How Do Native Americans Criticize Their Culture

When facing Native American abnormalities, explorers are quick to criticize their culture and traditions, despite their complex advancements compared to European society. Explorer’s inclinations toward the Natives were harsh and degrading. Luckily as the century grew, people’s attitude fluctuated from mainstream thoughts as they took a closer look at the native inhabitants. Explorers realized that what they fathomed were misconceptions toward the American Indians. At the beginning of the age of exploration, Native Americans experience opinions of hatred and bigotry toward their religion, social aspects, and technology, but as the 16th century progresses, European explorers' perceptions become more accepting of the Natives' culture. At …show more content…
They reject their indigenous religious ideas. Explorers are quick to convert these locals to Christianity, ignoring their beliefs. Christopher Columbus believes he voyaged across the atlantic “to learn their disposition and the proper method of converting them to our holy faith” (Columbus 1). After discovering the Natives, Columbus stays true to his beliefs, “It appears to me...that they’d...become Christians”(Columbus 6). After the discovery of America, Bartolome de Las Casas comes to the defense of the Natives and their religion, “...no one is forced to accept the faith of Christ...nor is he punished if he omits it” (de Las Casas 1). De Las Casas explains that forcing the Natives to become apart of their society is against moral obligation. …show more content…
In 1519, Hernan Cortes invades Mexico in a false act of friendship towards the Aztecs. Cortes and his crew trick the Aztecs and convince them they are mythological gods, then the crew murders the village, takes control over the Mexican city, and keeps the survivors as slaves. “The spaniards hanged a chief...murdered the king...attacked the musicians” (An Aztec Account 1). A couple years later, in 1550, Bartolome de Las Casas writes his defense against the Natives’ social aspects, “there are important kingdoms, large numbers of people lived settled lives in a society, great cities, kings, judges and laws… and commerce” (de Las Casas 1). He realizes that the Natives “are not ignorant, inhuman, or bestial” (de Las Casas 1). He claims that people are in the wrong about Natives’ lives and champions the Natives’ basic rights, and is one of the first explorers to do so. At the conclusion of the century, a philosopher known as Michel de Montaigne writes an essay on the lifestyle of the Natives. “I find that there is nothing barbarous and savage in this nation… excepting, that every one gives the title of barbarism to everything that is not in use in his own country” (Montaigne 2). He believes the Natives are to be respected far greater than those in his own country. “I am not sorry that we notice the barbarous horror of such acts,