The relationship between Christianity and how it shaped interactions between people from different parts of the world in the 1500s is a historically complex question and many conclusions can be drawn from it. Through the late 15th and early 16th centuries, European missionaries and colonizers greatly spread Catholic Christianity to the Americas and Africa. It is important to analyze why they did this why they felt such entitlement. Throughout history, it has been in the habit of the colonizers to believe they are inherently superior to the colonized. A very important issue resulted in a crisis of conscience in the 16th century Spanish Empire. A discharge of both self-criticism and self-justification from Christian Catholic figures, reflected
…show more content…
Galeota was the son of a Portuguese nobleman whose ship was captured by a local Chinese official and was not executed by mere luck. His writings about China were generally positive, but he believed they had to be converted to Christianity and thought their “reasonableness” made them capable of it. Pereira’s mild respect for the Chinese comes from his first-hand experience of the Ming law-enforcement system. Although he was wrongly accused by two locals of committing a crime, the Chinese courts redeemed it was not enough to put him in jail, thus, demonstrating the impartiality and sophistication of trhe Ming Dynasty. This was an impartiality that no European nation would have shown at the time towards a “heathen.” Despite this, Pereira still believed the Chinese had to be converted to Christianity and found their ability to reason and form such a fair system of law made them capable of it. It is almost as if Western Europeans only recognized the humanity in other people from other cultures if they showed signs of being civilized. If Europeans confirmed they were rather civilized, then they believed these people were capable of being Christians. This Christian mentality severs as another example of the Western Europeans mindset of their justification for overseas imperialism. They say themselves …show more content…
The las Casas reading and his account of Christian action in the New World is an excellent source for this analysis. Bartolomé de las Casas was a friar of the Dominican order that traveled to the New World with the purpose of converting the Native Americans. Arriving as one of the first European settlers, he initially participated in, but later felt compelled to oppose the atrocities committed against the Native Americans by the Spanish colonists. The Spanish enslaved many of the Natives and forced them to work in the mines of Potosí and Huancavelica. Spanish Carmelite monk Antonio Vazquez describes the volume and value of silver mining at the expense of the indigenous people and their harsh labor conditions through the mita system. De las Casas also witnessed the torture and killing of these people and, although he recognized their humanity, he believed the Spanish were not to bring anybody to Christianity by massacring them and that violence was rather barbaric and not God’s will. In contrast to de las Casas, Juan Ginés Sepúlveda argued on his writing that colonizing the “Indians” was moral and would not be condemned in the eyes of Christianity. He based his opinion on the believe that the Natives were “natural slaves” and irrational beasts who
Galeota was the son of a Portuguese nobleman whose ship was captured by a local Chinese official and was not executed by mere luck. His writings about China were generally positive, but he believed they had to be converted to Christianity and thought their “reasonableness” made them capable of it. Pereira’s mild respect for the Chinese comes from his first-hand experience of the Ming law-enforcement system. Although he was wrongly accused by two locals of committing a crime, the Chinese courts redeemed it was not enough to put him in jail, thus, demonstrating the impartiality and sophistication of trhe Ming Dynasty. This was an impartiality that no European nation would have shown at the time towards a “heathen.” Despite this, Pereira still believed the Chinese had to be converted to Christianity and found their ability to reason and form such a fair system of law made them capable of it. It is almost as if Western Europeans only recognized the humanity in other people from other cultures if they showed signs of being civilized. If Europeans confirmed they were rather civilized, then they believed these people were capable of being Christians. This Christian mentality severs as another example of the Western Europeans mindset of their justification for overseas imperialism. They say themselves …show more content…
The las Casas reading and his account of Christian action in the New World is an excellent source for this analysis. Bartolomé de las Casas was a friar of the Dominican order that traveled to the New World with the purpose of converting the Native Americans. Arriving as one of the first European settlers, he initially participated in, but later felt compelled to oppose the atrocities committed against the Native Americans by the Spanish colonists. The Spanish enslaved many of the Natives and forced them to work in the mines of Potosí and Huancavelica. Spanish Carmelite monk Antonio Vazquez describes the volume and value of silver mining at the expense of the indigenous people and their harsh labor conditions through the mita system. De las Casas also witnessed the torture and killing of these people and, although he recognized their humanity, he believed the Spanish were not to bring anybody to Christianity by massacring them and that violence was rather barbaric and not God’s will. In contrast to de las Casas, Juan Ginés Sepúlveda argued on his writing that colonizing the “Indians” was moral and would not be condemned in the eyes of Christianity. He based his opinion on the believe that the Natives were “natural slaves” and irrational beasts who