Throughout the course of this class, we have explored the history of Hispanic Civilization and discussed many common themes. From religion, to race, language, class, and everything else in between, we have dissected it all and really broken it down. One specific reoccurring theme that has really stuck out to me throughout the readings is colonization. Colonization is when a group of people settle and establish control over an area that is already populated. With colonization comes animals, crops, trade, technology, architecture, and most importantly language. Essentially, it is how groups of people and cultures have intertwined and the reason that the world is the way it is today.
During the early 900s, Alfonso III began to colonize the Duero valley. He repopulated numerous towns and many Mozarabs who were fleeing from al-Andalus settled there. With their presence, they were able to make known the Visigothic tradition. In the following year, Alfonso III then led an expedition into Toledo. Eventually, there was a “green revolution” in the early medieval Islamic world. This began the introduction of new crops to the Iberian peninsula such as a new variety of fig that was essentially cultivated as a cash crop in al-Andalus. There was also wider diffusion of irrigation in the peninsula along with the introduction of other new technology. Throughout the tenth century, peaceful political conditions were pretty consistent in al-Andalus.
European colonization began during the Spanish Inquisition and when Christopher Columbus went on an expedition in 1492 in order to find a new trade route and in hopes of discovering new land. This land that he, along with many other adventurers, eventually founded became known as the “New World”. This period of time was known as the Spanish Inquisition. During this time, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were on the thrown and wanted to restore the entirety of Spain to Christian rule. Their goal was to unify the country and so the Jews were to either be expelled from their homeland or convert to Christianity. Although this was not classified as colonization, it is still one example that we have studied where people are forced out of their homeland to go find safety somewhere else. The people who, instead of leaving the country, converted to Christianity surprisingly maintained their social rank and some of them even climbed upwards in rank. Although this is the case, conversos were still forced to live in separate existence because of two factors- “the continued existence of secret Jewish practice, and the prevalence of anti-semitism” (The Coming of the Inquisition, 36). So while the people who did not want to convert fled from Spain to find a new home, what did the conversos do? Well, many of the conversos actually rose to a very high rank in society and even helped to make Columbus’ first voyage possible. It was conversos who were most needed in society and took up occupations in fields such as finance, medical physicians, etc. As for the Jews who did not want to give up their religion and fled from Spain, many of them struggled to reach safety. During the expulsion, the Jews were treated very unkindly and many did not survive. The ones that were lucky enough to survive escaped to Turkey, Italy, and other places around Europe, while the others, who were not so lucky, escaped to Portugal.
Going back to Columbus’ voyages, during the expeditions, Admiral Colón explored all of the pieces of land that he encountered during the journey. He took possession of whatever he found, whether there were people living there or not. He named each of the islands after something or someone significant in his life. Although these pieces of land had already had preexisting names that the natives had already given them, which Colón was well aware of, he refused to keep them. This went with the idea of taking possession of these places and recolonizing them as if no one had ever existed there. Since he deemed them suitable for Spanish ownership by renaming them, he was claiming the power. According to the reading, “ This business of naming and “possessing” foreign islands was by no means casual. The Admiral took it vey seriously…”(Chapter Five, 93). He made sure that he did not bypass any of the islands without claiming them and always left his mark of Christian dominance by leaving a cross standing. The real question within all of this is how come the Admiral believed that this was ok? It was obvious that there were other people inhabiting the islands before he got there and he did not even try meet them and get their approval before he claimed the land. It is obvious that these pieces of land were different to the Europeans in some way. Once San Salvador was claimed and ready for colonization, it was now that the Admiral finally turned his attention towards the Natives. He immediately assumed that they were inferior to him and his people. He assumed that they were poor and ignorant, solely because they did not know what a sword was or because they were naked as well. Once he realized they were not armed, had no possessions (not even clothing), and no religion, he saw the Natives as a great fit for slavery and captivity. It is this time that could be called the birth of American slavery. It is not known if this was Colón’s idea all along but after a few weeks had gone by, he had captured more and more Natives. He knew absolutely nothing about these people that he was enslaving but he didn't seem to care. He even began to send crew members to go capture Natives; men, women, children, anyone on the land. These Natives were known as the Tainos and they were much more sophisticated than Colón had known. They used body paint to protect from sunburn, had houses that were clean, spacious and resistant to hurricanes, and their agricultural system was perfectly adapted to the environmental conditions of the island.
It was not until a little later that Colón realized how kind and gentle the Tainos were. He believed that, if Ferdinand and Isabella wished to conquer and convert the Natives, this would be easily attainable because of their gentle manner. Colón didn't see this as being a harmonious society, he saw it as being naive, childlike, and easily manipulated. He did not see them for what they were but for what he thought they were. The Taino people lived such ideal lives. They lived in peace and were very healthy, for the most part. There was no serious disease and enjoyed leisurely activities. Another main factor that Colón did not acknowledge from the beginning of his discovery was all of the beauty surrounding him. There was no thrill or excitement of discovering very new, different places. When he does finally start acknowledging the nature that surrounds him, he uses very bland language and it still doesn't seem to excite him. It is ironic because Colón thought that the Natives were ignorant but instead it is him who is most ignorant. In the reading The Conquest of Paradise- 1492-93, the author states:
“ One could not of course have expected that an adventurer and sailor of this ear would also be a naturalist, or necessarily even have some genuine interest in or curiosity about the natural world, but is is a disappointment nonetheless that the Discoverer of the New World turns out to be quite so simple, quite so inexperienced, in the ways of discovering his environment” (Pgs. 103-104).
The fact that the Europeans claimed these people’s land to colonize and call their own is pretty sad in my opinion. The arrogance of Colón, although not fully his fault, took away from the value of the Natives and what they had to offer him, along with the other Europeans. He was simply a “businessman” looking for different resources and any other chance to gain something beneficial, whether that was money, land, or most importantly, gold. Eventually, like many other situations, Colón finally realized that there was much more on the islands than gold that were profitable and valuable. He was slowly realizing that, even without the discovery of gold, these places that he has found are perfect for colonization, especially because of the space for military sites. This was to ensure safety for future colonization. Although his original vision was to discover some land, it then grew even larger once he had done so. Eventually, he thought of all the future possibilities of these islands such as a place where Spaniards could reside and flourish, while also living off the labor of the Natives. This could be seen as the start of European colonialism.
While reading this chapter, I found so much of it very interesting. This is nothing that we learn in school growing up and so it was all new to me. One thing in particular that stuck out was a quote that stated:
“…an opportunity for a dispirited and melancholy Europe to have learned something about fecundity and regeneration, about social comeliness and amity, about harmony with the natural world. The appropriate architecture for Colon to have envisioned along these shores might have been a forum, or an amphitheater, or an academy, perhaps an auditorium or a tabernacle; instead, a fortress” (pg. 113).
Instead of being open to learning something new from the Tainos, the Europeans seemed to have other priorities. It does not seem like they wanted to learn but only wanted to make profit, have possessions, and help their own people prosper. Things would have been very different if Colón, along with the other Europeans, mindset and priorities were different.
Eventually, Colón founded a new colony that he named La Navidad. Again, the first structure that was constructed was a fortress. It was about 200 miles east of La Navidad that a party of Europeans discovered some Natives with bows and arrows. They were able to buy only two bows from them until the Natives ran back to where they kept the remainder of their weapons in hope of trading. Because the Europeans were nervous that the Natives were going to attack, they attacked first out of fear. The Tainos ran away in fear, bringing their injured people with them. This could be seen as the first battle between the Europeans and Natives. Although Colón’s original mission was to keep a good relationship with the Natives, he did not care about this outburst. He thought that it was a good thing now that they fear the Christians. This was not the first time he used fear as a tactic. There were two events before this that Colón used arms and violence to scare the Tainos even more.
During Columbus’ first voyage, the island of Santo Domingo was one of the first colonized by the Spaniards. People who settled here were able to enjoy things such as free passage, they were exempt from tax, ownership of land, etc. Anyone who was not Catholic Christian was prohibited from coming to the “New World” under any circumstance. There were many new colonial policies and rules that were being produced as time went by. Private conquistadors were able to come to the “New World” and colonize an area under their own expense. When this happened, these people would automatically become high ranked people such as governor and other leading positions. Less than fifty years later, Spain had conquered and was ruling a very large amount of land. Eventually, the entire Western Hemisphere was ruled by European nations.
Throughout this colonial era, the population of the Natives drastically decreased. Although there is not a specific reason as to why this is the case, there are many factors that could be possible. One of these factors is disease and abuse. When the Spanish and Portuguese settlers moved in, the abuse of the Natives increased. There was forced labor obligations that was put on them which then resulted in malnutrition. There was also forced conversion that put a lot of pressure on the Natives. The epidemic diseases that were accidentally introduced by the Europeans was probably the biggest factor. Because the Natives were never exposed to anything, their immunity was very low and their bodies were not able to tolerate or fight off anything. Once they were exposed to disease, this was an inevitable death sentence. Diseases such as smallpox, measles, and plague are only a few that killed tens of thousands of people.
Colonization has been one of the most common, in-depth theme that we have covered throughout this semester. Although this is the case, I didn’t realize this until doing this paper. I knew that colonization has led us to where the world is today but I feel that when we are learning about it, it is very easy to not even acknowledge and pass over. There are so many factors that went into colonization that we tend to just think of it as a group of people settling in an area. But in reality, it is much more than this. While doing this paper, I realized the questions that arose about colonization. Although one of the definitions of colonization is “the action of appropriating a place or domain for one’s own use”, there is so much more to it. People who colonize in a specific place had a much bigger intention and purpose. Whether this was trading, making a profit, wanting a possession, overthrowing another religion or race, it is much more than what some people may think or even realize.
Going back to the original question asked “What is Hispanic Civilization?”, I could honestly say that I still do not have a complete, cohesive answer. Maybe it is the understanding and appreciation for the Spanish-speaking countries and how they have become what they are today- the language, geography, economics, history, literature, art, and everything else that goes into the making of hispanic culture. There are individual countries as well as particular groups that make up Hispanic Civilization. For the word “Hispanic”, I think it is a relevant unifying term for the citizens of twenty-one modern nations. Although I am still not completely sure as to why or what the term means, I do know that it is a very broad term. I think the term refers to people of Spanish origin or culture and that are originally associated with Spain , regardless of the race that they are. Although I feel that my answer could possibly change, this is my idea at the moment. I’m sure that the answer to this question is always changing based on people’s knowledge and opinions. After a semester of learning about Hispanic Civilization, I feel that I am so much more knowledgable about a piece of history that isn't often studied, in my opinion. I had no pre-existing knowledge of Hispanic Civilization before this course and, although I feel that I have much more to learn and understand, I am thankful to be aware of what so many people aren't aware of.