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2: When Worlds Collide, 1492-1590.
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In 1580 essayist Montaigne talked with several American Indians at the French court who "noticed among us some men gorged to the full with things of every sort while their other halves were beggars at their doors, emaciated with hunger and poverty," and "found it strange that these poverty-striken halves should suffer such injustice, and that they did not take the others by the throat or set fire to their houses." [Text on internet]
“I remember in the plaza where some of their oratories stood, there were piles of human skulls so regularly arranged that one could count them, and I estimated them at more than a hundred thousand. I repeat again that there were more than one hundred thousand of them. And in another part of the plaza there were so many piles of dead men's thigh bones that one could not count them; there was also a large number of skulls strung between beams of weed, and three priest who had charge of these bones and skulls were guarding them. We had occasion to see many such things later on as we penetrated into the country for the same custom was observed in al the towns, including those of Tlaxcala.” Bernal Diaz del Castillo: The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico (1520s)
“When the Caciques, priests, and chieftains were silenced, Cortés ordered all the idols which we had overthrown and broken to pieces to be taken out of sight and burned. Then eight priests who had charge of the idols came out of a chamber and carried them back to the house whence they had come, and burned them. These priests wore black cloaks like cassocks and long gowns reaching to their feet, and some had hoods like those worn by canons, and other had smaller hoods like those worn by Dominicans, and they wore their hair very long, down to the waist, with some even reaching down to the feet, covered with blood and so matted together that it could not be separated, and their ears were cut to pieces by way of sacrifice, and they stank like sulphur, and they had another bad smell like carrion, and as they said, and we learnt that it was true, these priests were the sons of chiefs and they abstained from women, and they fasted on certain days, and what I saw them eat was the pith of seeds of cotton when the cotton was being cleaned, but they may have eaten other things which I did not see." Bernal Diaz del Castillo
Chapter Focus Questions • Discuss the roles played by the rising merchant class, the new monarchies, Renaissance humanism, and the Reformation in the development of European colonialism. • Define a frontier of inclusion. In what ways does this description apply to the Spanish empire in the Americas? • Make a list of the major exchanges that took place between the Old World and the New World in the centuries following the European invasion of America. Discuss some of the effects these exchanges had on the course of modern history. • In what ways did colonial contact in the Northeast differ from contacts in the Caribbean and Mexico?
New World foods -- potatoes, maize, squash, pumpkins, and beans
Introduction • Alfred W. Crosby’s “ecological imperialism” • Colombian [intercontinental] exchange • Bartolome de las Casas • Inner light, predestination, original sin, the elect • Headright, enclosure • Movie: The Mission • Encomienda, “frontier of inclusion” • Ignacio Bernal, Los Folkloristas, Nuevo Canto
"The Cruelties used by the Spaniards on the Indians," from a 1599 English edition of The Destruction of the Indies by Bartolomé de las Casas. Las Casas passionately denounced the Spanish conquest and defended the rights of the Indians. These images were copied from a series of engravings produced by Theodore de Bry that accompanied Las Casas's original edition.
"[The Indians]. . . have no religion, at least no temples. They live in large communal bell-shaped buildings, housing up to 600 people at one time . . .made of very strong wood and roofed with palm leaves. . . . They prize bird feathers of various colors, beads made of fishbones, and green and white stones with which they adorn their ears and lips, but they put no value on gold and other precious things. They lack all manner of commerce, neither buying not selling, and rely exclusively on their natural environment for maintenance. They are extremely generous with their possessions and by the same token covet the possessions of their friends and expect the same degree of liberality. . . . “ BishopLas Casas
". . . while I was in Cuba, 7000 children died in three months. Some mothers even drowned their babies from sheer desperation. . . . In this way, husbands died in the mines, wives died at work, and children died from lack of milk..... and in a short time this land which was so great, so powerful and fertile..... was depopulated. . . . My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write. . . . “ “. . . . the entire human race is one.” BishopLas Casas
Marriage laws are nonexistent: men and women alike choose their mates and leave them as they please, without offense, jealousy or anger. They multiply in great abundance; pregnant women work to the last minute and give birth almost painlessly; up the next day, they bathe in the river and are as clean and healthy as before giving birth. If they tire of their men, they give themselves abortions with herbs that force stillbirths, covering their shameful parts with leaves or cotton cloth; although on the whole, Indian men and women look upon total nakedness with as much casualness as we look upon a man's head or at his hands." BishopLas Casas
New Spain / Mexico • Olmec, Monte Alban • Maya, Yucatan • Teotihuacan, Quetzalcoatl • Tula, Tezcatlipoca/Quetzalcoatl • Aztlan, Chichimecas • Aztec, Tenochtitlan, Huitzilopochtli
Bibliography • Michael D. Coe, The Maya (1987) • Alfred W. Crosby: Ecological Imperialism, The Biological Expansion of Europe 900 - 1900 (1986) • Bernal Diaz: The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico (1520s) • Alvin M. Josephy Jr., 500 Nations (1994) • Friar Diego de Landa, Yucatan Before and After the Conquest (1566) • Gary B. Nash. Red, White, and Black: The Peoples of Early America (1982) • William H. Prescott, The Conquest of Mexico and the Conquest of Peru (1843)
Bibliography • Kirkpatrick Sale: The Conquest of Paradise (1990) • Linda Schele and David Freidel, A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya (1990) • John L. Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan (1841) • Alan Taylor, American Colonies (2001) • J. Eric S. Thompson, The Rise and Fall of the Maya Civilization (1954) • Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States (1980)
Chronology 1000 Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows 1347-53 Black Death in Europe 1381 English Peasants' Revolt 1488 Bartolomeu Días sails around the African continent 1492 Christopher Columbus to the Caribbean 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas 1497 John Cabot explores Newfoundland 1508 Spanish invade Puerto Rico 1513 Juan Ponce de León lands in Florida 1514 Bartolomé de las Casas preaching against conquest 1516 Smallpox introduced to the New World 1517 Martin Luther breaks with the Roman Catholic Church
Chronology 1519 Hernán Cortés lands in Mexico 1534 Jacques Cartier first explores the St. Lawrence River 1539-40 Hernán de Soto & Francisco Vásquez de Coronado expeditions 1550 Tobacco introduced to Europe 1552 Bartolomé de Las Casas's Destruction of the Indies 1558 Elizabeth I of England begins her reign 1562 Huguenot colony on mid-Atlantic coast 1565 St. Augustine founded 1583 Humphrey Gilbert attempts to plant a colony in Newfoundland 1584-87 Walter Raleigh colony, Roanoke Island 1588 English defeat the Spanish Armada // John White returns to find Roanoke colony abandoned
“No laws and ordinances, sheriffs and constables, judges and juries, or courts or jails-the apparatus of authority in European societies-were to be found in the northeast woodlands prior to European arrival. Yet boundaries of acceptable behavior were firmly set. Though priding themselves on the autonomous individual, the Iroquois maintained a strict sense of right and wrong. He who stole another's food or acted invalourously in war was "shamed" by his people and ostracized from their company until he had atoned for his actions and demonstrated to their satisfaction that he had morally purified himself. “ Gary Nash [Iroquois culture]
The First Colony of Roanoke • Colony off the North Carolina coast founded by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1585. • Goal was to find wealth-- furs, gold or silver, plantation agriculture Indians seen as laborers. • 1580s - English & Algonquians at Roanoke • 1584 Chief Wingina sent Manteo + Wanchese to GB • CROATOAN – 50 miles south, no cross as warning • John White, Frances Drake, Virginia Dare • 1588 Armada • 1590 “The Lost Colony”
Western European Communities • Agricultural, peasants, water mills, iron plows, bread, porridge • Feudalism, dowry, noble, serf, Roman Catholic • 33% dead before age 5, 50% reached adulthood • 1347-1353, Black Death [bubonic plague] • Spanish Inquisition, Moors driven out 1490s
Merchant Class & New Monarchies • Late Middle Ages expansion of commerce -minerals, salt, timber, fish, cereal, wool, wine • City-states of Venice, Genoa, Pisa in Italy • The Crusades - silk, spices [cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper] • Muslim libraries of Alexandria and Baghdad • Growth of universities, postal service • Gothic medieval cathedrals [followed by styles from Greeks & Romans] • New focus on the human body [Humanism, a revolt against religious authority, less emphasis on afterlife]
The Renaissance • The Crusades stimulated Italian trade with Asia. • Compass, gunpowder, movable type were introduced to Europe. [Francis Bacon: “the three greatest inventions known to man.”] • Muslims reintroduce Greek and Roman learning to Europeans. • The Renaissance resulted, with humanistic view. • Inquisitive and acquisitive spirit of Renaissance helped motivate exploration.
Portuguese Explorations • Prince Henry the Navigator establishes academy to train seafarers at Sangres Point. • Portuguese trading voyages try to reach Indies by sailing around Africa. • 1488: Portuguese establish several colonies; begin slave trade; reach southern tip of Africa. • 1498: Vasco Da Gama sails around Africa to Indies.
Columbus Reaches Americas • Had sailed from Iceland to the middle of Africa prior to "discovery of New World" • Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon [Spain just completed Reconquista - Moors driven from Grenada] • Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States on the conquest of Cuba, etc. • Discovered the clockwise circulation of Atlantic winds and currents [Mission San Diego, 1769!] • 1493, 17 ships and 1,500 men to New World [found outpost at Hispaniola destroyed] • After his 3rd voyage, ordered home in leg irons but later made a 4th voyage [died in Spain in 1506] • Amerigo Vespucci of Florence who sailed to Caribbean in 1499 1st to describe mundus novus
Invading the New World • Initial violence, destruction of Aztec religion Sacrifices, Quetzalcoatl/Cortes, cosmology / paradigm • Encomienda system - Indian community as labor [reciprocal, protection, Catholicism] • Invasions - Puerto Rico & Jamaica (1508); Cuba (1511); Panama (1513); Central America (1513) Mexico (1517) • 1519 Hernan Cortes - Aztecs, Tenochtitlán (300,000), smallpox, Malinche, horses, bloodhounds, Moctezuma, allies
The Spanish New World Empire • By 1600, approximately 200,000 settlers (10% women), 125,000 Africans, cattle/horses/pigs • "Frontier of inclusion" - mestizo, mulatto • Council of the Indies, Portuguese Brazil [Movie: The Mission] • Jesuits, Franciscans, Augustinians , Dominicans
