Spanish Perception of Native Americans, Essay Example

On October 12, 1492, the three ships led by Christopher Columbus reached the shores of an island in what is now known as the West Indies. It was the first encounter between Europeans and natives of the Western Hemisphere, and Columbus’ own words, as recorded in his journal, foreshadow the treatment that the natives of these islands and the Americas would receive at the hands of European conquerors for generations to come. Columbus noted that the natives he first encountered had no knowledge of the kind of weaponry he and his men possessed, and decided almost immediately that the demeanor of the natives would make them ripe for conversion to Christianity[1]. This perspective, as espoused by Columbus, underpinned the relationship between Europeans and Native Americans for centuries, and demonstrated the complicated nature of that relationship. While the desire to convert the natives to Christianity was sincere and fervent, it was also conducted through the threat –or the use- of force.

There is a notable irony in Columbus’ description of his first encounter with the natives he labeled los Indios; he wrote in his journal that the best way to convert them was to demonstrate a positive and affectionate demeanor, rather than to utilize violence or forcible measures[2]. At the same time as Columbus made such an assertion, however, he also immediately claimed possession of the island for the king and queen of Spain, never doubting the divine right he assumed was motivating his quest to reach the Indies (i.e. Asia). In a sense, then, Columbus believed that he could well afford to be gracious and endearing to the natives he encountered, as they ultimately had no real choice when it came to the notion of conversion to Christianity. In his own encounters, and subsequent interactions between Europeans and Native Americans, peace lasted only so long as the natives did not resist the will of the European people.

Further irony can be seen in the very fact that conversion to Christianity was, in this context, often conducted at the point of a weapon. Christianity is ostensibly a religion of peace, yet it is the natives, rather than the Europeans, who demonstrate a peaceful and benevolent demeanor (at least initially). As Columbus describes in his journal entry, the first natives he encounters have no significant weaponry, and are completely unfamiliar with the swords and spears carried by Columbus and his men (so much so that some of them even cut themselves on the sharp blades of the swords)[3].  In an historical context these cultural differences in technological development help to explain how the Europeans were able to so quickly and utterly overtake the natives of the Caribbean and the Americas; to Columbus, their lack of weaponry and their friendly nature meant only that the natives could be easily converted to Christianity.

This was not the first time that Europeans had encountered non-Christian cultures, nor was it the first time they had made efforts to convert those they encountered to Christianity. Seafaring vessels from Spain, Portugal, and other countries had traveled to Africa and Asia, establishing trade routes and attempting to spread Christianity long before the first contact with the peoples of the Western hemisphere. It was, in fact, Columbus’s desire to find a different route to Asia that prompted him to venture westward across the Atlantic Ocean, and it was his firm belief that he had reached the outer islands of the East Indies when he first landed on the island he named San Salvador. For the Europeans who ventured to Africa, and later to the islands and continents in the Western hemisphere, the native peoples of those regions were often viewed as little more than a natural resource to be exploited. As Spain established its claim in the West, Spain and Portugal literally divided the map of the known world, granting Portugal a claim to Africa and Spain a claim to the Caribbean and South America.

In the early 16^th century, Spanish conquistadors spread across the land now known as Mexico, decimating the long-established empire of the Aztecs. These conquistadors were largely driven by profit, as they would share in the spoils of the gold, silver, and other resources they plundered for Spain[4]. As Spain began to gain a foothold in the New World, however, the underlying goal of religious conversion took hold, and Spain established Christianity as the central social, political, and religious force in the region. The Native American were viewed by the Spanish as heathens who had to be converted to Christianity for their own good, and priests spread out across the conquered Spanish territories, building missions and churches. As this process of conversion reshaped the lives of millions of Native Americans, a new social order was established with Spanish settlers at the top of the hierarchical order and Native Americans at the bottom.  The Catholic Church was the ultimate source of power and authority, and this author infused the spread of Spanish influence and dominance in the New World. There were some priests, such as Bartolome de Las Casas, who opposed the forcible conversion of Native Americans, but for the most part the Spanish people believed that whatever means were needed for spreading Christianity were acceptable and warranted.

The history of the Spanish conquest of the New World is largely defined by, and guided by, the way it forced Christianity on the native peoples in the West. Spanish exploration had long been driven by the twin forces of profit and evangelism, and this remained true as Columbus first ventured across the Atlantic in search of a new route to Asia. From the moment he first encountered the natives of San Salvador, his overarching goals were to send gold back to Spain and to bring Christianity to los Indios. These concomitant interests would continue to drive the engine of Spanish imperialism for the next century, as Catholicism became the dominant force in the lives of Native Americans in the New World.

Reference

Tindall, George Brown, and David E Shi. 2014. America: A Narrative History. 8th ed. New York: Norton.

[1]From Christopher Columbus, Journals, Thursday, October 11, and Friday October 12, 1492

[2]Ibid.

[3]From Christopher Columbus, Journals

[4]Tindall, George Brown, and David E Shi. 2014. America: A Narrative History. 8th ed. New York: Norton