"When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts...These Arawaks of the Bahama Islands were much like the Indians on the mainland, who were remarkable...for their hospitality, their belief in sharing"(Zinn, 3). It is very sad when you realize how our country was founded, but understandable when you think of how well it explains the way it is today. The natives were generous, innovative and open-minded people, the opposite of our celebrated founders. Columbus and his men were blind sighted by their greedy search for gold, by their desire for political power and property and by their strong sense of self-righteousness. The Indians weren’t unintelligent but they were a simpler people and couldn’t stand up to the cutthroat Spaniards with their advanced weaponry and influence.
The Spanish wanted gold, spices and slaves. It is remarkable how hypocritical all the explorers were, including the French, but excluding the English. The Spanish were the worst. They slaughtered thousands of natives, destroyed villages, mislead the Indians in their beliefs and spread unfamiliar sicknesses. Samuel Eliot Morrison sums it up in one word: Genocide (Zinn, 9). The Spanish continue to try to take over this “new” land and so do the French. The hypocritical part, is that while they clearly have no respect for the natives already there or their culture, they intermarried. In truth, there is nothing wrong with different races marrying each other, but for that time and that mentality, it is extremely surprising. Since these marriages were acceptable and increasingly common because of the lack of European women (Faragher, 46), it could raise the question of how things could have progressed if the British hadn’t so successfully taken over North America.
Driven from an animosity towards Spain, England advanced in claiming American territory for itself (Faragher, 50). They settled, but unlike the Spanish and French, felt it wasn’t right to mix with the Indians. They were a lesser people and the British were Godly citizens. When you think back to the major conflicts we’ve had in the United States, it’s obvious many of them have been based around race. For the last two hundred years equal rights has been an issue that has been sadly struggled over. Equality for women versus men is also a similar battle to race. The early Puritan settlers led an orderly lifestyle. There was subordination in the women but their roles were respected and important (Faragher, 70). Women were respected in a similar way in the Iroquois society. The women tended the children and the crops while the men hunted (Zinn, 15).
Power and money drive everything under the guise of “the greater good.” The Spanish Conquistadors’ actions in the Caribbean and Mexico speak volumes of that. They never took the opportunity the Indians offered for a new way of life and friendship. Instead they said they were ignorant and offered them as slaves to King Ferdinand (Faragher, 38). Columbus has already screwed up and found an unexpected land. He should have embraced his amazing new opportunity to learn about the natives and their land instead of destroying them.
