This emptying of the land was often seen by English settlers like the Pilgrims and the Puritans as a gift of divine providence. Puritan leader John Winthrop wrote about the favor God had shown to the colonists by killing the natives
I find this very interesting that they thought the mass killing of Natives was a gift to them from god.
By contrast, French efforts on the continent centered on trade with Indians
This shows how the French rather focused on trading whereas the Puritans focused on raising families.
The English published frightening tales of captivity and redemption, although in reality poor people, especially women, were often better-treated in Indian society than in the English colonies.
This shows the propaganda they were instilling against the Natives and I find that very interesting.
The Spanish established the first permanent European settlement on the North American coast in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565.
I find this very interesting that they were the first to come to the Americas before the British, which is rarely taught to us.
During the 1600s, religion, language, and local culture began inspiring feelings of regional solidarity that grew into the idea of separate nationalities. Some of these nations organized themselves as absolute monarchies, while in others, power was shared among different national groups.
I find this very interesting because language and religion play a huge factor.
above Twelve Millions (computing Men, Women, and Children) have undeservedly perished; nor do I conceive that I should deviate from the Truth by saying that above Fifty Millions in all paid their last Debt to Nature.
The numbers Las Casas uses are horrifying. He wants the king to realize that kingdoms that are greater than all Spain are being turned into ruins.
Now the ultimate end and scope that incited the Spaniards to endeavor the Extirpation and Desolation of this People, was Gold only…
This is an attack on the idea that the Spaniards were there for religious reasons. Las Casas calls out their greed, arguing that the search for wealth overrode their "Christian" mission they had claimed to have.
ow this infinite multitude of Men are by the Creation of God innocently simple, altogether void of and averse to all manner of Craft, Subtlety and Malice, and most Obedient and Loyal Subjects to their Native Sovereigns
Las Casas describes the natives as simple and submissive to frame them as perfect candidates for Christianity.
The Spaniards attacked the musicians first, slashing at their hands and faces until they had killed all of them. The singers-and even the spectators- were also killed. This slaughter in the Sacred Patio went on for three hours. Then the Spaniards burst into the rooms of the temple to kill the others: those who were carrying water, or bringing fodder for the horses, or grinding meal, or sweeping, or standing watch over this work.
The description of the Spaniards attacking the unarmed musicians is a powerful example of total war. I think them targeting the cultural heart of the city especially during a festival, rather than a military battlefield, shows that they were not just fighting for territory, but to also break the social and spiritual spirit of the Aztec people.
When Montezuma had finished, La Malinche translated his address into Spanish so that the Captain could understand it. Cortés replied in his strange and savage tongue, speaking first to La Malinche: “Tell Montezuma that we are his friends. There is nothing to fear. We have wanted to see him for a long time, and now we have seen his face and heard his words. Tell him that we love him well and that our hearts are contented.”
I think this very crucial because La Malinche becomes the bridge between the two worlds, interpreting for both of them.
No, it is not a dream. I am not walking in my sleep. I am not seeing you in my dreams…. I have seen you at last! I have met you face to face! I was in agony for five days, for ten days, with my eyes fixed on the Region of the Mystery. And now you have come out of the clouds and mists to sit on your throne again.
It's kind of fascinating and tragic to read his speech where he welcomes Cortés as their lord. It shows that the Aztecs were viewing this even through a prophetic lens, which gave the Spaniards a massive psychological advantage.
In the summer succeeding the first winter Skrellings were discovered. A great troop of men came forth from out the woods. The cattle were hard by, and the bull began to bellow and roar with a great noise, whereat the Skrellings were frightened, and ran away with their packs, wherein were gray furs, sables, and all kinds of pelts. They fled towards Karlsefni’s dwelling and sought to effect an entrance into the house; but Karlsefni caused the doors to be defended [against them].
Its interesting to see how the first contact between them was chaotic because of their language and culture barrier. It's kind of funny how a bull is what scared the Skrellings, but it's also a moment that foreshadows how quickly the two worlds would collide.
When he was but a short distance from the ship, the horse which Eric was riding stumbled, and he was thrown from his back and wounded his foot, whereupon he exclaimed, “It is not designed for me to discover more lands than the one in which we are now living, nor can we now continue longer together.”
I think Eric's horse stumbling is a great way to look into the beliefs of the Norse people and how they view fate and luck. Even though Eric is a great explorer, he took the simple fall as a sign from the universe that he wasn't mean to see thew new world.
Then said, Leif “It has not come to pass with us in regard to this land as with Biarni, that we have not gone upon it. To this country I will now give a name and call it Helluland [the land of flat rocks].”
It's interesting to see how Leif Erikson named the places based on their practical value. Like the "Land of Flat Rocks" and "Land of Forests", shows that their weren't just exploring for fun, but searching for different materials that would be useful to them.
Tiwanaku, located near the shores of Lake Titicaca in what are now the Bolivian highlands, was built about 3,500 years ago. Its 30,000 inhabitants also covered the hills around the lake with walled terraces. Centuries later, the Incas maintained and expanded these terraced farms throughout the Andes to achieve a level of agricultural production similar to the Aztecs. This is remarkable, given the altitudes at which they lived and worked: surrounding Lake Titicaca in Bolivia there are terraces rising from the lakeside elevation of 12,500 feet.
I think its wild to think that the Tiwanaku were farming at 12,500 feet. The Inca were smart enough to maintain and expand those farms to feed their empire.
Religion was central to Maya society, and stories of gods and goddesses led to the building of temples and development of a calendar that recorded religious dates but also the best times for planting and harvest.
I find this very interesting because they combined science and religion together. This kind of suggests that their temples were not just places of worship, but also a way for their society to survive, by tracking different seasons for planting and harvesting.
Reliable, storable, staple food supplies are a necessary precondition for long-term settlement and population growth – in other words the creation of cities. Like the Europeans, Africans, and Asians, once they had created a reliable food supply, many (not all) American natives built remarkable cities, especially in Central and South America. From present-day Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula south through Guatemala, the Maya developed a complex society which reached its most intense flourishing from 250 CE to 900 CE. However, the Maya changed their social organization and by the time the Spanish arrived, they were living in more separated independent city-states; seemingly having abandoned some of their more impressive temples and structures such as Chichén Itzá in Yucatan. This led to an interpretation that the original society had suffered a partial collapse sometime around 900 CE due to ecological collapse and/or feuding among these separate cities. More recently, anthropologists have begun to suggest the Maya people may just have wanted to live a lifestyle with less centralized control.
This shows the development of the civilizations. I think its pretty interesting to see the shift in the Mayans, moving from living in cities independently to even abandoning their places of worship (temples).
Even today, typical histories of America tend to consider the moment of Columbus’ landing on October 12, 1492, to be a significant starting point. Some continue to consider Columbus to have been a heroic explorer while others regard him as a monster and accuse him of deliberate genocide.
I find this very interesting because to this day, Columbus is considered the founder of the Americas, and that is not true considering how there were already indigenous people here.
The social stability that allowed Chinese culture to produce these innovations was based on not only their imperial form of government, but on an elaborate system of professional civil service. The early establishment of a professional administrative class of “scholar-officials” was a remarkable element of imperial Chinese rule that made it more stable, longer-lasting, and at least potentially less oppressive than empires in other parts of the world. The imperial courts sent thousands of highly-educated administrators throughout the empire and China was ruled not by hereditary nobles or even elected representatives, but by a class of men who had received rigorous training and had passed very stringent examinations to prove they were qualified to lead
I find this whole section intriguing because to this day, the Chinese government operates like this, having officials ranks, each based on seniority.