IGNORANCE - "SPEANISH PROTECTORS"

UNIT #3: IGNORANCE - “Spanish Protectors” (W3:D1) (search bold words at huntthepast.com to know more)

Finding a New Land - Imagine you were an explorer and came upon a land that, to the best of your knowledge, was a specific land you expected to be your destination. The ocean is so vast, and the islands are so spread apart, that - as far as you could see - there was no larger body of land. So you stay close to the land you know. Your ignorance does not stop there. You stumble upon a native tribe, never influenced or visited by someone like you before. It could have easily been, to the Spanish, that there were no American continents. Columbus had only found these islands, full of resources, to show the people who paid for his voyage. There was so much ignorance on the part of the Spanish, as they ventured into these new lands. Both the indigenous people and these explorers knew nothing of each other, and may have worried - on both sides - if they would be captured and taken as slaves. Because their languages were so vastly different, they struggled to understand each other. They worked together to build their first fortification. The Spanish paid the Taino who helped them with manufactured goods, like glass beads. The worry of the Taino perhaps came to reality when Columbus left a small number of men to continue to build, and left to return to Spain. These men, who possibly had ill intentions, may have turned on the people, and begun to demand - and then plunder - the tribe's goods; and then possibly began abusing their people. There was nothing the Taino could do but defend themselves. Or, maybe… the men who were left did not take anything, but another war-like tribe, like the Carib, came to attack them. The details are not clear, for the men were slaughtered when Columbus returned, and all he found was a broken fortification and bodies. Now, since they spoke different languages, what was Columbus to think about what had happened? That his men were attacked, which then began a war with the Taino. Again, the Taino may not have had anything to do with it, but according to Columbus and the Spanish ignorance, there was only one group of indigenous people in the area. So, the Spanish could have begun to take up arms against anyone on the islands, and when war struck up against the islanders and the Spanish, they both were forced to defend themselves. Of course, the claim of brutality would have come from the stronger of the two groups, so the Spanish were to be blamed for what would occur. So who really was at fault? Do we know, since no one today lived back then. Remember, the native women were rescued from the Carib, by Columbus’s men. Could it be that there were no ill feelings between the Taino and Columbus, but they communicated that another tribe had come and killed both of their people and stole their women? Most likely, this is what occurred because Columbus’s physician reported back their rescue efforts against the Carib tribe, on what was to become St. Thomas Island, and what the women had communicated to them. It was at this time that Friar Ramón Pané began living among the tribe. There was one other issue that the Spanish were completely unaware of, that made things hard to understand in the new world. They may have believed that all those that they came upon were of the same tribe. Some tribes spread out among many islands. The Taino people spoke Arawak, but so did the Carib, for there was a cultural shift happening at that time among those that lived among the Hispaniola and surrounding islands. The shift was caused by the Caribs traveling to the Taino’s islands, attacking them, stealing their women, and marrying some. The Taino women spoke Arawak, so the Carib needed to learn to communicate with their wives, and so were taught Arawak. To the Spanish, those who spoke the same language were the same people, right?! That was how it was in Europe. So, there was no way for them to tell who was who, until years later, when the Catholic friars came to and began to learn all their languages and cultures. These friars would live among the people of many different tribes, learn their languages, and work to preserve their history, writing down their oral stories. Combined with this writing, even sometimes ignorant of Columbus and the Spanish, we base what we know from the writings we have. You may not agree with everything or anything they said, but you cannot discount their words. They lived it; historians try to reconstruct it, and we hopefully seek to learn from it. This is why primary sources, including journals, letters, logs, and other writings from the time, are important sources. A historian from today can only assume they understand what was going on hundreds of years ago, only through writings and small archeological finds. They can only work with their assumptions.

Activity: Coming Upon a New Land – You have been sailing for two months straight, and you feel that you will never find land. Suddenly, a sailor from the crow’s nest – a platform at the top of the mast – yells “LAND HO!!!”. What would you have experienced in that moment? What would you have experienced when you stepped out of the row boat onto the gritty sand? What would you have experienced when you met the inhabitants of the island? Tell us how you imagine your experience would be, or the journal entry you would have written.

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______________________________________________________________________________________Wait for tomorrow's post where we talk about the ignorance of the indigenous people. Remember also that ignorance is not a negative thing on the people, everyone is ignorant of something, some more than others. It literally means you have no knowledge of something. We all have an ignorance and that is why we are contantly learning and looking for knowledge. So when you come to something you didn't know, don't think the well used words of "I know that, Mom (or Dad)." Think, I didn't know that and I want to know more. This will help you become less ignorance. Like the "Spanish Protectors" as they decided to adventure into an ocean they feared would be the end of the world, they instead said, I want to know more!!!