PRECONTACT

The United States of America has a rich, dark, and eventful past. It began in Spain
and Portugal, where they lead the journey of expansion with growing traveling technology.
The countries sought the Pope to settle debates of who would own the new territory, to be
North and South America, discovered. Pope Alexander VI proposed the countries to split the
territory 48 degrees west longitude around the world with the Tordesillas Treaty of 1434. The
countries thought the division would be equal, but little did they know, there was more land
west of the line, practically all of (to be) North and South America, except a small sliver that
would belong to Portugal. Spain persistently continued explored and claimed most of what is
the south of North america and surrounding Atlantic islands. Christopher Columbus was the
first European explorer who “discovered” the land that is now known as America in 1492. He
made many trips from Europe to the New World, transporting food and resources needed to
start colonies. However, materials weren’t the only things Columbus brought to the New
World. He brought disease, which killed many Natives, and slaves for labour, which
increased the African Slave Trade.
Columbus’s part in colonising America is widely recognized as “great” and he is
celebrated as the founder of America. However, Columbus’s actions were beneficial to
Europeans, but detrimental to those who lived on the land before he “discovered” it, and
Africans of the slave trade. The effects of his decisions during the colonial period have
rippled through time and are still evident to present day. Even as centuries passed, the issue
of slavery worsened, and even when it “ended” still left an entire race dehumanized and
segregated. The explorers and colonies are a crucial aspect to America’s identity, as it is the
where America’s issues in society began. Even as the Europeans crusaded across the ocean
and “discovered” new land, they weren’t always encountering unoccupied land, but territory
that was already home to the Native people who had settled on that land about 12000 years
before Columbus. The need to explore, expand territory (and power) is an early form of
imperialism, which later Americans would come to obsess over. However, during this time,
society had little rules and morals. Thus, slaughtering innocent people, waging war, or
committing genocide was unregulated and morally “okay”- so long as it was for a reason.
According to “BARTOLOME DE LAS CASAS, THE DEVASTATION OF THE INDIES: A
BRIEF ACCOUNT (1542)”, this was exactly what Columbus did. Bartolome described the
Natives with every positive quality possible; they were the most innocent, intelligent, faithful,
pure, and peaceful creatures, with no hint of hate, selfishness or vengeance in their bodies.
The Spaniards who came to their land were the exact opposite, “behaving like ravening
beasts, killing, terrorizing, afflicting, torturing, and destroying the native people.”1 They
continued their manslaughter, even 40 years later as the story was written. The murders were
committed with unspeakable cruelty, slaughtering a flourishing populated Hispaniola Island
of approximately 3 million, down to barely 2 hundred. Of other islands in the area like Cuba,
Natives were captured and slain, those who escaped were chased down and murdered. The
Spaniards went lengths to murder these people, even traveling 3 years to hunt down those
who escaped captivity for them to me slaughtered. Over 21,000 pieces of 4,500 acres of land
were left depopulated or completely deserted, with no signs of human life. In total on the
mainland, after 40 years since the beginning, about 15 million innocent men, women and
children were murdered heartlessly, but mostly targeting young men (fit for battle). The most
devastating part of these murders, is that it was all over acquiring more gold. The Natives had
no interest in gold, and therefore most likely wouldn’t have minded the Spaniards peacefully
taking it, but instead, they chose the most violent, horrendous route of killing for it. The
Natives had done not a single act against the Spaniards, they actually helped them in all
possible ways of survival, like feeding them even when they could barely feed themselves.
Not until the Spaniards committed such acts of horror did they ever rise up against them.
With resources and weapons nothing compared to the Spaniards, once again, the Spaniards
massacred their people. They didn’t stop at the murders of adults, but even took babies from
their mother’s arms and threw them into the river, shouting “Boil there, you offspring of the
devil!” 2. Still, they slaughtered any other insight, man, woman or child. Even after the
killings stop, the suffering did not. Many became slaves of the Christians, enduring
intolerable labor and giving them minimal food. This malnutrition resulted in a mother’s milk
to dry and babies to die. As male and female were seperated, no new offspring came during
this time, all while the men died in mines and women died in fields. This treatment continued
all around the Spanish territories, depopulating barely populated regions even further.
Evidently, the hatred for other races and greed for wealth has begun from the earliest
time of American culture, brought over by Europeans. The idea that one race was more
superior began even before colonies were settled. The gruesome slaughter of innocent
Natives, intolerable labour and treatment, has continued to plague American history. From
white supremacy to American greed, it all began with the mass genocide of the Native
people. For a long time, America will not evolve from this maltreatment of minority (such as
1
BARTOLOME DE LAS CASAS, THE DEVASTATION OF THE INDIES: A BRIEF ACCOUNT (1542), pg. 36
2
BARTOLOME DE LAS CASAS, THE DEVASTATION OF THE INDIES: A BRIEF ACCOUNT (1542), pg. 39
African Americans, slavery, women, etc.), nor will they come to grow out of greedy
mindsets. To think that the slaughter of 15 million Natives was all because of the greedy
desire for wealth and territory is truly atrocious. The horrors that occured should never be
forgotten or honestly, even forgiven, but somehow, Americans today and throughout history
disregarded the atrocities, and instead, celebrated them with holidays such as Thanksgiving
and Columbus day. America has surely evolved for the better, since then, but the underlying
morals and behaviours have remained consistent for a long time before real change was seen,
over 400 years later during the civil rights era.