American people convicted of murder

From 1492 when Columbus first “discovered” the Americas, Iberian colonisation of the native Amerindian peoples had begun. Already inhabited by the native peoples, the Spanish and Portuguese begun the task of conquering through killing, enslaving and bringing the natives under their rule and power. This large and expansive conquest of Central and South America killed conceivably as much as 90% of the natives in little under 200 years, due to the introduction of old world disease and the power of…

New World. This, of course, lead to the Europeans settling in these areas and conquering the native peoples in order to pursue their three main incentives; god, gold, and glory. Different historians have varying takes on exactly how the Europeans went about doing this. Howard Zinn begins his “A People’s History” by alleging that Columbus and other Europeans tortured and killed the Native Americans with the sole purpose of obtaining gold and other valuable resources. In contrast,…

of the British invasion was better than that of most people then living in the UK” (Gray, Saggers, and Stearne 2015, p.151). Throughout this essay I will be exploring the many effects colonization had on Aboriginal people.…

spread was smallpox. These kinds of diseases spread so fast, that sometimes Europeans had caught diseases from the Native Americans without even coming in contact with them and vice versa with the Native Americans. You know that saying about trying to find a positive in every negative thing? Well, I look at it this way, with these diseases being spread, I feel like more that people know about them, the better chance there will be that someone can find a cure for it. These diseases ended up…

from their own government and from Ladinos. Indigenous people were like slaves to landowners and experienced a lot of injustice in the fincas. In the testimonio of I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala Elisabeth Burgos-Debray narrates Rigoberta’s struggles and oppression that many Guatemalan Indian communities have experienced. In Guatemala, historically speaking Ladinos have always dominated indigenous communities and indigenous people have always lived in poverty. The government…

have their own tribes. For a lot of Native Americans, the Indian reservations hold a strong sense of community and culture and they feel like it is home. However, in many cases, such as in the case of Sherman Alexie in his personal narrative The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian, Native Americans feel like the reservation system, even with strong family and community ties they have there, fails them. The reservation system often forces people to leave there home and community because…

How would you react if foreign people you have never seen or heard of before started claiming your land for their own? The Indians faced this exact question when the European explorers started to explore the Americas. The Native Americans reacted with an array of emotions and therefore a wide variety of solutions. Fear, superiority, kindness, and even worship were some of these feelings, and even though they are vastly different from one another, they all can be used to describe how different…

Opening Statement My clients, Christopher Columbus’ men, are charged with murdering and mistreating a large number of Taino Indians. But, is that what they are truly guilty of? Or were they following orders from Christopher Columbus? They are considered guilty because Christopher Columbus gave them orders to kill and mistreat the Tainos. My clients plead guilty. But, to know who is solely responsible, we all need to know that this case is about two things, power, and control. If we keep in mind…

The movie is entitled Smoke Signals because at first it may seem like a stereotypical representation of Native Americans, however, it actually signifies the lack of communication Victor and Thomas have with each other, as well as between Victor and his father, and between the rest of their Indian community. This is because smoke from campfires continues to be a stereotypical symbol of Indian life and was how others, mostly the white community could identify Indians’ presence from miles away,…

Although the Chumash people experienced much pain and suffering at the hands of the Spanish, not all of the natives were passive about their plight. Many escaped from the Spanish and were executed for their “crimes”, while other Chumash people started revolts that killed many of the Spanish military and priest. The most violent of their revolts occurred in 1824 at the Missions Santa Barbara and La Purisima. Attacking the missions and setting them on fire after capture, a battle was waged for…