During this week we will explore both the historical significance of 1492 and the ways it has been commemorated over the past 500 years.
Points of Entry:
Articles on Columbus Day monuments:
Library of Congress Exhibit:
National Humanities Center "Columbian Exchange" website:
Columbus Day clips:
Brown University controversy:
Anti
pro
Thoughts/Questions for blog discussion:
List and analyze 2 quotes from the reading. What are some of the arguments? How are they related to the larger themes of the week discussed in class?
In both the readings there is an overwhelming amount of creating stories and accounts of origins. These stories and points of origin seem to be extremely important to Native American Indians. Where as, Religion was very important to the Europeans. I find it interesting that Europeans did not make the connection between their religion and the Native American Indians creation stories and points of origin; how they were both important.
ReplyDeleteAnother theme discussed in class was the importance of corn. On page 67 or the first page of chapter 2 in One Vast Winter Count, the importance of corn is discussed.
“. . . These stories likely recall not the creation of the world itself but the creation of a new world in which a new ideology revered corn as a staple of life and women as its cultivators were becoming economically empowered.” Corn and the domestication of plants . . . “Literally made some Indian societies “The great cultures, the enduring cultures, were all built on maize,” said Alfonso Ortiz, speaking from the perspective of his Puebloan, corn-built culture.” Bottom of page 68 in One Vast Winter Count.
"He advocated that Spanish conquest should proceed with justice, not as a campaign of destruction and looting but as a mission to bring Indians to salvation."(Calloway 124)
ReplyDeleteCabeza de Vaca a Spaniard who actually advocated the humanity of Indians caught my interest because he was able to trade and live amongst the Indians and obtained a good reputation. Even though he still had a mission on "saving" the Indians, he actually respected them unlike typical Spaniards.
"But if you do not do this....I certify with the help of God, we shall enter your country and shall make war against you.... we shall take you and your wives and your children... we request the notary here present to give us his testimony in writing...(Hurtado 59)
ReplyDeleteThis passage is an example of how Spain used the form of a notary to require indians to submit to Spanish authority. The Spanish used scare tactics as well legal manners to exploit the Indians.
"The Indians took pity on them, fed them roots and fish, and gave them shelter in their village" (Calloway, 121)
ReplyDelete"After Spanish soldiers and diseases devastated Native population... they push north" (Calloway, 122)
These two quotes demonstrates how the Natives did not see the Europeans as a treat upon their arrival. Instead they helped them out and took them in as friends. While Natives believed they were at peace, the Europeans were already planning on conquering with their weapons and diseases that they brought along.
"Unlike Europeans,Indians did not live in constant contact with many animals. They domesticated only the dog;the turkey (in Mesoamerica);and the llama the alpaca, the Muscovy duck,and the Guinea pig (in the Andes." (Mann 109)
ReplyDeleteThis quote is an example of why Indians did not domesticate as many animals as their Europeans counterparts there simply just wasn't as many animals to domesticate and this is also a big reason why Native Americans for the most part are intolerant to Lactose which is found in cows milk.
"Nobody knows how many died during the pandemics of the 1770's and 1780's, but even if one had a number it wouldn't begin to tally the impact." Mann 123.
Disease had a major impact on the peoples of America whether they were European or of Native descent and this deadly impact especially on the Native population led to a much easier time of settlement for Europeans clearing the land of what would be hostile groups.
"Anglo-American experience is not wrong, but to claim that it represents the entire history of the American experience is a gross mistake." (Hurtado pg 3)
ReplyDeleteIn general when we talk about American History we tend to think more about what the white people did. We think about them coming to the New World and starting a new nation. What this is stating is that American History was around before we came to America and that those experiences are just important to our history.
"People left traces where they lived. Brushing away the dust of centuries, archaeologists document the presence and movements of people who used certain styles of arrowheads, tools, and ceramics or shared certain ways of living on the land." (Calloway pg 55)
You can learn alot about the way the Indians lived by studying their surroundings. You can find not only differences by the way they lived but also lots of similarities with their fellow Indians. This can allow you to better understand their history.
“The Spanish…late fifteenth century were convinced that native beliefs in their divinity were of a source of power that could they could use to control these people” (Hurtado 68). This quote shows that natives thought Europeans were supernatural beings when they first met. The Spanish saw this as an opportunity to easily conquer natives and control their land.
ReplyDelete“The peace negations that ensued revealed a desperate thirst for fresh supplies of European wares” (Hurtado 85). This quote shows as time past from the Europeans first arrival the New World Natives became increasingly dependent on supplies and goods from Europe and heavily relied on trade. This allowed Europeans to be able to conquer natives easier since Native Americans were less willing to fight back in order to keep trading with Europeans.
As the sky Powers sang, water appeared, the Earth emerged, plants and animals were created.. pg 29 (one vast winter count)
ReplyDeleteIn this quote a story that has been passed from generation to generation, it serves as their history, their creation and how they were brought to this Earth. This quotes relates to the issues of whether theres songs, or stories can truly be considered real history.
Hence, the writing of american indian history emerged..pg 3 (major problems)
This quotes explains how american indian history as been intrepreted and precieved by non-indians. It explains how they were seen as savages and devilish heathens. Why i chose this quote is because i find it relevant to the “what if” question raised in tuesday. Had diseases not existed would the outcome been the same? And i relieve that it would have because this quote Only proves the ay of thought europeans had while conquering, this demeaning and eurocentric thoughts, making it difficult to believe that they would have wanted to adopt their culture and perhaps tweak it.
In reading numerous origin stories of Native Americans it begins to be clear that these stories should be subjected to interpretation, since many native languages are only spoken. Colin G. Calloway writes regarding the mention of corn in the Pawnee origin story, "Since corn cultivation did not become widespread on the central plains until about A.D. 1000, these stories likely recall not the creation of the world itself but not the creation of the world itself but the creation of a new world in which a new ideology revered corn" (67). This story is history, a symbolic representation of how corn changed the lives of the Pawnee to the extent of a new world taking hold. This type of history lends it self to giving historians insight of what Native Americans thought of their way of life and culture.
ReplyDeleteIt is clear that some historians that study Native American history do not see any truth to Native stories. Bruce G. Trigger comments "While future findings will prove... is unlikely to reveal much about native American perceptions and feelings" (Hurtado 64). Earlier in this class we discussed if origin stories is a form of history. The class agreed that it was for various reasons including the bias people have toward written accounts. If a historian does not believe the Native stories are real history, the stories at least give hints at what Native Americans thought of their culture. An example being the quotation above.
one quote that found really interesting was "Instead of winning epic victories, they became desperate struggles of survival; in place of heroic stories of conquest, they produced what one scholar has termed as "narrative discourse of failure" (calloway 122).My interpretation of that quote is that it is refering to the begining excursions of the Spanish in which most of them had failed due to their lack of adaption to the environment. Also the quote doesn not reinforce the romantic idea that the Spanish easily conquered the lands of the Americas but creates a new notion that the Spanish did in fact face hardships and had to find ways to endure in an ennvironment that was not in their favor.
ReplyDeleteAnother quote that I found fascinating was "the culture conquest that informed the push north beginning in the 1540s was as much the invention of the indians and mestizos from central Mexico as of the Spaniard (Calloway 134)".This quote is saying that the invasion to the pueblo and pecos indians was not only an invasion of the Spanish but also of that of the allied tribes that were acquired during the conquest of the Aztec empire. Also this quote insinuates that the allied tribes had succomb to Spanish authority and giving up some of their autonomy. By giving in to the Spanish and joining them these allied Native Americans are sharing the same ambitions as the Spanish which is dominate another group of people and usurp the resources.
"Mogollon farmers developed deep planting and floodwater irrigation technologies suited to the lowland deserts and produced a Chapalote corn with larger ears and more rows or kernels" Calloway 81
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy to think that at the time these Indians lived they could manipulate the food source in order to produce more and in variations. This is similar to what we do today and how many things are directly connected to corn.
"The ball court system also help to orchestrate long distance exchanges. At its height the Hohokam exchange system may have had ties to Chaco Canyon in the North, to mesoamerica, and to Kayenta Anasazi, Mimbres, Mogollon, Yumans, and coastal california groups." Calloway 79
When I read this it made me realize that these people didnt have a provincial prespective of the world. It is clear that individual groups had an understanding of one anothers cultures and they even had common places where they would gather to trade from all parts of the Americas.
"The Pueblos had ample resources upon which to draw: fields planted with corn, beans, calabashes, and tobacco and crops either seasonal, dependent on rainfall, or "irrigated by means of good ditches (Calloway 143)." This was the type of writing or finding that were sent back to Spain in order to catch the attention of those that funded the expeditions to the new world. This is the beginning of how the Atlantic trade began, by finding the resources that were deemed necessary to the Spain society.
ReplyDelete"Spanish abuses and demands for food and turquoise quickly turned hospitality to hostility(Calloway 144)." This was common along all natives settlements that were in contact with European conquistadors. These men gathered all the wealth and resources that would make them rich and kill off everything and everyone that stood in the way. Yet we have a national holiday for an individual that did that exploited and killed a different set of people. Something is wrong with American society because we teach lies to our youth only because the truth is not what we want it to be.
"The failure to explore the Indians' new world helps explain why, despite many excellent studies of the native American past, colonial history often remains a history of those men and women-English, European, and African-who transformed America from a geographical expression into a new nation" (Hurtado & Iverson 77)
ReplyDeleteMuch of the reading covers the identity struggles that natives faced when Europeans arrived in the Americas. While both sides experienced an initial cultural shock, it is quite evident that Europeans were quickly able to absorbed and move past these issues in order to colonize and exploit the natives. The above passage in the reading goes on to describe how even in today's world, natives are generally not given any credit in the creation of the "new world" simply because it was too difficult to fit them into the story.
"Like later pioneers in the American west, the Anasazi experienced cycles of boom or bust that sometimes resulted in places being occupied and then abandoned. People came together to share resources and defenses but then dispersed as their numbers taxed the environment and their social mechanisms" (Calloway 88)
Much of the analysis in regards to Calloway's writing is focused on the documentation of native history in the America's and it's functionality within different groups and their interactions with their surroundings. Using this information it is quite easy to see and disprove any European notions that held the natives as unable and unmotivated to occupy and cultivate the lands that they inhabited.
"Lewis and Clark did not bring the West into U.S. history, they brought the United States into western history." (Calloway 2)
ReplyDelete"Without its long Indian past, America's story is a blip on the screen of human existence and experience." (Calloway 20)
In these quotes, Calloway is addressing the assumption that there was no history in the America's before the Europeans arrived to colonize. Both of these quotes point to the fact that to place so much significance on history after contact neglects the thousands of years of history that Native peoples had before the colonial period. To place so much emphasis on the "discovery of the Americas" and the history that follows it to the present, only represents a small piece of a larger history of the west.
"[Corn] fed Indians and pioneers and shaped the history of North America over hundreds of years" (Calloway, 115) Calloway focuses on Corn in his second chapter, Singing Up a New World. He talks about the evolution of it and how it influenced history in North America.
ReplyDelete"Throughout North Ameica sine Paleo-Indian times, exchange iin the Northeast was the means by which people maintained and extended their social, cultural, and spiritual horizons as well as acquired items considered supernaturally powerful" (Hurtado&Iverson, 38)
This shows that the Europeans capitalized on a pre-existing custom of the Native Americans and manipulated it to benefit them. Trade was important to both Europeans and Native Americans. Europeans used Native Americans to obtain beaver skins by trading with them less valuable goods based on the Native American's tradition for trade.