violent flux. Ruthless tireless and resourceful soldiers the conquistadores were abysmal administrators ill suited to govern their gains. Their smash and grab victories were no guarantee of enduring loyalty and substantial revenue from the conquered Indians." (pg.59)
Taylor is arguing that the Spanish may have been better at conquering but they did not know what do do from there. They were so invested in wealth, expansion, and religion that they did not think of the broader picture. They were unaware especially of their location. Just like in the movie clip we saw, Aguirre, the Europeans were losing weapons and looked frazzled and lost while making the natives and slaves do their dirty work. The victors let their riches blind and overtake them.
"But the Spaniards' greatest single advantage came from their unintentional and microscopic allies: the pathogens of diseases new to the Indians."
ReplyDeleteI thought about the film we saw in class, the one with the Spanish Conquistadors whose name escapes me, and how ironic it was that the weapons they brought really slowed them down while the pathogens they brought did most of the work. The ideas of Christianity brought forth, like Taylor mentioned back in chapter one, a sense of disenchantment in the world, as well as a feeling of superiority.
The next quote deals with Francisco Vasquez de Coronad, a Spanish conquistador who was told by the Pueblo peoples of a city filled with riches in an effort to get rid of his crew who raped their women and plundered their food, and his fate:
"Demoralized by repeated disappointments and a severe riding injury, Coronado cut his looses and returned to Northern Mexico in April 1549... H even endured the indignity of an official prosecution for his abuse of the Pueblo. Unsuccessful conquistadores enjoyed neither the riches nor the impunity that success had bought Cortes, whose greater crimes had been obscured by his great conquest."
I like being surprised by these stories. I don't really hear much about the Native Americans tricking the Conquistadors into following dead leads on a city that doesn't exist. It also emphasizes the point of the Spanish not having an easy time conquering these folk that on some occasions managed to outsmart them.
" Greed was a prerequisite for pursuing the hard life of a conquistador".
ReplyDelete(Taylor 58)
This particular statement stood out to me because Taylor implies that men were expected to have negative morals before joining this particular group. Normally, we look for the positive aspects in someone before allowing them to join in a particular job. However in the eyes of the conquistadores, a person's attitude of greed and violence were in their eyes positive. Gold was the central reason of being a conquistador. Taylor explains how Cortes explained his love for gold to the Aztecs. They also felt that their need for gold would allow them to bring their church into a brighter light.
My next point deals with two quotes explained by Taylor that appeared to me contradictory.
"Appalled by the violence practice by the conquistadores, the missionary friars argued that PEACEFUL PERSUASION would more certainly convert the natives to Christianity and Hispanic civilization". (Taylor 59)
" Priests oversaw the DESTRUCTION of native temples, prohibited most traditional dances, and obliged natives to build new churches and the adopt the rituals of the Catholic faith".
These two quotes seem, in my opinion, contradictory because at first the priests believed that they would be able to effectively cooperate with the natives by means of "peaceful persuasion" but the text later states the priests observed the "destruction" of the temples. Destroying the temples sounds more like a violent action rather than a peaceful one. The priests appear to be forcing the religion on the natives and going against their view of peace.
After watching the Devil's Miner the idea of mining and the conquest of metals showed us what it did to those people who were conquered by the Spaniards. However as Taylor would prove the mining of precious minerals would be a great thing for Spain but it would also be an outsourced essential job that Spain needed at home. Taylor would write "The American bullion may have made the Spanish nation rich, in the aggregate, but it worsened the already hard lot of the peasant and laborers - together the great majority of the population. The American bullion also weakened manufacturing in Spain, by inflating the prices of Spanish-made goods."
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting topic that we learned was the religious aspect of the Natives.
"The Pueblo peoples were willing to add Christian beliefs and practices, as they understood them, to their own supernatural traditions."
This was striking to me because the Spaniards came to the Americas to try and convert as many people as they could. However, no matter how much they tried many of the natives just simply add some aspects of Christianity into their worship.
"Columbus hoped to convert the Asians to Christianity and to recruit their bodies and their wealth to assist Europeans in a final crusade to crush Islam and reclaim Jeruselem."
ReplyDeleteColumbus' reasons for hoping to convert the natives of the new found land were to better contain and enslave the new race in addition to the reasons stated above. To make it easier to syncretize the native beleif system with that of Christianity it became nessesary for the natives to somehow already be included in the Christian religion. So they had so that the Virgin Mary decided to present herself as a stain on a tapestry to a native man. And like this they were included in Christianity, the new and very important part of Christianity being revealed to a native man.
"The sixteenth century Spanish Empire terrified its European rivals, which felt vulnerable to Spanish domination" Pg 51
ReplyDeleteTaylor is conveying the feeling that all of the countries in Europe felt once Spain discovered the new world. Taylor also tells us how the other countries resorted to robbing boats with Spanish treasure. The reasons that they robbed the boats instead of declaring war on the Spanish is because they had so much wealth and military power.
"But the gold and silver they sent homeward was a mixed blessing." Pg 63
When Taylor calls the wealth a mixed blessing he is saying that is wasn't as good for the Spanish as you would expect it to be. Because of the gold and silver Spain's economy functioned for many more years than it should have. Also when the minerals ran out the economy collapsed beyond repair. This is what Taylor meant.
1. "[the] Spanish desperately needed replacements to work their gold mines, cattle ranches, and sugar plantations. To provide new slaves, Spanish military entrepreneurs raided the mainland of Central America..." (page 52).
ReplyDeleteIn the Aguirre movie, we saw slaves traveling with the Spanish. Taylor states that not only did the Spanish keep the slaves for themselves, but they sent them to work. The Spanish were going to do all that they could in order to cover more land. The slaves traveled with them and did the hard labor, while some stayed back at the already conquered land and kept control of that. The use of slaves became an advantage to the Spanish because more things could be accomplished, plus they were making money off selling the natives.
2. "Between 1500 and 1650 the Spanish shipped from America to Europe about 181 tons of gold and 16,000 tons of silver" (page 63).
Both movies reflected on the themes of mining and minerals such as gold and silver. In the Devil's Miner, the young boys mined for silver as did the previous men before them, because the mountain that they worked on had beed around for centuries. If an area was low in silver, it could have been from the fact that the Spanish conquered that land in the beginning and had mined out of it first. This also lets us know that the Spanish were successful on the expedition of Central America. In Aguirre, the rumor of 'El Dorado' drove the expedition to find this gold city. Not only were these resources making Spain wealthy, but it was also making them greedy. These minerals were one of the main focuses behind the conquering of the America's.
"To obtain firewod, fresh water, and room to sun-dry their fish or to render whales into oil, the fishermen and whalers established temporary camps on shore in sheltered coves." It wwas during cold times and they were thrilled to find "Indian hunters wearing attractive furs:beaver, fox, otter, lynx, and martin." This was the beginning of the fur trade, because the natives wanted food and supplies and the europeans just wanted to be warm.
ReplyDelete“Addressing propertied Englishmen, the colonial promoters announced they had an easy solution for England’s social woes: exported to a new colony in Virginia, the idle and larcenous could be put to work raising commodities for transport to, and sale in, England” (Taylor, 122). Here Taylor is suggesting that the poor and unemployed of England were told, by the colonial promoters, that they could escape their tough life in English cities, primarily London, by going to work in America. Taylor argues that by doing so, the promoters could both control and employ the poor, while generating new wealth and power to England from Virginia. The promoters also gave a utopian view of the Americas, and Virginia, to those willing to go; while their departure was only promised to decrease their life span.
ReplyDelete“Preferring to explore for gold, the colonists expected the Indians to feed them. After all, the promoters had promised the natives would welcome the English with generosity and submission” (Taylor, 131). Here Taylor suggests that the colonists expected much of the Indians which in turn, played a part in their rebelliousness against them. Taylor implies that at first, the colonists were interested in the get rich quick schemes that they had heard so much about and made the Americas famous. Searching for gold and silver the colonizers ignored the basic needs of food and water that was expected to be supplied by the natives. The natives crops, running dangerously low for feeding just themselves, had no choice but to rebel and cut off supply.
" Greed was a prerequisite for pursuing the hard life of a conquistador".
ReplyDelete(Taylor 58)
I agree with what CHristian said, but i also think that Taylor is also explaining the attitude that a conquistador needed. It was this greed for gold that would keep them alive, because if you are going to a new land you need to be ready for anything, and thats what this greed does for a conquistador. Also a conquistador needs to be greedy because if they return to their country empty handed it will be looked at as a failure and waste of money. This being said, they might not get another opportunity to go back to the new world, because they are not the ones paying for the expeditions, rich nobles and kings are.
"Between 1500 and 1650 the Spanish shipped from America to Europe about 181 tons of gold and 16,000 tons of silver" (Taylor 63).
With this, europe became a major player in the economic world. Before they didn't have enough money to trade with Asia and so in many ways european countries were way behind Asian countries. But with 16,000 tons of silver they could trade effectively with China. Because remember during this time, China was obsessed with silver, i think that their economy was even backed by silver. So now Asian goods became more prevalent in Europe.
"During the sixteenth century, the spanish created the most formidable empire in European history by conquering and colonizing the vast stretches of the Americans." Pg 51
ReplyDeleteThis passage reminds me of the photograph we saw in class on Monday with the Spanish conquering the Native Americans. They robbed them of their land and freedom and create an empire that they approved of.
"Ruthless, tireless, and resourceful soldiers, the conquistadores wee abysmal administrators ill suited to govern their gains." pg 59
In this passage, Taylor is arguing that the Spanish were extremely poor administrators who didn't know what to do with everything after they conquered it. The spanish were so caught up in getting rich and expanding their land, as well as religion, that they didn't think what to do after they achieved it. In the movie, they made the Natives carry things down the hill, even though they were weak. Once they Natives started to drop things, the Spanish would beat them for basically no reason because they didn't know what to do.
“Extolling the Spanish king, a priest exulted, “If the Romans were able to rule the world simply by ruling the Mediterranean, what of the man who rules the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, since they surround the world?” (Taylor 51)
ReplyDeleteIn this quote, Taylor was showing the importance of ruling America in the eyes of the Spaniards. Since the Mediterranean had already been ruled over and they seen the great affect that had, ruling the Americas had seem to be the ultimate prize in their eyes. This passage had caught my attention because the photo along with it was similar to the ones that had been displayed in class.
“At its core in central Mexico and Peru, the Spanish empire was phenomenally rich, in the mining of precious materials.” (Taylor 63)
In class, both of the movies we seen showed the importance of of mining and minerals which is why this quote caught my attention. In Aguirre, the city of “El Dorado” is what led the Spaniards on their search to find the city of gold. The minerals that they were searching for was their main focus for the conquering the America's. Also, in the Devil's Miner, it showed the young boy mining for silver displaying that this was their only was of living and survival. The image of the mountain they were mining also came up in an image showed with the Virgin Mary at the top showing its significance.
"After the relative price stability of the fifteenth century, Europeans experienced a fivefold rise in prices during the sixteenth century" (Pg 63)
ReplyDeleteTaylor writes about how the gold and silver coming from America created instability in Europe. Especially in Spain, people began facing hardship as prices rose, and their wages did not. This shows that conquest in America did not always have a good effect on Europe. Although the Europeans enjoyed being able to join and be equal in trade, the gold and silver was a bitter sweet gift.
"...Spanish military entrepreneurs raided the mainland of Central America, grabbing Indians for profitable sale to the miners and planters of the islands." (Pg 52)
Taylor explains how the Spanish exploited Indians to use as slaves. As the diseases the Spanish brought with them killed Indians, they only went and grabbed more. The slaves continued to die, and the Spanish continued to kidnap more. This angered the King of Spain because he wanted to keep the Indians alive so he could tax them and convert them to Christianity.
'[T]he rituals of torture and adoption had spread to their Algonquian neighbors to become common throughout the northeast..."(103). This passage illustrates just how bad the dependency on European trade would become for the Natives of North America, in that the disease, threats of rival nations/settlers and the invasion of foreign territories by Natives to stock up their trade value had on the Indian population. Once these dangers reaped members, the tribes invoked these rites more and more in order to replenish their numbers, this eventually became a never ending cycle all cause by one: the ritual itself and two: by the competition for trade made by the dependency on trade with European countries. This enabled the Europeans to turn their enemies against one another while taking advantage of them as well. "Rather than risking a breakdown in trade, the traders grudgingly accepted Indian trade protocols, restrained their prices, and cultivated alliances"(93). This passage is interesting in that it's almost a reversal of roles. The Indians now have the advantage over the settlers, and although this would soon change with the Indian dependency on the products of the Europeans, it was indeed true that the Natives controlled the European prices, much different from our lessons earlier in the week.
ReplyDelete"The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was the greatest setback that natives ever inflicted on European expansion in North America," (p.89). This rebellion was the one event that determined the final magnitude of European imperialism in the 16th and 17th centuries. Because of the revolt, the Europeans were forced to reexamine methods of conquest or colonization. The revolt was the best example of a settlement gone wrong. The friars constantly abused the natives. Any governor that was the least bit lenient to the natives' beliefs was instantly excommunicated. The friars also burned several images that were symbolic or spiritual to the Pueblo. All of these factors over a course of eighty years led to the most important native revolt in American history. The Pueblo leader, Pope, also promised the natives with a wife for each kill a native would commit. Overall, this taught European aristocrats to carefully consider their resources in a land, whether they are crops or even human beings.
ReplyDelete"Ironically, the French also came to depend upon Iroquois hostility as a barrier that kept the northern Indians from traveling south to trade with the Dutch," (p. 106). This quote shows the importance of war in a way that many would not immediately recognize. Ideally, the main focus of war is to obliterate the enemy as soon as possible so that no one may be able to claim one country or nation's resources. However, this situation became an exception to the rule. Both factions did not necessarily like each other. However, they had to keep the theme of war present in order to either scare any outside parties or discourage them from entering potentially fatal trades to the original two nation-states involved. It is like those old pro-wrestling shows where the good guy teams up with his enemy in order to combat a force that is a threat to both men. In fact without war, New France may not have survived at all. The Iroquois did not want to immediately involve rival factions, so this situation worked for them as well.
"Consequently, the priests were in a state of probation as the Pueblo tried to determine whether they benefited or suffered from the Christian power over the spirit world." (Pg. 85)
ReplyDeleteI found this quote to be interesting to me because at this time, some of the indians were becoming Christians. This caused great confusion and other problems amongst the indian priests which led to some indian tribes split up.
"Each colonial group pretended to be the truer friend of the Indians, and each denounced the other as selfish exploiters." (Pg. 86)
At this time, the Franciscans both needed and resented the Hispanic colonists. Since the relations between the missionaries and colonists were very tense at this time, the colonists competed with friars for control over Indian labor. In my perspective, this quote displays the rough times that the Indians had to go through and experience as they could not trust most people especially the colonists.
"there was then no sickness; they had no aching bones; they had then no high fever; they had then no smallpox; they had then no burning chest they had then no abdominal pain; they had then no consumption;they had then no head ache. at that time the course of humanity was orderly. the foreigners made it other wise." pg57
ReplyDeletethis is in reference to the new diseases brought to the "new world" by the europeans. even though they had superior technology and military ability, the true reason to there success in conquering the native american was from the new diseases they brought. There really advantage was not related to there advancement as a society but because they came from a completely different part of the world and practice different ways of raising livestock that made it possible for such an easy conquering of massive native empires.
"these Italians, although they are not indians, have to be treated as such, so that they will understand that we are in charge of them and not they in charge of us."-King Phillip pg64
this shows that the amount of power that the spanish monarch had believe he had gain throught the conquering if the americas. It shows that spain began to believe that they are the ones to rule the world and to do so they need to treat all opponents in a similar fashion to the way they treated the indians
"The population of about 200,000 dwarfed the largest city in Spain, Seville, which had only 70,000 inhabitants. Accustomed to the din, clutter, and filth of European cities, Spaniards marveled at the relative cleanliness and order of the Aztec metropolis." (p. 53)
ReplyDeleteHere, Taylor uses the example of the Mexican city of Tenochtitlan to further illustrate the distinct differences between Europe and the New World. In class, we discussed the notion of the Americas as a "virgin landscape" from the perspective of conquistadors and colonists, and while pre-contact Tenochtitlan wasn't exactly untouched, there was a marked difference between the Aztec city and what the Spaniards were used to.
"Every mission also had a new Christian cemetery that quickly filled with the Indian victims of epidemics. In 1659 the governor reported that ten thousand mission Indians had recently died of measles. Conversion bought safety from Spanish muskets but not from Spanish microbes." (p. 79)
In this quote, Taylor talks about Floridian missions. He explains the relationship between the natives and the Spanish in its difficult truth, that the treatment of the natives was thrown into especially harsh relief during times of mass hardship.
“Vindictive in victory, the Spanish threw the captured Aztec priests to the war dogs to be torn apart. The victors also tortured Aztec nobles to obtain their hidden gold, later executing many as “traitors” to their new king. Branded on the face or lip as possessions, thousands of common captives were set to work raising a Spanish capital, Mexico City, on the ruins of their own. The slaves reworked the stones from the great pyramids into a Christian cathedral and the remains of Moctezuma’s palace into a residence for Cortés.” (p.54) Cortés used the Aztecs at their own personal disposal and used them to do their harsh labors. After Cortés conquered the Aztecs, he turned them all into slaves and killed the rest that were higher up and were potential threats to his supremacy. Taylor is arguing that the Spaniards are principally crude towards the Aztecs and just want their city for the glory and prestige that would come to them. Also, since the Aztec city was something they had never seen or encountered before, they wanted it for their own, so they took it by force.
ReplyDelete“While the best-positioned natives sought to control the supply of furs, they also worked against comparable efforts by Europeans to monopolize their end of the trade. Just as the Indians employed violence to constrain the trade for their own benefit, Dutch, English, and French traders exploited their national enmity toward one another. The violent competition also divided traders of the same nation, primarily pitting official monopolies against smaller rivals.” (p.99) Every country wanted control of each other and their trading but each country fought to keep their own control of trading and their countries. The natives began to trade with the Europeans and that is how they became introduced to trading furs and other supplies. Taylor is saying that everyone fought to have complete control over the whole trading enterprise in order to create a monopoly, and control every factor of the business. If they had complete control, they could control the prices without any competition from other people.
"By 1550, Spain dominated the lands and peoples around the Caribbean and deep into both North and South America: a domain more than ten times larger than Spain"(51).
ReplyDeleteAs Spain enters the new world and continues to substain their dominance, they are able to conquer more land by their advancement in technology. Since many of the places they are traveling have been untouched, besides the native people living there, these new lands are seen as an expansion to their thriving empire. Taylor also goes into explaining that the acheivements of the Spanish and their empire frightened the Europeans. This lead to many other countries attacking the colonies to take some of Spain's power.
"By 1616 the Virgina Company had transported more than seventeen hundred people to the Chesapeake and spent well over 50,000 euros- an immense amount for that century- yet all it had to show for the investment was an unprofitable town of 350 diseased and hungry colonists"(133). Taylor goes into very descriptive detail when describing the situations and lifestyles that occur throughout the book. Although the Spanish believed this was a solid and well made decision, it proved to be a loss because the only thing gained was diseased people. For the amount of money being traded back and forth this was not a well though out investment.
As we talked about in class, Spain was able to use their technology and advancements to explore more land but they also brought disease. This wiped out a nation of people that lived on the land for centuries untouched by the old world.
"Greed was a prerequisite for pursuing the hard life of a conquistador Cortes meant to be disingenuous when he assured the Aztecs, "I and my companions suffer from a disease of the heart which can be cured only with gold.""(58)
ReplyDeleteTaylor explains that Cortez has this love for gold and that he absolutely needs gold. Gold was the essential part of being a conquistador and Cortez would almost do anything to have it. He wanted to bring his morals and religious beliefs into this New World. As we talked about in class is that everyone is coming to this New World with all these new ideas and taking over when they do not realize that there are already people here. They are invading, essentially, their land.
"These Italians, although they are not Indians, have to be treated as such, so that they will understand that we are in charge of them and not they in charge of us."(64)
This was interesting to me because this shows how Taylor is explaining the amount of power pretty much King Phillip II thought he had claimed. The Spaniards had believed that they were the power house at the time and they ruled everything so they treated the Italians like minorities as if they were better, essentially.
"Instead of humbling the Spanish, the city's wealth inflamed their desire to conquer, plunder, and enslave.They saw justification in the religious idols and human sacrifices that so horrified them."(53)
ReplyDelete-This quote refers to the horror the Spanish felt after witnessing the ritual human sacrifices of the Aztec peoples. This clash of religious and cultural beliefs is a recurring theme throughout history. As a result, the Spanish felt justified in their overtaking of the Aztec peoples. The Spanish used Christianity as a moral shield to excuse their destruction of Tenochtitlan. It is ironic how the Spanish slaughter of Aztec people mirrors that of the religious ritual from which stemmed the horrific attack. Taylor seeks to emphasize this irony and focus on the complete destruction of the city of Tecochtitlan.
"The increasing racial and cultural complexity of New Spain challenged the stark and simple dualities of the conquest:Spaniard and Indian, Christian and pagan, conqueror and conquered." (61)
-I feel as though Taylor's primary purpose for this statement is to insinuate that any challenges between the Natives and the Spaniards was a direct result of theses labels placed by the Spaniards. If anything the Spaniards tried to reinforce these dualities as a means of showing superiority and cause for colonization. The only sign of attempt to change the Natives is the presence of missionaries and the short lived conversion of some Native peoples. I can only assume that had these distinctions not been made the relationship between the Native peoples and the Spaniards would have been better. That is, if the Spaniards even desired such a relationship.
“Dreading upheaval, the propertied longed for a stable society in which everyone had a master to direct labor and supervise morals. Acting on that longing, Parliament authorized local authorities to whip, brand, and even hang vagrants who returned where they were unwanted. But ousting vagrants and executing thieves did little to ease the sources of discontent and anxiety” (122).
ReplyDeleteThis situation (England in the 1600s) sounds remarkably similar to the Spaniards coming into the Americas and the treatment they imposed on the natives they encountered. It almost seems like a theme of the century-a group of high class citizens in a society (whether they belong there or not), and simply forcing out the lower class citizens. Even the society’s government encouraged it. The Spanish government did not deny the conquistadores the right to torture the natives.
“Preferring to explore for gold, the colonists expected the Indians to feed them. After all, the promoters had promised that the natives would welcome the English with generosity and submission. And what was the purpose of being civilized Christians with superior arms and armor if not to command the weaker heathen peoples of the new lands?” (131)
This quote goes back to the Columbian Exchange, and the exchanges of religion and food between the Europeans and the natives. The colonists expected the natives to treat them like royalty, since they believed they were doing the natives a favor by arriving in the “new world” and attempting to convert them to Christianity. The Americas had become well known in Afro-Eurasia as “the land of milk and honey” – a place brimming with resources available to anyone who wanted them.
I think one of the more important quotes in the chapter readings happens on pg. 119 at the end of the second paragraph. It describes the goals and the achievements the English wanted to accomplish by their exploits of the new world it said"...the elder hakluyt succinctly summarized their goals: 1 to plant Christianity. 2 to trafficke and 3 to conquer. This was a clear outline of the goals they wanted to meet due to their traveling. Nowhere in their goals does it say to plunder, rape, and mane similar to how the Spanish attacked their new conquest. to me it symbolized a new level of compassion that at this point had never been shown to the Native American peoples, the English didn't just come their to conquer and take what they could get, the English and french especially wanted to expand but they also wanted to learn about the new culture they had encountered. They were interested in absorbing as much as they could about the new peoples.
ReplyDeleteThe second most important quote in the chapter readings happened on page 59 of chapter 3. Taylor discussed the compassion and kindness of the English friars he stated that "...appalled by the violence practiced by the conquistadors,the missionary friars argued that peaceful persuasion would more certainly convert the natives to Christianity and Hispanic culture." This quote further reinforcements my thoughts about the English and how, yes they did want to convert the Native Americans but they wanted to do it through reasoning and do it peacefully instead of by force by the predecessors. they wanted to convert them because they wanted to spread the values of their religion but they also wanted to save their lives in the christen religion it is your bound duty to save the souls that have not been saved and that and that alone was the only reason for their zeal. I think this quote is most important because it shows that not all early American settlers were out for wealth and power some actually just wanted to help.
"micmac obtained metal weapons and small sail boats whack the employed to attack the indians of New England" page 98
ReplyDeleteThis passage shows the the trading with the French in Canada gave the indians in that area new technology that other indian tribes did not. This gave the incentive and new motivation to attack other indians for resources, specifically beaver furs which was in high demand at the time by the europeans. Indian in this time became largely dependent on these new commodities as described later in the chapter.
"The pueblo revolt of the 1680 was the greatest set back that natives ever inflicted on European expansion in north america" page 89
This passage describes how Indians from many tribes banded together and attacked the spanish settlers in New Mexico. In this one revolt the native indians destroyed 80 years of colonial work done by the spanish, the most devastating event that the natives have ever inflected apron the new colonists.
"Puritan values helped the colonists prosper in a demanding land." Pg 159
ReplyDeleteColonists in New England prospered in an incredible hard land to live in because of their work ethic that could not be challenged. The hard work that the people of the colony practiced helped make them an integral part of the Americas.
"In fact almost no religious instruction took place on a Barbados or Carolina plantation." Pg 231
The fact that no religious training was given to the slaves on these plantations shows that it was really all about making money and not about converting people to a different religion.
"West indies produce worth 674,518 compared with 207131 obtained from all north american main land colonies" pg 205
ReplyDeleteThis shows how valuable the Caribbean was to the British Empire, because of the salves that worked the land on the sugar fields what they produced was turned into 100% profit. Other colonies had slaves as well but not nearly as much as the Caribbean did at this time.
"During the summer of 1675 the indian rebels assailed 52of the regions 90 towns destroying 12" pg 200
In the beginning the indians did well in damaging the colonists with their warfare that the colonist were not used to. Eventually the colonists had other indians help them in there efforts to defeat them. This shows how colonists took advantage of the indians any chance they got because in the future the same indians that helped them were prosecuted.