Document A
Source: Bartolomé de las Casas, Spanish Catholic priest who freed his Indian slaves before
writing his History of the Indies, 1528.
In that year of 1500…, the King determined to send a new governor to Hispaniola, which at the
time was the only seat of government in the Indies. The new governor was fray Nicolas de
Ovando….
At first, the Indians were forced to stay six months away at work; later, the time was extended to
eight months and this was called a shift, at the end of which they brought all the gold for
minting. The King's part was subtracted and the rest went to individual [Spaniards]… During the
minting period, the Indians were allowed to go home, a few days' journey on foot. One can
imagine their state when they arrived after eight months, and those who found their wives there
must have cried, lamenting their condition together. How could they even rest, since they had to
provide for the needs of their family when their land had gone to weeds? Of those who had
worked in the mines, a bare 10 per cent survived to start the journey home. Many Spaniards had
no scruples about making them work on Sundays and holidays, if not in the mines then on minor
tasks such as building and repairing houses, carrying firewood, etc. They fed them cassava bread,
which is adequate nutrition only when supplemented with meat, fish or other more substantial
food. The [official in charge of the mine] killed a pig once a week but he kept more than half for
himself and had the leftover apportioned and cooked daily for thirty or forty Indians, which came
to a bite of meat the size of a walnut per individual, and they dipped the cassava in this as well as
in the broth.
Indians were totally deprived of their freedom and were put in the harshest, fiercest, most
horrible servitude and captivity… Even beasts enjoy more freedom when they are allowed to
graze in the fields. But our Spaniards gave no such opportunity to Indians and truly considered
them perpetual slaves… When they fell ill, which was very frequently because they are a delicate
people unaccustomed to such work, the Spaniards did not believe them and pitilessly called them
lazy dogs, and kicked and beat them; and when illness was apparent they sent them home as
useless… They would go then, falling into the first stream and dying there in desperation… I
sometimes came upon dead bodies on my way, and upon others who were gasping and moaning
in their death agony, repeating "Hungry, hungry." And this was the freedom, the good treatment
and the Christianity that Indians received.
About eight years passed under the [Ovando’s] rule…and the multitude of people who originally
lived on this island…was consumed at such a rate that in those eight years 90 per cent had
perished. From here this sweeping plague went to San Juan, Jamaica, Cuba and the continent,
spreading destruction over the whole hemisphere.
Document B
Source: Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, official historian of the Spanish Crown, “The Second
Democrates”, 1547.
You can well understand… that the Spanish have a perfect right to rule these barbarians of the
New World and the adjacent islands, who in prudence, skill, virtues, and humanity are as inferior
to the Spanish as children to adults, or women to men, for there exists between the two as great a
difference as between savage and cruel races and the most merciful, between the most
intemperate and the moderate and temperate and, I might even say, between apes and men.
Compare, then, these gifts of prudence, talent, magnanimity, temperance, humanity, and religion
with those possessed by these half-men (homunculi), in whom you will barely find the vestiges
of humanity, who not only do not possess any learning at all, but are not even literate or in
possession of any monument to their history except for some obscure and vague reminiscences
of several things put down in various paintings; nor do they have written laws, but barbarian
institutions and customs. Well, then, if we are dealing with virtue, what temperance or mercy can
you expect from men who are committed to all types of intemperance and base frivolity, and eat
human flesh? [T]hey waged continual and ferocious war upon one another with such fierceness
that they did not consider a victory at all worthwhile unless they sated their monstrous hunger
with the flesh of their enemies….
Although some of them show a certain ingenuity for various works of artisanship, this is no
proof of human cleverness, for we can observe animals, birds, and spiders making certain
structures which no human accomplishment can competently imitate… [T]hey have been born to
slavery and not to civic and liberal life. Therefore, if you wish to reduce them, I do not say to our
domination, but to a servitude a little less harsh, it will not be difficult for them to change their
masters, and instead of the ones they had, who were barbarous and impious and inhuman, to
accept the Christians, cultivators of human virtues and the true faith...
I do not say, then, that they should be baptized by force, but that…this does not seem possible to
accomplish by any other way than first subjecting them to our rule… I believe that the barbarians
can be conquered within the same right which makes them compelled to hear the words of the
Gospels.... These apostles are…priests of the Church, and how can they preach to these
barbarians if they are not sent to them, and how are they to be sent if these barbarians are not
conquered first?
Document C
Source: Bartolomé de Las Casas, Spanish Dominican priest, In Defense of the Indians, c. 1550.
Indians…are not ignorant, inhuman, or bestial. Rather, long before they had heard the word
Spaniard they had properly organized states, wisely ordered by excellent laws, religion, and
custom. They cultivated friendship and, bound together in common fellowship, lived in populous
cities in which they wisely administered the affairs of both peace and war justly and equitably,
truly governed by laws that at very many points surpass ours…
The Indian race is not that barbaric, nor are they dull witted or stupid, but they are easy to teach
and very talented in learning all the liberal arts, and very ready to accept, honor, and observe the
Christian religion and correct their sins (as experience has taught) once priests have introduced
them to the sacred mysteries and taught them the word of God….
Furthermore, they are so skilled in every mechanical art…so very beautiful in their skill and
artistry are the things this people produces in the grace of its architecture, its painting, and its
needlework. But Sepulveda despises these mechanical arts, as if these things do not reflect
inventiveness, ingenuity, industry, and right reason…
With every kind of music they charm the ears of their audience with wonderful sweetness….
Sepulveda's teaching that these people are uncivilized and ignorant is worse than false.
Therefore, not even a truly wise man may force an ignorant barbarian to submit to him,
especially by yielding his liberty, without doing him an injustice. This the poor Indians suffer
with extreme injustice, against all the laws of God and of men and against the law of nature
itself. For evil must not be done that good may come of it….
Document D
Source: Thomas Harriot, English author and observer, A Brief and True Report of the New
Found Land of Virginia, 1590.
The Town of Secota
Their towns that are not enclosed with poles are commonly fairer then such as are enclosed…
For the houses are scattered here and there, and they have gardens…wherein grows tobacco
which the inhabitants call uppowoc. They also have groves where they hunt deer, and fields
where they sow their corn. In their corn fields they build [a tower] where they place one to
watch. There are such number of fowls, and beasts, that unless they keep watch, they would soon
devour all their corn… [T]he watch man makes continual cries and noise. They sow their corn a
certain distance apart otherwise one stalk would choke the growth of another and the corn would
not ripen. For the leaves are large, like…the leaves of great reeds. They have also several broad
areas where they meet with their neighbors, to celebrate their chief solemn feasts…and a place
where after they have ended their feast they make merry together. Over against this place they
have a round plot where they assemble themselves to make their solemn prayers. Not far from
which place there is a large building wherein are the tombs of their kings and princes, likewise
they have garden they use to sow pumpkins. Also a place wherein the make a fire at their
solemn feasts, and outside the town a river from which they fetch their water. This people
therefore devoid of concerns lay cheerfully and at their hearts ease. But they solemnize their
feasts in the night, and therefore they keep very great fires to avoid darkness, and to testify their
love.
Document E
Source: Juan de Oñate, conquistador and the Spanish creole husband of the mestizo descendant
of both the conquistador Cortez and the Aztec emperor Montezuma, Letter From New Mexico,
1599.
There must be in this province…to make a conservative estimate, seventy-thousand Indians,
settled after our custom, house adjoining house, with square plazas. They have no streets, and in
the pueblos, which contain many plazas or wards, one goes from one plaza to the other through
alleys. They are of two and three stories…, and some houses are of four, five, six, and seven
stories. Even whole pueblos dress in very highly colored cotton mantas, white or black, and
some of thread–very good clothes. Others wear buffalo hides, of which there is a great
abundance. They have most excellent wool…
[The Pueblo lands abound] in flesh of buffalo, goats with hideous horns, and turkeys; and…there
is game of all kinds. There are many wild and ferocious beasts, lions, bears, wolves, tigers,
ferrets, porcupines…whose hides they tan and use. Towards the west there are bees and very
white honey, of which I am sending a sample. Besides, there are vegetables, and a very great
many kinds of very rich ores….
The people are in general very comely…their languages, which are many, and different… Their
religion consists in worshipping idols, of which they have many; and in their temples, after their
own manner, they worship them with fire, painted reeds, feathers, and universal offering of
almost everything they get, such as small animals, birds, vegetables, etc. In their government
they are free, for although they have some petty captains, they obey them badly and in very few
things.
We have seen other nations…who live in tents of tanned hides, among the buffalo. The
Apaches…are innumerable…. They are a people whom I have compelled to render obedience to
His Majesty, although not by means of legal instruments like the rest of the provinces. This has
caused me much labor, diligence, and care, long journeys, with arms on the shoulders, and not a
little watching and circumspection; [I]ndeed, because my [general] was not as cautious as he
should have been, they killed him with twelve companions in a great pueblo and fortress called
Acóma, which must contain about three thousand Indians. As punishment for its crime and its
treason against his Majesty,…and as a warning to the rest, I razed and burned it completely….
All these provinces, pueblos, and peoples, I have seen with my own eyes.
Document F
Source: Juan de Oñate, conquistador and the Spanish creole husband of the mestizo descendant
of both the conquistador Cortez and the Aztec emperor Montezuma, Letter From New Mexico,
1599.
I beg that you take note of the great increase which the royal crown and the rents of his Majesty
have and will have in this land, with so many and such a variety of things, each one of which
promises very great treasures. I shall only note these four, omitting the rest as being well known
and common:
First, the great wealth which the mines have begun to reveal and the great number of them in this
land, whence proceed the royal fifths and profits. Second, the certainty of the proximity of the
South Sea, whose trade with Peru, New Spain, and China is not to be depreciated, for it will give
birth in time to advantageous and continuous duties, because of its close proximity, particularly
to China and to that land. And what I emphasize in this matter as worthy of esteem is the traffic
in pearls, reports of which are so certain… Third, the increase of vassals and tributes, which will
increase not only the rents, but his renown and dominion as well, if it be possible that for our
king these can increase. Fourth, the wealth of the abundant salines, and of the mountains of
brimstone, of which there is a greater quantity than in any other province. Salt is the universal
article of traffic of all these barbarians and their regular food, for they even eat or suck it alone as
we do sugar. These four things appear as if dedicated solely to his Majesty. I will not mention the
founding of so many republics, the many offices, their quittances, vacancies, provisions, etc., the
wealth of the wool and hides of buffalo, and many other things, clearly and well known, or,
judging from the general nature of the land, the certainty of wines and oils.
In view, then, Illustrious Sir, of things of such honor, profit, and value…I humbly beg and
supplicate, since it is of such importance to the service of God and of his Majesty, that the
greatest aid possible be sent to me, both for settling and pacifying…this land, through the
preaching of the holy gospel and the founding of this republic….
Group 1
Directions: Read the prompt below. Analyze the prompt to establish your task. Read the documents. Use the
documents to create arguments that you will use to respond to the prompt. Select brief quotes that support your
arguments. Record your arguments, and the particular quotes supporting those arguments. Write a brief
explanation in your own words explaining how each quote supports the argument you are making in response to
the prompt.
Prompt: Use the documents to create arguments about the goals of Spanish colonization.
Group 2
Directions: Read the prompt below. Analyze the prompt to establish your task. Read the documents. Use the
documents to create arguments that you will use to respond to the prompt. Select brief quotes that support your
arguments. Record your arguments, and the particular quotes supporting those arguments. Write a brief
explanation in your own words explaining how each quote supports the argument you are making in response to
the prompt.
Prompt: Use the documents to create arguments about the Native American responses to the Spanish.
Group 3
Directions: Read the prompt below. Analyze the prompt to establish your task. Read the documents. Use the
documents to create arguments that you will use to respond to the prompt. Select brief quotes that support your
arguments. Record your arguments, and the particular quotes supporting those arguments. Write a brief
explanation in your own words explaining how each quote supports the argument you are making in response to
the prompt.
Prompt: Use the documents to create arguments proving the Native Americans were ‘uncivilized’.
Group 4
Directions: Read the prompt below. Analyze the prompt to establish your task. Read the documents. Use the
documents to create arguments that you will use to respond to the prompt. Select brief quotes that support your
arguments. Record your arguments, and the particular quotes supporting those arguments. Write a brief
explanation in your own words explaining how each quote supports the argument you are making in response to
the prompt.
Prompt: Use the documents to create arguments that the Native Americans were ‘civilized’.
Extended Analysis of Documents ~ Handout
Four ways to extend the analysis of primary sources include correctly analyzing:
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Author’s Point of View (POV)
Author’s Purpose
Intended Audience
Historical Context
Point of View (POV)
The best way to earn the Point of View (POV) point is to go beyond the basic identity of the source
author and the source itself, as described in the document source line. In order to write a successful
POV statement, you should try to establish a better understanding of the identity of the author; you
can do this by asking yourself questions about the author and the source. What is the author’s
profession? What is the author’s gender or social class? What religion does the author follow? Does
the author have an identifiable ethnicity, nationality, or other allegiance to a particular group? Once
you’ve asked these questions, go further and explain how one of these factors may have influenced the
content of the source. Your complete POV statement should both identify an influence that may have
shaped the author or source and explain how that particular influence specifically affected the content
of the document.
Put simply, to do POV identify an important aspect of WHO the author is, and explain HOW the
author’s personhood might have impacted what they wrote.
Author’s Purpose
Author’s Purpose can be thought of as the goal sought by the author. It involves identifying the
author’s endgame, what they hope to accomplish, and why they are writing the document. Common
purposes include attempts to inform, to entertain, to persuade, to influence, to teach, to record,
requirements of the author’s job or profession, to describe, self-aggrandizement, and/or to regulate
(as in laws or rules).
If you pick up on a ‘purpose’ of the author in producing the document write sentences which describe
the purpose conveyed. In describing author’s purpose in creating a source include the phrases “the
author’s purpose in writing was to ______” and “is shown by______.”
Intended Audience
Authors aim what they write to particular groups of people. Observing the ‘intended audience’ of a
source involves identifying a person or group the author expects to inform or influence in creating the
source. It is very important in constructing your argument about the intended audience that you go
beyond what is noted in the source line of the document. Credit for extended analysis of a document
will not be granted for mere repetition of an audience identified in the source line.
If you know the ‘intended audience’ of the author write sentences which describe the audience. In
describing author’s intended audience include the phrases “the author’s intended audience was
______” and “is shown by______.”
Historical Context
Analysis of ‘Historical Context’ involves connecting a document to specific historical events, to specific
circumstances of time and place, and/or to broader regional, national, or global processes. Identifying
the Historical Context places the document within broader trends contemporary to the source. It might
also connect the document across time to earlier and later eras, or across space to events happening in
different places.
To place a document within an historical context, identify the particular historical trend or process in
which the document fits. Write a sentence which describes the context, explain how the document
participates in that historical trend or process. Include the phrase “the historical context of this
document is ______ .”
Unit 1 Extended Document Analysis Practice
Group 1; Document A
Source: Bartolomé de las Casas, Spanish Catholic priest who freed his Indian slaves before writing his History of
the Indies, 1528.
Directions:
Conduct an Extended Document Analysis of your document. Develop statements reflecting at
least one analysis each for Author’s Point of View, Author’s Purpose, Intended Audience, and Historical Context.
Unit 1 Extended Document Analysis Practice
Group 2; Document B
Source: Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, official historian of the Spanish Crown, “The Second Democrates”, 1547.
Directions:
Conduct an Extended Document Analysis of your document. Develop statements reflecting at
least one analysis each for Author’s Point of View, Author’s Purpose, Intended Audience, and Historical Context.
Unit 1 Extended Document Analysis Practice
Group 3; Document C
Source: Bartolomé de Las Casas, Spanish Dominican priest, In Defense of the Indians, c. 1550.
Directions:
Conduct an Extended Document Analysis of your document. Develop statements reflecting at
least one analysis each for Author’s Point of View, Author’s Purpose, Intended Audience, and Historical Context.
Unit 1 Extended Document Analysis Practice
Group 4; Document D
Source: Thomas Harriot, English author and observer, A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of
Virginia, 1590.
Directions:
Conduct an Extended Document Analysis of your document. Develop statements reflecting at
least one analysis each for Author’s Point of View, Author’s Purpose, Intended Audience, and Historical Context.
Group 5; Document E
Source: Juan de Oñate, creole husband of Isabel de Tolosa Cortes de Montezuma, the granddaughter of the
Spanish conqueror and great-granddaughter of the Aztec emperor, granted the authority to invade lands north of
New Spain to spread Catholicism, collect tribute from Indians, grant lands to followers, and establish mines by
Spanish King Phillip II in 1595 in return for a percentage of the wealth extracted, Letter From New Mexico, 1599.
Directions:
Conduct an Extended Document Analysis of your document. Develop statements reflecting at
least one analysis each for Author’s Point of View, Author’s Purpose, Intended Audience, and Historical Context.
Group 6; Document F
Source: Juan de Oñate, creole husband of Isabel de Tolosa Cortes de Montezuma, the granddaughter of the
Spanish conqueror and great-granddaughter of the Aztec emperor, granted the authority to invade lands north of
New Spain to spread Catholicism, collect tribute from Indians, grant lands to followers, and establish mines by
Spanish King Phillip II in 1595 in return for a percentage of the wealth extracted, Letter From New Mexico, 1599.
Directions:
Conduct an Extended Document Analysis of your document. Develop statements reflecting at
least one analysis each for Author’s Point of View, Author’s Purpose, Intended Audience, and Historical Context.