The Meeting of Two Worlds: Europe and the Americas

In 1492, Europe and the Americas encountered each other for the first time. Since the first encounter, the two groups had deep distrust with each other. Europeans viewed Native Americans as uncivilized barbarians in need of help and guidance from themselves, and the Native Americans viewed the Europeans as arrogant and authoritative people who were below them and sought to change every aspect of their culture for their own benefit. The vast difference between the two cultures caused tension between the two groups and eventually led to the assimilation of Indigenous culture. Europeans did not have the right to change Native American culture because the Native Americans clearly did not want the help or company of the Europeans. 

Despite the Spanish’s belief that they needed to help modernize the Native Americans, their company felt more like a burden than something to be proud of. In the 1600s, Inca noblewomen, specifically widows, had been married off to Spanish men by Spanish officials in order to allow Spanish men to acquire the possessions and wealth of these noblewomen, gaining power that would be recognized. These women were not pleased as pleased with the situation and received minimal gain from these arrangements.  In “The Origins of the Incas,” Garcilaso de la Vega describes the women as “the losers” (p. 76) because they were undesirably arranged with men who tended to be older than their previous husbands. De la Vega also recounts the story of a princess who resisted her arranged marriage with a Spanish man. After endless begging from those around her, the princess gave into the marriage for business and political purposes rather than love. When a translator asked if she had consented to the marriage, the princess responded, “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t” (p. 76). De la Vega depicts all the Inca noblewomen pushed into these marriages by Europeans as miserable with no choice or escape. This shows the negative effects of the Europeans interfering the Native American culture and life.

Europeans often looked down on Indigenous for their lack of advanced buildings, unconventional attire, and different religion, hence why they wanted to change their culture to be more “developed.” The Europeans failed, however, to consider whether the Natives were satisfied with their own culture. If they had, they would have noticed that the Indigenous were happy with their culture and looked down on Europeans’ way of living. In “Mi’kmaq Observations on the French,” a Native from the Mi’kmaq group points out how the French relied on the Natives when living on their land, yet the French criticize their culture and want to advance their way of living. The Native makes this point to show that the Natives do not need the French and boldly states that “there is no Indian who does not consider himself infinitely more happy and more powerful than the French” (p. 113). The document shows that the Mi’kmaq people were satisfied with their lives before coming in contact with Europeans, even after they witnessed the technology of the Europeans. This shows that the Natives did not need help from the Europeans.

Spanish conquistadors brought and heavily pushed Catholicism onto the Native Americans, who had no choice but to abandon their traditional religion and unwillingly convert. As expected, this frustrated many Indians. An example of this frustration can be seen during the rebellion of the Pueblo Indians. In the year 1680, many Pueblo Indians destroyed many items representing the Catholic faith. When cross-examined on why he and the other Indians rebelled, Pedro Naranjo, one of the Natives involved in the rebellion, explained that he had been commanded to do so by a fellow Indian. By destroying these Catholic items, he would be “free from the labor they had performed for the religious,” and allowed him to live how “they had always desired to live” (p. 115). Another rebellion, which Tupac Ameru II led in 1781, began because of the strong discontent among the Incans with the Spanish. In the 1781 document “All Must Die,” José Antonio de Areche refers to this revolt as an “iniquitous and perverse intent or project” (p. 163) and goes on to ridicule Inca culture. The loss of their native religion pushed the Natives to participate in these religions. The Europeans, however, viewed the rebellions as a conspiracy instead of a cry for freedom. This lack of connection between the Europeans and Natives further shows why the Europeans had no right to change their culture.

Through rebellions and a clear lack of satisfaction, the Indigenous showed their unhappiness with the changes the Europeans were making to their culture and society. The cultural assimilation of the different Indigenous tribes was a tragic period in world history that never should have happened. The Europeans never had the authority to eliminate the culture of so many people.