BLack Robe
After reading the assigned biographies and viewing the movie "Black Robe", I think the "Black Legend" fails to accurately define Indian/European relationships. Bartolome de Las Casas initially makes the Spanish conquistadors look like very abusive and uncaring men. He writes, "The Christians, with their horses and swords and lances, began to slaughter and practise strange cruelties among them." The Indians, on the other hand, are described as a kind and delicate people, like lambs or gentle sheep; but still considered inferior to the Europeans. Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish nobleman, initially viewed the Indians as a people to be conquered and enslaved. He came to America in hopes of finding treasures of gold but, instead, I think he found himself. Cabeza de Vaca was born into a family of adventurers so it is not surprising that he joined Panfilo de Narvaez's expedition to the "West Indies" to conquer the land we know as present-day Florida. Upon reaching Florida after months at sea and a winter in Cuba, the Indians of the land were not overjoyed to see this new batch of Spaniards. In fact, after meeting Narvaez's emissary, "the entire village fled into the forest." When Narvaez came ashore, he read the requeri
Once again, these Indians are kind and generous. Cabeza de Vaca declined and requested an audience with the King of Spain. Although the Europeans viewed the Indians as inferior to themselves, they also learned from them. While the French sought to "help" the Huron nation, it came with a price of wide-spread disease that nearly wiped out the Indian nations. Cabeza de Vaca was eventually named governor of Rio de la Plata (Argentina) and tried to put into action his ideas of treating the Indians with respect and fairness. " He wanted to return with the authority to rule over these people. Next we have the French who begin to come into the picture in northern North America and Canada. As Cabeza de Vaca searched for Mexico, he came to realize that this race of people known as Indians were not so heathen as he once thought. I think that the European attitudes of the Indian as a whole does not fit the model of the Black Legend. Most of the Indian nations behaved as de Las Casas described them. miento which simply stated the Indians were now subjects of the King of Spain and were required to obey all Spanish law and become Christians. From the start, the French seem intent on Christianizing the Huron nation. They were skilled in protecting themselves from enemies but most did not seek the enemy to start warring. Since the French seem to align themselves with the Huron nation through the Jesuit mission, they also become enemies of the Iroquois.
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Acceptance Essays
