Many settlers believed that the natives were savages as were not as advanced, but were all the natives actually savages? The stories “La Relacion” and “Travels of Marco Polo” are two different stories that have contrast as well as many similarities. These stories both show how the English settlers thought of the natives, how both settlers were apprehensive, but how different they were with the way the natives treated the settlers. “La Relacion” was a story about how a group of settlers who were dying of starvation and weather conditions. These settlers found an island that seemed to be of use with food as well as shelter. Not knowing that there were already people living in the area the settlers were surprised with finding out that there were in fact natives living on the island. The settlers didn’t know how to feel around these natives because of beliefs that the natives were not very smart. When in reality the natives actually worshiped these settlers from Spain because the natives believed that the Spanish settlers were Gods because the shiny suits and armor the Spanish settlers had on. Once the settlers found out that the natives …show more content…
Marco Polo and his group of explorers went to find new land. When they were on their journey they too meet bad weather and stormy seas. Once they made on the ground they found they were in the same area as one of the most vicious natives. These natives were not like the natives in “La Relacion” these natives would seize, kill and eat anyone that was not part of their tribe for fear of losing land. What Marco Polo and his crew did was build a trench between where they stayed and the natives to ensure their safety while they were on the island. Unlike “La Relacion” the natives from the journal entry by Marco Polo, these natives did not want to help anyone out of fear of losing land and having to move from what was theirs to begin
In this section his initial thoughts show through. “But losers matter, especially in the history of early America.” Many different regions of early America are examined in their years of early conquest when native populations started their descent. The biggest theme throughout the section is the effect that conquistadors and explorers had on the native population in their search for gold and glory. The information that is given is not typical of what is learned of early America, but tries to really focus on the most important figures of the time and there voyages. For example, when talking about the Plains nations and there explorers, Coronado and De Soto a tattooed woman woman is brought up who had been captured by both explorers at different times and different places, but little is known about her. “Of the tattooed woman who witnessed the two greatest expeditions of conquest in North America, and became captive to both, nothing more is known.” This point captures the main idea of the theme and what many know of this time. Horwitz aims to point out the important facts, not just the well known
As the values of the Indians, the natives that Cabeza De Vaca encountered on his eight year journey, that were roaming the south are compared to the moral values of the Spanish and then to the
Francisco Vazquez de Coronado served as the political liaison for the preliminary exploration. Francisco came from a prominent Salamanca family after the passing of his father and mother he did not inherit the families fortune, this put him in a position to make a shift to New Spain and hopefully chase the dream of making a fortune and becoming rich. At the age of twenty five Francisco arrived in New Spain in 1535, upon his arrival he was introduced and attached to a highly appointed officer Viceroy Mendoza. As time passed he went on to marry a wealthy women named by the name of Dona Beatriz de Estrada, his mother in law gave Francisco a large amount of money that is called “hacienda” which mean he received a large estate or plantation with a dwelling house. Around 1537 Francisco started to make a name for him when a rebellion just outside of México broke out; he successfully put down the rebellion and the following year Mendoza appointed him “regidor” which means a member of a council of municipalities. Then a year later in 1538 at the age of twenty ei...
The European explorers and colonizers and Native Americans had varied relationships during their encounters in the New World. They both feared and misunderstood each other. This fear led to the two groups often mistreating each other. However, there were always times where they depended on each other’s kindness and treated each other with care. There are examples of both in the following narratives: In the letter by Christopher Columbus, he talks about the natives being timid and how he uses them to help him. In “from Richard Frethorne, to His Parents”, Frethorne tells about the Indians destroying crops and killing people. In the Soveraignty and Goodness of God by Mary Rowaldson, the author tells about her eleven weeks in captivity by the Indians. At times, they behaved as lawless savages. At other times, they showed her kindness and care.
The poor natives who struggle with starvation contrasts sharply from Spaniards who hoard food in abundance. In fact, Spaniards kept Natives “perpetually hungry” (Las Casas, 93) whereas they ate far more than their bodies could hold. Las Casas called them “swinish butchers” (101), accentuating the way he regards them with contempt and abhorrence. Unlike Europeans, the Natives do not copiously collect food or “enlarge their limits” (Montaigne, 224). As Las Casas claimed, they are the “poorest people” who “own next to nothing”, and their diet is “every bit as poor and as monotonous in quantity and kind” (Las Casas, 10). The detailed descriptions of the lifestyle in the New World provided by Montaigne and Las Casas, show how the colonizers embody the grotesque because their souls are contaminated through moral barbarism, in addition to their bodies that are corrupted by insatiable greed and hunger (Las Casas, 128). For these reasons, Western pioneers exceed in barbarism than the
The beginnings of colonialism, allowed Europeans to travel the world and meet different kinds of people. Their first encounter with the New World and these new peoples, created the opening ideas of inequality. These new people were called indigenous people and alien like. Europeans began to question if these people were really human and had the same intellectual capacity as Europeans did. “Alternative ideas about the origins and identities of indigenous peoples also began to appear early in the 16th century...
During the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Europeans started to come over to the new world, they discovered a society of Indians that was strikingly different to their own. To understand how different, one must first compare and contrast some of the very important differences between them, such as how the Europeans considered the Indians to be extremely primitive and basic, while, considering themselves civilized. The Europeans considered that they were model societies, and they thought that the Indians society and culture should be changed to be very similar to their own.
When Bernard and Lenina went to New Mexico for a holiday, they met some Indians or “savages”. But for some odd reason they met two English or “civilized” people there.
When reading Benjamin Franklin’s essay “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America,” it was interesting to see the similarities and differences of perceptions between the Indians and the white English in America. Franklin takes an outside look on the perceptions of the Indians by analyzing various observations he’s made or witnessed and comparing them to the norms of the white English society. Clearly the two are very different in their cultural beliefs, and this essay helps bring these differences to light while making the point that Indians are anything but “savages.”
The prevailing opinion is that European explorers came to the America’s to peacefully colonize and gradually begin mutually beneficial relationships with the native people. However, Howard Zinn proves that the majority of explorers could not coexist with the native tribes, as the conquerors slowly stole their land, and did not return the initial hospitality most of the natives had showed to them. Therefore, the European colonizers blatantly ignored the rights of the Native Americans and acted with violence towards them. In order to conquer the natives, the colonizers “set fire to the wigwams of the village” and “ [destroyed] their crops” (Zinn).
The fear the Spanish unleashed to the Natives was immense. The armor the Spaniard’s whore terrified everyone who saw them. The loud clamor they made as they marched also installed fear into the Natives heads.
Success in a journey can be defined by the combination of gaining experience, the completion of goals, and in specific cases, improving foreign and domestic relationships. By following this definition, it is obvious that Marco Polo had a successful journey. Not only was he able to document his journey to China, but he was also able to spread his experience throughout Europe, thereby immortalizing his name. Marco Polo took the long journey to China with his father and his uncle which changed his life forever. From becoming an ambassador of the Chinese Empire to telling his story while a prisoner of war, Marco Polo’s journey was incredible. Though this seems undisputable, Polo’s journey may not have truly taken place. Strong evidence shows that all of Polo’s accounts of China may have been secondhand. Though there is no definite proof that any of his stories were true, that does not change the fact that his journey was a success.
In discovering the new world, Europeans also encountered the inhabitants of this enchanted world. The Europeans had both negative and positive encounters with the natives and hypocritically employed the reasoning that G-d’s providence gave them the right to treat them as less than human. The Europeans justify the hypocrisy by labelling the natives as uncivilized and savages according to their standards but in reality they feared the unknown. The accounts of Mary Rowlandson, John Underhill will be compared and contrasted to those of Bartolomé de Las Casas to show the drastically different encounters, how “G-d’s will” and savagery plays a role in the treatment of the natives.
The first residents of the Americas were by modern estimates divided into at least two thousand cultures and more societies, practiced a multiplicity of customs and lifestyles, held an enormous variety of values and beliefs, spoke numerous languages mutually unintelligible to the many speakers, and did not conceive of themselves as a single people (Paul Lucas). But however, the Europeans and Euro-Americans came and classified these people(s) into a single identity, simplifying and homogenizing their identity into an inferior racial type: ‘the Savage’. The practices of colonial violence on indigenous people as depicted in the article clearly points out the effects of the Slave traffic during the first years after the 1521 conquest and the practice of branding
Montaigne shares his second-hand experience with the natives from the New World in the area now known as Brazil. From the account of his trusted traveler Durand De Villegagnon, who spent twelve years with the native people in the New World, Montaigne proclaims that, “there is nothing savage or barbarous about those people, but that every man calls barbarous anything he is not accustomed to” (Montaigne 61). The Europeans formed a negative prejudice towards the customs of the native people they stumbled upon during exploration, only because they were different from their own. With this the Europeans declared it their job to change the natives lives “for the better” by showing them how people ought to live, however blinded by their own ignorance they failed to realize that their own way of living was more savage-like then the “savages” they were trying to