Howard Zinn, and to an extent the authors of Out Of Many, make a point of drawing attention to the horrific treatment of the Native Americans at the hands of Christopher Columbus and those who followed in his path. While I agree that the “genocide” of the native Americans was terrible, it wasn’t unusual. It was simply the strong prevailing over the weak.
Before Columbus even had the thought of heading west, Indian tribes were killing one another. The Aztecs ruled with fierce oppression, sacrificing and enslaving neighboring groups that we’re weaker. Wingina, an Indian chief on the East Coast, wanted to use the English as a tool to conquer rivals in the area. Many Indian groups were peaceful, but Zinn works incredibly hard to make the Native Americans seem harmless and completely peaceful.
When the Europeans came, so did their diseases. Zinn makes it sound like it was a conscience effort on their part to bring disease to the Indians. I find it very unlikely that people five hundred plus years ago fully understood the concept of antibodies and immunity to disease. The outbreak of disease that followed the Europeans path just happened to be a convenient weapon added to their arsenal. Once they did figure out that disease was on their side, one can’t really blame them for using it to its full advantage. It wasn’t in their power to cure the Natives or prevent outbreaks, and a people that sailed over treacherous seas for several months are hardly going to stop, apologize, sail back home and leave brand new lands to themselves.
Throughout history, one group of people has conquered another, never without bloodshed. The Romans slaughtered countless nations and peoples. The Mongolians went west and killed virtually everything in their path. Hitler and Nazi Germany did their best to take over Europe and anything that didn’t subscribe to their way of things. Strong attacking the weak. It happens in elementary schools everyday. Europeans found a new land that promised riches, land and slaves. Almost every nation in human history would have done the same thing as Columbus and the other conquistadors.
I not trying to argue that what happened to the Native American people wasn’t terrible, but I am saying that it shouldn’t be a surprise. Decency on a national level, is a fairly new concept. Slavery and cruelty were abundant for the history of mankind and it is hardly fair to look down at Columbus and judge by today’s standards five hundred years later.
Zinn, Howard. APeople's History of the United States. New York: The New Press, 2003
1 comment:
UShistoryhappens2,
Hi, I wanted to say that your blogs are well structured with a nice flow and a solid conclusion. Your blogs improved every step of the way this semester and were well written. I would like to comment on the "genocide" post and respectfully disagree with a couple of your points. In no way does this lessen my respect for you or your work, which is clearly above average.
First, I agree that the genocide of the Native Americans was indeed terrible, but I would argue that it IS unusual. Columbus and the Spanish conquest killed five times more people than Hitler and his Nazis did. While it is very true that every culture, on every continent, in every era has conquered with blood, Columbus did it with a fervor and disdain for human life.
While I do not disagree that the Native people's of America were not a Utopian society or societies, they were definitely more egalitarian, tolerant, and self sufficient than those from western Europe. The Native people did fight, have enemies, and commit atrocities in the name of religion, culture, and/or power but the romanticizing in Zinns book mostly came from Columbus' or Bartolomé de las Casa journals, and the biggest culprit was Samuel Morison who buried the "genocide" in a heap of heroification and praise for Columbus.
My point, again with all due respect, this is just my opinion, is we should hold Columbus and the conquistadors accountable for their actions. Yes it was 500 years ago, but they knew what they were doing was wrong, and we must teach our people that it was as wrong then as it is now, we should not accept that "they didn't know better" just like the warlords and hate mongers of todays world know it's wrong, so did the Spanish, English, Dutch, and French. I would hope that heinous acts like these would and will always be viewed as a shock and appall us.
Once again great work on this semesters essays, clearly above average and well thought out. I have enjoyed reading your work. :)
Lee
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