Cabeza views on Native Americans/Harriot’s views on New Lands By Jonathan & Jennifer

Cabeza De Vaca's Views on the Native Americans
In describing the Malhado way of life (pg 31), he talks of their eating habits and mourning rituals. He also describes in detail their dress and relationships between in laws. To me, this shows a keen interest in the people from a humanities standpoint. Not a work of someone who didn't have respect for the Natives. Cabeza De Vaca doesn't seem to have looked down on these peoples because of his genuine interest in their customs but he still sees them as uncivilized. In his report to Charles V. he describes: "The customs of the numerous, barbarous people I talked to and dwelt among." (pg 30)
Evidence of Cabeza de Vaca's respect for the Natives is compounded by his own incarceration resulting from his defense of the rights of American Indians. "Cabeza de Vaca had hoped to enact an enlightened American Indian policy, but his Rio De la Plata colonists, profiting from the old injustices, removed him forcibly from office and sent him in chains back to Spain in 1545." (pg 29) After his incarnation; Cabeza was exiled to Algeria forbidden to ever return to the Americas. It seems to me that Cabeza was a man of principle who had a deep respect for the American Indians.
Harriot's Views on the New Lands
Harriot had many different views and descriptions in his writings. Some seemed very factual, such as his descriptions of the Native American's clothing, weapons, towns, houses and government: "They are a people clothed with loose mantles made of deer skins......"pg 37, "Those weapons that they have are only bows made of witch hazel, and arrows of reeds......." pg 37, "Their towns are but small, and near the seacoast but few, some containing but ten or twelve houses........." pg 37-38, "Their houses are made of small poles" pgs 37-38, and "In some places of the country, one only town belongs to the government of a Wiroans or chief Lord."pg 38). Harriot seems almost impressed that these "savages" have adequate clothing, weapons and a sort of government. He even compares their houses to English arbors found in gardens (pg 38).
There are other areas of Harriot's writing that seem to have more of a righteous tone. He writes that Native Americans are a poor people, lacking in skill and knowledge of the Englishman's things: "In respect of us, they are poor people, and for want of skill........." (pg 38). He goes on to complement the Native American people, stating that they seem very ingenious: "....for although they have no such tools, .......such crafts, sciences, and arts as we, yet.,....they show excellence of wit." (pg 38) Harriot goes on to state that the Native American people will find the Englishman's knowledge and crafts exceed theirs in perfection and they will desire the Englishman's friendship and love. The Native Americans will have ".....greater respect for pleasing and obeying us......they may in short time be brought to civility, and the embracing of true religion." (pg 38) Harriot definitely had an ethnocentrist attitude toward the Native American people and his writings reflect his desire to bring his religion to these "savages".

Assignment 2.3 (Anna.D, Elizabeth G., Rachel)

After reading Columbus’ and Cabeza de Vaca’s story our group has come up with a few conclusions regarding the two men and their different views.

For Columbus, we believe that he felt his people were greedy. Columbus had worked hard and waited a long time for the King and Queen’s “ok” to take ships out to explore. He felt very, very blessed to have had their approval and was excited to sail to search for new land. Upon reading this we came across a first example as to where he began to think they were greedy. On pg. 24 into 25 of Norton’s text it reads, “His series of four voyages between 1492 and 1504 produced a brief moment of wonder followed by a long series of disasters and disappointments. Apparently friendly relations with the Taino Indians on the island of Hispaniola in 1492 turned sour as the settles Columbus left behind demanded gold and sexual partners from their hosts.” Columbus had to take the fall for all of the ‘series of disasters’ his people created along his journey.

Another example we had come across was from his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella Regarding the Fourth Voyage on pg 27. He is addressing the King and Queen and telling them how thankful he is to have let him depart on his voyage. He states, “Now all, down to the very tailors, seek permission to make discoveries. It can be believed that they go forth to plunder, and it is granted to them to do so, so that they greatly prejudice my honor and do very great damage to the enterprise.” He felt as if he was doing a good thing for his people- finding new land and leading them to new discoveries- yet they were taking advantage of it and he had to take the blame for their wrongdoings.

For Cabeza de vaca we believe that he felt as if he was the ONLY one fit to find anything new; he always had a say and felt that his decisions were always right. One of the reasons as to why Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca felt that he was always right, and was one of the best explorers was because of the reputation his family had. Cabeza de Vaca was born into a family with a history of achievement. Three of Cabeza de Vaca's relatives had significant roles in Spanish society and politics. One of his ancestors on his mother's side received the name "Cabeza de Vaca" when he was able to safely lead the way across a mountain using the skull of a cow in the war between Spain and the Moors. Also, when the Spaniards gained control of Grand Canary Island by defeating the Guanache people, it was Cabeza de Vaca's grandfather who was the man behind the operation. Finally, Cabeza de Vaca was the son of their village alderman.

Considering his family history, Cabeza de Vaca knew it would make a lot of sense for him to follow in the footsteps of his relatives by devoting his life to the service of his country. Cabeza de Vaca also had the advantage of his easily recognizable name that his country's people correlated to a national heroic figure. Because of his family’s history he was always trying to live up to his name and was very determined to follow his instincts. Another example we found was on pg. 30 of Norton’s text stating, “I can say for myself that I undertook the march abroad, on royal authorization, with a firm trust that my service would be as evident and distinguished as my ancestors.” He always had a firm view on things and felt his way was the right way- not only because of his personal motives but also because he felt he had to live up to his name.

Assignment 2.3 (Amy, Hiroe & Beth C.)

The views on new land according to Cabeza de Vaca were that of being poor and primitive. He did not seem to have a positive reaction to the Native Americans and the way that they live. He was writing to report back about they way of life but it was almost like he was making certain judgments. The examples of his view of the Native Americans was “their only weapons are bows and arrows” (pg. 31) and “three months out of every year they eat nothing but oysters and drink very bad water. Wood was scarce” (pg. 32). His examples on providing the idea that they are primitive are “the inhabitants of all these parts go naked, except that the women cover some part of their persons with a wool that grows on trees, and damsels dress in deerskin” (pg. 32) and he called them “barbarous people” (pg. 30).
Columbus had a very obvious motivation for exploration. He wanted to please King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella by telling them that his voyage was successful in finding new land. He was also tells his motivation to find new land in when he wrote “led me to pray your highnesses before I went to discover these islands and Terra Firma, that you would leave them to me to govern in your royal name” (pg. 27). Columbus wanted to be a leader of the new land. In order for him to get approval he needed the King and Queen to get the impression that the land was good by saying “This island and all the others are very fertile to a limitless degree, and this island is extremely so” (pg. 26).
The motivations and the views given by these two men may not be direct and clear. Once you understand their language and how they wrote, it is easier to read between the lines and find out what they were really after.

Assignment 1.7

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In the stories we read there was creation and a lot of determination. As you see in this pictures this little tree is growing next to a bigger tree. This little tree represents the creation that happen in the stories and the determin it will need as it grows next to the mature tree, as what Juhwetamahkai and (the good mind) brother had; determination.

In the Pima creation story, Juhwetamahkai was determined to make the sun, by trying to create ice and put it in the sky, as said in the story, "he placed it in North, but it did not work; then he placed it in the West, but it did not work; then he placed it in the South, but it did not work; then he placed in the East and there it worked as he wanted it to" (Norton, 23). He kept trying until it worked; determination.

In the Iroquois creation story, the good mind was determined to create the world with or without his brother's (the bad mind) help, "the good mind was not contednted to remain in a dark situation, and he was anxious to create a great light in the dark world; but the bad mind was desirous that the world should remain in a natural state" (Norton, 19). In which he did so, but resulted in a fight to which led to his brother's death.

Assingnment 1.7

These stories all share similarities with there being light representing good and there being darkness representing bad. This image symbolizes the positive things happening in the process of creating earth and the negative. The left side of the picture represents the good things being created and the dark side of the world on the right. On the right side of the image there is simply no life, however the left side has a beautiful clear sky giving the earth some light. In the Biblical story of creation God created light for the daytime and darkness to signify night. The earth was empty and dark before God started his day by day creation. He created the sun, moon, and stars to lighten the world and to separate day from night. In the Iroquois creation there was a woman who gave birth to an evil twin and a good twin. The evil mind symbolizes the right side of the picture and the good mind symbolizes the left. The bad mind and the good mind fight for full responsibility of creating rights. The good mind defeated the bad mind after two days of fighting and alone became the creator of the earth. In the Pima stories Juhwertamahkai is the creator and represents the lightened side of the image while the problems he runs in to simplify the dark side. He tries and tries to successfully make humans but fails a total of three times. His fourth time was a success and the earth was created.

Creation Stories- Anna L. and Maria

In both of the Native American creation stories we read, there were many similar as well as differing themes. One similarity between both of them and the Biblical creation story is the use of the world being started out of the darkness. In the Iroquois creation story, the good mind is "anxious to create a great light in the dark world." On the other hand, the bad mind wished to remain in darkness. This is a good example of how the light vs. dark theme is parallel with the good vs. evil theme in each story. In the Pima creation story, the Doctor of the Earth wanders around in nothing, in darkness, "which was Darkness itself," and then creates the world. This is much like the Judeo-Christian creation story which begins with total darkness and only one spirit or person decides then to create the world. The fact that both Native American creation stories go into a lot of detail concerning how the celestial lights were made, suggests that the theme of dark vs. light is a very important one and has some significance.

In both stories of Iroquois and Pimas there was a similarity between good vs. evil. In the Iroquois story, the good brother wanted to create light and happiness in the world. However, the bad brother wanted to keep the dark and destroy what his brother had made. The bad brother wanted to fight with the good brother to see who the ruler of the world would be. In the Pimas story the creator would try inventing a world that he beleived was good. Multiple times things would happen to the people who lived in the world. First, too many people were in the world with not enough food so they resorted to eating one another. The creator hated the idea of this, and started a whole new world. Other things such as people smoking at a young age and greying too soon had happened. This picture shows the difficulties between Good vs. Evil because it shows the light of the good, and the dark of the evil.

This picture describes the internal battle that each mythical creator had to endure. The darkness off to the left represents defeat or pain, the right side is clear representing triumph, and the sun shining through is creator’s reactions to these internal endeavors

In the Iroquois mythical creation Enigorio (the good mind) portrays this image. The darkness on the left represents Enigorio’s brother Enigonhahetgea (the bad mind). His brother caused him a lot of setbacks and grief for he was trying to destroy his creation. The clear side represents the good minds successful creation of earth. Last, the sun shining through was Enigorio’s reaction to his brother’s protest; he agreed to fight till the death for triumph.

In the Pima mythical creation Juhwertamahkai ( doctor of the earth) portrays the image above. The darkness represents the internal battle he had faced from the failure of mankind. The clear side is the accomplishments he had made throughout the myth. Last, the sun represents his determination to create a mankind that would be expectable for his standers.

In the Biblical mythical creation God portrays the image above. The darkness represents the serpent deceiving Adam and Eve which forced God to punish the three of them. The clear side of the image represents the creation of earth making God feel good about his work. Last, the sun gleaming through was God’s decision to punish the fools who disobeyed his one and only rule.

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