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During the Age of Exploration, Native Americans had two recorded encounters with explorers. One encounter was with Hernando Cortes in Meso-America and the other was with Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean. These interactions, occurring 27 years apart and in different geographic locations, revealed disparities in Native American sophistication and technological progress. Differences were observed in weapon-making techniques, types of housing, architectural styles, religious customs, beliefs, treatment of the Spanish upon arrival, and possible hostility or aggressive behavior displayed by the indigenous people towards the newcomers.
Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492 to find a trade route to India.
When he reached Guanahani, an island in the Caribbean inhabited by the Taino people, they warmly greeted and helped the Spanish explorers by providing water and food. The Taino people were eager to trade with the Spaniards, offering their resources in exchange for European goods.
Columbus described them as "simple in war-like matters" and lacking weapons, only possessing wooden javelins with sharpened ends. Despite this, they were engaged in warfare with other groups and bore defensive scars from conflicts with people from neighboring islands.
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Columbus did not perceive any animosity between the two groups encountered by him and Cortes. He also believed that they would easily convert to Christianity, as they seemed to have no established religion. However, they actually had tobacco which they used in religious ceremonies and daily life, smoking it in cigar form.
During Columbus's interactions with the Natives, it was evident that they lacked advanced sophistication and technology. They resided in villages where tent-shaped houses served as the only architectural structures, along with very tall chimneys.
The Natives demonstrated their expertise in producing cotton thread by trading twenty five pounds of it with the Spaniards. Moreover, they embellished themselves with gold accessories on their noses, arms, and legs.
Traveling by canoes on water and on foot on land, they survived on fruits, fish, shellfish, and birds. Clothing varied based on status and age, with certain islands depicting women in cotton cloth. Despite diverse languages and customs, some islands seemed more advanced than others.
In 1519, Hernando Cortes landed in Mexico and visited Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. The native inhabitants welcomed the Spanish explorers with open arms, believing that they were being visited by the Sun god. They permitted the Spaniards to reside in their city for a while and explore freely, showcasing a society that was more developed and technologically advanced than what Columbus had encountered.
The Province was a circular area surrounded by mountains on all sides, with a water strait connecting two lakes for travel and trade between cities. The city had four entrances, each with artificial causeways and timber bridges. There were public market areas for buying and selling goods, as well as restaurants, barbershops, and an herb street for medicinal herbs. A variety of game, vegetables, fruits, earthenware, jewels, mats, bricks, stones, and timber were available for purchase in the city.
Public buildings, public squares, magnificent houses for the wealthy citizens, and large apartments for the people were constructed in various districts and suburbs. Numerous towers and temples were built for idols, showcasing the advanced architectural structures of the time. Some of the towers were made of stone and wood, with plaster ceilings, carved woodworks, and painted figures. A temple featured large halls and corridors for religious persons living on-site. One of the largest towers had fifty steps leading to its main body, with marble columns, a stone courtyard resembling a chest board, balconies overlooking water pools, and water pipes supplying two types of water. Reservoirs were built to collect fresh water.
There was a strong presence of religious beliefs and practices among the Natives, ranging from temples where males were housed before entering priesthood to chapels containing idols for which human sacrifices were made out of fear of the idols becoming angry and causing harm to the people. There was even an idol specifically for war. The Natives were considered barbarous and war-like, often at war with others. They used weapons like the macana, a sword-like weapon made from sharp wood, some of which were even studded with stone pieces to create a blade.
After analyzing the letters penned by Columbus and Cortes and contrasting the contrasting encounters of the explorers, it is evident that there exists a significant contrast in social sophistication in their ways of life. This disparity is apparent in various aspects such as technological advancements in housing, weapons manufacturing, religious beliefs, and their response to the Spaniards' arrival. The Aztecs were found to have a higher level of sophistication, with a well-established system of government, a more refined culture, and impressive architecture within their magnificent city when compared to the two encounters.
Works Cited
Paul Halsall is the editor of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project.
"Christopher Columbus, Extracts From Journal" "Hernando Cortes: from Second Letter to Charles V, 1520" "An Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico"
C.A.W. September 2013
Contrasting Encounters: Columbus vs. Cortes in the New World. (2016, Apr 25). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/columbus-and-cortes-encounters-native-and-meso-americans-essay
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