1 Nathan Arellanes Professor McDonald FFYS 1000-37 25 February 2021 Columbus Paper: Reflection Paper #2 Christopher Columbus, a man so famous and well regarded in the past for his accomplishment of discovering the Americas, many historians and activists now believe him as one of the most infamous men in history. Seen as the catalyst for European imperialism in America, Christopher Columbus’s discussion has gone from a hero to a despicable man that we should not celebrate anymore. But are both sides accurate with the actual history of Christopher Columbus? The most common information many remember when discussing Columbus is what we learned in elementary and middle school. Many European countries were sailing and exploring the world’s oceans to find new sea routes and land paths to India with the sole goal of economic incentive. Specifically, with the spice trade, Spices such as pepper, nutmeg, cumin, etc., were quite sought after in Europe due to their value as a luxury for those that could afford it. So many countries scrambled, competed, and fought one another over routes to and from India. Some of those countries included Portugal, Netherlands, England, Spain, and many other countries. Each government-sponsored explorers, cartographers, ship crews, captains, and different essential positions for these adventures into the great oceans. Spain happened to sponsor a man named Christopher Columbus, who wanted to prove that there was a chance that sailing west of Europe would land him on the Asian continent. Then he sailed west, ‘discovered’ 2 the Americas, and sailed back to Europe. Despite all the general information about Columbus, most of his time in the Americas is unknown to the general public. To help decipher Columbus’ actions when it came to the American Indigenous people, we will use Claudia Roger, author of the article “Christopher Who?” in the journal History Today. In her article, she interprets the Indigenous people’s actions from Columbus’s diary and other historical studies. Such perspectives may have viewed Columbus as a god, like a cannibal, and as a king.r And by understanding Roger’s point of view on the perspective of Columbus through the eyes of the Indigenous, we can determine our interpretation of Columbus’ ignorant actions towards the indigenous, which haunt the world to this day. The adventures between Columbus’ arrival to the Americas and his departure back to Europe are generally unknown among the average person outside academia. Thankfully with the help of Claudia Roger, author of the article “Christopher Who?” in the journal ​History Today where she looks at and interprets the actions of the Indigenous people from the perspective of Columbus’ diary and other historical studies. Roger’s thesis throughout the article is that Columbus’ interactions with the American Indigenous varied. As some traded, gave gifts, and offered aid to Columbus and his crew, while “others fled, abandoned their homes or attacked them” (Roger). She can defend her thesis with anthropologist Neil Whitehead, archaeologists William Keegan and José Oliver, and other notable history authors. Roger utilizes these authors’ works to get many different perspectives on specific aspects of the Columbus expedition. An anthropologist will understand the trends and behaviors of the people of the time. Simultaneously, archeologists can provide historical accuracy about specific tools, cultural objects, and even historical context to particular events that require it. 3 Roger tries to clarify particular perspectives that the indigenous may have had. Such as the white god perspective, where many juvenile scholars believe that the reason Columbus and possibly other European explorers so quickly influenced the American Indigenous is that they thought them to be gods due to their white complexion. Columbus first thought this when he first encountered a village, and they greeted him by “threw[ing] themselves to the ground and ‘rais[ing] their hands to heaven’ before [Columbus and his crew]” (Roger). However, many scholars have argued against this interpretation of the American Indigenous’s actions. They believe that this perspective comes after the colonization of the Americas and comes from a superiority complex. How “the European[s] need to justify their conquest of indigenous peoples, the myth of perceived European divinity gained currency and soon became a trope in European tales of their encounters with non-western societies” (Roger). And although Columbus himself did not promote this theory, he is guilty of interpreting the American Indigenous body language. Although the Indigenous did not see Columbus and his crew as gods, there were other theories that they could have possibly believed because of Columbus’ alien nature. Another perspective the American Natives may have had about Columbus and the crew was that they were cannibalistic. This idea originated among the natives Columbus encountered because there were other neighboring islands with some people who were considered cannibals. These cannibals were called Caribs and settled on the island of Bohío. And when the outsider Columbus and crew arrived on the beaches of their island, the natives had “identified [them] as man-eaters rather than gods”(Roger). So what was the evidence the natives observed to ensure these alien visitors were not indeed cannibals? Well, the American expedition crew did “not [raid] Taíno lands and [steal] their women”(Roger). For the time of the expedition, they were 4 only trading with the natives and exchanging “glass beads or other European ‘trinkets’ ” for the native goods, such as “parrots and cotton thread in balls and javelins.” A trading stranger is kinder than a neighbor who steals, kills, and cannibalizes. The next perspective of the Columbus crew is a bit more ego-boosting for Columbus himself. Another perspective the natives had about the Columbus expedition was that Columbus himself was a king or chief from another land. As previously mentioned, parrots were one of the items or animals that the Taino traded with Columbus. The reason they gifted parrots is that according to their Indigenous culture, “parrots (guacamayas) were highly prized in Taíno culture and were often given as gifts to or between [kings/chiefs] ” (Roger). And because of this perception of Columbus’ status as a chief, he was invited to eat with the leaders of villages they encountered and allowed to exchange gifts directly with the head village. As Roger states in her article, How masks that the Taino gave to the Spanish, were culturally significant to the natives; as the “the value of these masks (called guaízas) in the context of the Taíno belief system: for them, a person’s soul was located in the face” (Roger). Not only did they want the unique trinkets that Columbus had brought, but they were generally interested in learning about the cultures of the Spanish. So the only appropriate gift they could give was of equal or equivalent cultural significance. And as leaders of people are the representative of their people, the exchange between Columbus and the chiefs was vital as it shows the general trust and excitement they had to learn about one another. And although Columbus was not a king or chief, he was the leader of the expedition, representing Spain and Europe as a whole to the native people of the Americas. They could trust each other as some crew members stayed back to create a “Spanish settlement built nearby, La Navidad) and protect [native] villages from Carib raids” 5 (Roger). Although the trust would break as they began to colonize the Americas, there was a trust for a brief period between the Spanish and the natives. Although Columbus did build trust among the Natives, his perspective towards them is very straightforward. He viewed them as very handsome people, commenting how they had “very handsome bodies and very good faces [with] hair [that] is coarse almost like the hairs of a horse’s tail and short” (Casas). Columbus knew they were handsome people, so did Columbus match their physical physique with their intelligence? Although he recognized their great curiosity about foreign technology, Columbus saw the natives as only pawns in his game of colonization. Columbus was there to obtain spices and convert the Indigenous people into Christianity and use them for labor. As he states in his diary, “They should be good servants and of quick intelligence, since I see that they very soon say all that is said to them, and I believe that they would easily be made Christians, for it appeared to me that they had no creed”(Casas). After understanding Columbus’s true intentions when interacting with the natives, his comments about their physique were less like a compliment and more like a sales pitch to himself on why Spain should colonize the Americas. Many countries were looking for resources, land, and free human resources. The most effective way for an empire to find all three is to begin a colony in the new world. Although he initially created alliances with the natives, his original mission was to scope out new land for the Spanish empire and convert almost everyone into a Christain. After going over the Native American’s and Columbus’ perspectives about each other, you can gather how they interacted and treated each other. Even if Columbus had ulterior motives, he was among Europeans’ first to bring the Americas into European consciousness. And if Columbus had not been the one to discover it, then undoubtedly some other country or 6 explorer would have taken advantage of the situation, as Spain and Columbus had. So although Columbus is not a hero worth celebrating anymore, he did venture into uncharted waters, landed on unknown lands, and communicated with people who had no common language to connect with. He was an adventurous explorer for sure, but his crimes against the natives will surely haunt his legacy, as colonialism’s catalyst indeed brought onto the Americas.
