European Colonization Essay

Improved Essays
The European colonization of the Americas is one of the more controversial events in American history. In the past questions have been raised about the extent to which this topic has been talked about or the lack of accuracy, in terms of, the severity of the acts that had been committed during this time period. But over the past decade or so, such opinions have been put to rest. There has been a lot of dialogue and discussion about the different aspects of the colonization. While acknowledging the ethical and moral atrocities that were committed and experienced by all groups of people involved, though some groups committing slightly more than the others and others experiencing it more than the others, there are many other aspects of the colonization …show more content…
Though their primary intentions must have been to honor their queen and not just her chastity, the fact that they chose to honor her through her by highlighting her chastity, shows how important such things were in that society. We see importance being placed on similar ideas like chastity and polygamy by others during colonization. The New Mexico Franciscans also placed great importance on ideas like chastity and said how “The Franciscan God demanded chastity before and monogamy within marriage.”(84). The natives who had converted and chose to not follow this, were whipped with lashes and that was sometimes followed by a smearing dose of turpentine. It is important to consider that the natives practiced polygamy as part of their culture for ages before the Franciscans came. It wasn’t only the Europeans who placed great importance on the sexuality and its way of practice. A native shaman called Pope cultivated a large following, especially appealing to men outraged at the Franciscan attack on polygamy, “Pope promised each warrior a new wife for every Hispanic he killed.” (89). These examples show how important sexuality was in colonized America. Especially because both groups of people had very different ideas about sex and its meaning, and also its place in

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Black Robe Movie Analysis

    • 1083 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Black Robe gave its audience a depiction of early colonial times when missionary work was a prominent goal in colonization. Upon first contact, the Native Americans were an essential resource for survival. As the years came the Native Americans became major trading partners with colonists, at least until their resources ran out. Over the duration of these relations each tribe reached a point of dependency on European goods. Black Robe provided us with an understanding of how misunderstands throughout history shaped the past of North America, along with an understanding of the Native Americans’ dynamic introduction into a global economy made them inferior and later a mere annoyance in the eyes of colonizers.…

    • 1083 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Paper #1: Chapters 1-3 of Voices of Freedom Looking back at the whole occurrence of the discovery of the New World it becomes evident the many hardships that the colonial settlers caused which justifies the egocentric intentions of the many Europeans. It seems that even though the settlers were fleeing from a country that forced views among themselves or caused unjust situations; the colonists were precisely acting on the foreign population, who they viewed as “lesser”, similarly to that of their homelands. Although at the time the occurrence was not obvious, looking at it from today’s standpoint, it is quit ironic. On more than one instance the settlers treated distinctive groups with an inhumane disrespect with no regard to their well-being.…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    During the duration of 1850-1914 Europe underwent a drastic change as a European society. The new shift in societal values was a result of new revolutions, urbanization,expansion, and industrialization. The Second Industrial Revolution had been one the greatest causes of these changes, for the revolution had been in progress for the last third of the 19 century and continued into the beginning of the 20th century. The revolution had ended with a very impressive amount of new innovations, and inventions that changed the daily lives of many. From the intellectuals ' minds and new technologies another event arose which also had quite an impact on societal values ; Imperialism in Africa and Asia which came as a result of an increase of new…

    • 1083 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    American Colonization Society Adeyeri Iyanu History 1301 Professor Christopher Patke November 1, 2017 American Colonization Society was established with the goal of paying for free blacks to establish and live in a colony in Africa. According to Burin, in 1816, the establishment of a colony was not supported by most Abolitionist. Even so, the American Colonization Society(ACS) was able to establish a colony for the free blacks, and the Trade House of Committee by receiving aid from the Congress. The white clergyman Robert Finely together with some prominent supporters, including Henry Clay, Francis Scott Key, and Andrew…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Lost Colony Essay

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Over five hundred years ago, 118 settlers disappeared out of thin air. The Roanoke Colony was a bunch of settlers that wanted to make the new world (America) repopulated and successful. John White was the leader of the colony right before it disappeared. Virginia Dare was the first English child to be born in the new world. Some of the main theories sounds correct, but there are no evidence to back them up.…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jamestown Colony Essay

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The establishment of the Jamestown Colony would not have been possible without the use of indentured servants and slaves. The colony required a steady flow of profit and income to fuel its growing and turn it into the colony the people needed to survive. The planting of tobacco was very important as a source of income, but it required hard labor (nps.gov). In order to achieve such labor, without the spending of much money, indentured servants and slaves were the solution. Jamestown was founded on the principles of finding gold and making profits (us history.org).…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Comparing and contrasting William Penn’s plan for Philadelphia and Pierre L’Enfant’s plan for Washington D.C. When early colonial America began to form, a city plan was not always drafted in order to begin building, but when city plans were created, they reflected the needs of those who planned to settle the area. The city plan for Washington D.C. as well as the plan for Philadelphia serve as good examples because of the early documentation available from the architects, which details the feelings and ideas that the architects have about the cities they are planning. In the depiction of Washington D.C. by Pierre L’Enfant and the depiction of Pennsylvania by William Penn, differences in the motivations for building the cities, priorities of…

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail westward across the Atlantic Ocean in hope to find a route to China and India. He commanded a fleet of three ships named the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria. His voyages lead to a profound event that changed the world. Several explores began expeditions discovering new land across the western hemisphere. The Europeans were looking for new land due to their significant population increase, the bubonic plague, and establishment for new governments.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When Christopher Columbus, first set foot on the Americas and first made contact with the Arawaks, his immediate written thought was that since the natives were so very willing to trade all of their goods, and were naive about arms, “they would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want” (Zinn, p.1). The idea of subjugating the natives rapidly developed into crimes against humanity. The Spaniards, according to an early proponent for Native American rights, had “no more consideration for [the natives] than beasts”. The Spaniards enslaved the natives into heavy labor, where the natives “soon [died] of no matter what malady” (Bartolomé de las Casas, p.27).…

    • 746 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Native American Encounter

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages

    When looking at the past, the Europeans have always self- proclaimed that they discovered the Americas, but really it was the Native Americans who had been there all along. In the early centuries of the Americas’ founding for eastern civilization, the Native Americans were a piece that had to be overcome in order for conquistadors and empires to ascertain wealth and wealth glory, and then later spread the Catholic faith. The Indians faced head on the impact that this encounter had caused. The Natives faced rape, pillage, and murder because to the Europeans, they were an obstruction in their path to their desires even though the Native Americans helped the Europeans by teaching them what crops to grow, how to hunt, and the art of building shelters.…

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While most Spaniards believed that the harsh treatment of the natives during the conquest of the Americas was necessary to accomplish the Spanish Imperial objectives in the region, there were many who opposed those treatments. Bartolomé de las Casas a Catholic priest, was the most eloquent critic of Spanish mistreatment of the New World’s native population (de las Casas, p.7). In his document, History of the Indies (1528), de las Casas aimed to inform the public back in Spain of the atrocities that occurred on the island of Hispaniola by Spanish “comendadors” and attempted to persuade them to stop such practices. When de las Casas arrived in the New World and in particular at the island of Hispaniola, present day Haiti, as a Christian missionary,…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The idea of assimilation by the colonists is furthered proved by the evidence found in Cape Fear. Researchers identified a ten carat gold signet ring from sixteenth century Europe. Other artifacts unearthed include: a small writing slate; similar to those found in Jamestown, part of the hilt of an iron rapier, a light sword; again, similar to that used by the English, and a large copper ingot. In opposition, many speculate whether these artifacts indeed belonged to the English settlers. However, data confirms that these items were associated with the colonists.…

    • 189 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many achievements of European civilizations in the new world after the year 1492, denotes to a moral question. From speculations and in depth research, an estimated 80% to 90% of the indigenous people’s population died after the arrival of the Europeans. Although this statement can be viewed as historical information, it also raises the question of several moral issues. Numerous consequences I will discuss are disease, food supply, and forced relocation, which very definitely have moral implications. Europeans brought deathly epidemics over to the new world without even knowing it.…

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Trailblazers: The Success of the Spanish Colonies The fate of global civilization was radically changed when Christopher Columbus embarked for the New World in 1492, launching the leading European powers into a race for colonization and exploration. During this time, each country achieved varying degrees of success by employing different tactics to best conquer the uncharted territory of the Americas; for example, the French exploited the trade of beaver pelts to obtain territory and economic success (Kennedy & Cohen 99). Many of these European colonies grew into flourishing cities and centers of culture and newfound traditions. However, especially in the case of the Spanish conquest, each colony faced adversity when interacting with the indigenous…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The practice of celibacy has deep roots in the Christian tradition, but not necessarily as a means to provide equality for women and men (Foster, 21). By drawing upon literature from other traditions, the Shakers…

    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics