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Spanish conquest perspective
Spanish conquest perspective
Spanish conquest in Latin America
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The Upper Rio Grande
Change is an unavoidable part of life. For some, change can bring promise and a new beginning. For others, change disrupts what is routine and normal and makes what is new seem strange and unfamiliar. The history of North America has been shaped by change ever since Columbus first discovered the continent in 1492. With that discovery, the continent would never be the same again. More specifically, the Native American tribes who first inhabited this continent would never be the same.
Over the years the Native Americans would see new explorers and missionaries take over the land that was once theirs and claim it for another country. The traditions, customs, and culture of these Native Americans inevitably changed due to the foreign presence. One tribe in particular, the Pueblo Indians of the Upper Rio Grande River, survived this change and still thrives in what is now present-day New Mexico. In fact, the Pueblo culture is recognized as one of North America’s oldest. It comes as no surprise that the Pueblo culture survived due to learning to deal effectively with change, even when that change was forced upon them.
When European settlers came into the Upper Rio Grande River area, they disturbed the sanctity of the Pueblo Indians’ way of life. As a result of such change being forced upon the Indians, the area they inhabited became one the most conflicting regions during the settlement of the New World. This paper will take a closer look at the origins of this conflict in relation to the differing lifestyles and cultures of the Spanish settlers and the Pueblo Indians. The attitude of the Spanish settlers as they claimed land that was already occupied will be discussed, including their use of superi...
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...: A Pageant of Three Peoples. New York. 1951.
4.Grinde, D.; Johansen, B. The Encyclopedia of Native American Biography.
Henry Holt Publishers. 1997.
5.Hammond, George P. Don Juan de Onate and the Founding of New Mexico. El Palacio Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico. 1927
6.Horgan, Paul. Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History, vol. 1: Indians and Spain. Rinehart and Company, Inc. New York.
7.Ortiz, A. The Pueblo. Chelsea House Publishers: New York. 1994.
8.Riley, C. Rio Del Norte. University of Utah Press: Salt Lake City. 1994.
9.Silverburg, R. The Pueblo Revolt. University of Nebraska Press: Lincoln. 1970.
10.Tyler, H. Pueblo Gods and Myths. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman. 1964.
11.White, Richard. “It’s Your Misfortune and None of My Own” A New History of the American West. University of Oklahoma Press. Norman and London, 1991
McMurtry, Larry. 2005. Oh What a Slaughter: Massacres in the American West: 1846-1890. 10th Ed. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
Turner, Frederick Jackson. "The Significance of the Frontier in American History," Learner: Primary Sources. Annenberg Learner, Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
As children, students are taught from textbooks that portray Native Americans and other indigenous groups as small, uncivilized, mostly nomadic groups with ways of life that never changed or disfigured the land. Charles Mann’s account of Indian settlements’ histories and archaeological findings tell us otherwise. Mann often states in his book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus that the indigenous groups of North and South America were far more advanced and populous than students are taught. He focuses on many different cultural groups and their innovations and histories that ultimately led to either their demise or modern day inhabitants.
All in all, the treatment of the American Indian during the expansion westward was cruel and harsh. Thus, A Century of Dishonor conveys the truth about the frontier more so than the frontier thesis. Additionally, the common beliefs about the old west are founded in lies and deception. The despair that comes with knowing that people will continue to believe in these false ideas is epitomized by Terrell’s statement, “Perhaps nothing will ever penetrate the haze of puerile romance with which writers unfaithful to their profession and to themselves have surrounded the westerner who made a living in the saddle” (Terrell 182).
When Spaniards colonized California, they invaded the native Indians with foreign worldviews, weapons, and diseases. The distinct regional culture that resulted from this union in turn found itself invaded by Anglo-Americans with their peculiar social, legal, and economic ideals. Claiming that differences among these cultures could not be reconciled, Douglas Monroy traces the historical interaction among them in Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California. Beginning with the missions and ending in the late 1800s, he employs relations of production and labor demands as a framework to explain the domination of some groups and the decay of others and concludes with the notion that ?California would have been, and would be today, a different place indeed if people had done more of their own work.?(276) While this supposition may be true, its economic determinism undermines other important factors on which he eloquently elaborates, such as religion and law. Ironically, in his description of native Californian culture, Monroy becomes victim of the same creation of the ?other? for which he chastises Spanish and Anglo cultures. His unconvincing arguments about Indian life and his reductive adherence to labor analysis ultimately detract from his work; however, he successfully provokes the reader to explore the complexities and contradictions of a particular historical era.
Mexican American history began in the16th century under Spanish colonialism. The Spanish had a goal of conquest and colonization. Evidently, that goal was successfully accomplished because when the Spanish first arrived in 1492 Mexico’s population was fourteen million, but by the end of the 16th century it had drastically declined to one million. Numbers decreased because of the cruel treatment, forced labor, and disease brought by the Spanish. The Spanish eventually controlled most of the territory in the Southwest and over three hundred towns had been established for the purpose of control and conversion. The Spanish imposed conditions on the natives of Mexico that would belittle them. They aimed to convert them in order to make them re...
Through the voice of Palo Alto, a mesquite tree, Elena Zamora O’Shea relates the story of one Spanish-Mexican family’s history, spanning over two hundred years, in South Texas, the area encompassing between the Nueces and the Rio Grande. As the narration of the Garcia’s family history progresses through the different generations, becoming more Mexican-American, or Tejano, peoples and things indigenous gradually grow faint. In her account of South Texas history, Elena devalues the importance and impact of Indians, placing a greater precedence on the Spanish settlers.
of Native American Culture as a Means of Reform,” American Indian Quarterly 26, no. 1
Here, Mephistopheles explains the remorse he feels of being deprived from the joys of heaven. Faustus ignores Mephistopheles warning, due to his egotistical nature. Bypassing the urgency of this message, Faustus is given the opportunity to elaborate on this line giving him the impression that hell is where God isn’t, therefore concluding that “Hell’s a fable”. This conclusion precludes Faustus from repenting, allowing him to irresponsibly sign his soul to the devil.
Dixon, E. James. Quest for the origins of the First Americans. University of New Mexico Press. 1993.
Faustus' hunger for immediate gratification suggests immense self-torment and self-denial. Weighing his options at each instant of time, he maximizes his pleasure and minimizes his pain, apparently discounting the implications of his decisions on his prospects and happiness in the future. Rebelling against God, he invites the devil's temptations, hoping to obtain an offer like Satan's to Jesus in the desert wilderness. One understands why Satan imputes an infinite value to Christ's soul. However, why does Faustus' soul warrant twenty-four years of service by Mephostophilis?
Faustus sells his soul for what he believes to be limitless power, with the full logical, as opposed to emotional, knowledge as to consequences of such a transaction. He knows the stakes of his gamble with the ...
III. Faustus is portrayed as a very individual character. He changes and is shaped by the events that happen all around him. Everything he does affects his future outcome. For example his decision to give up his studies of medicine were very un-stereotypical of a character that is studying to be a doctor to do. Even more so is his decision to take upon the necromantics of the devil. He says, “Then read no more; thou hast attain'd that end: A greater subject fitteth Faustus' wit.” (1.11) He believes that he has learned enough information about all the great things of the world and there is nothing left to study that will intrigue him as much as magic will. His curious personality affects the play because his decisions determine the plot. For example the Seven Deadly Sins entice him so he becomes convinced not to repent his sin. This characterizes him as gullible, curious and adventurous. He becomes obsessed with his magic and he absolutely loves having the powers to do anything he pleases. An example of this is when he conjures up Helen. He knows he can do whatever he wants without reservation so he chooses to conjure the woman who launched a thousand ships. This shows that not only is he gullible, curious and obsessed but also Faustus only wishes for the best in whatever he does; the best that will please him.
The play progresses to Faustus gaining power but doing nothing productive with it because he has no wisdom to guide himself on. Faustus wishes for power and has plans looking forward to his future life but as he gains it, he starts to lose his wisdom as power clearly took a toll on his mind. He becomes a performer for an emperor and finally ends up believing there is no redemption for his life as he knows he has sinned against God before and after his deal with the devil which what he believes - his last straw with God. Faustus crumbles after he has too much of the weight of power in his hands to the point it ruins him, as he has no wisdom to properly organize his goals or
Faustus deserves absolute damnation not for his contract with the devil, but for his persistent resolve to proceed with the forbidden. Unable to deny that aspect of his himself that first became intrigued by black magic, Faustus cannot resolve conflicting longings at war within him. Faustus’s incapability to believe in God’s ability to forgive is in itself a hindrance to salvation. To dread damnation, to relinquish magic, even to blaspheme Mephistophilis and repent is inadequate. Real repentance and faith have positive outcomes; they are complemented by assurance in grace. To doubt his ability to be saved is the same as not trusting in God, and without such trust and conviction redemption is unattainable.