The Encounter: Natives and the Conquistadors

The encounter between the Natives and the conquistadors resulted as a positive factor in the position society is in today. There has been an ongoing dispute over if Columbus going to the Americas and claiming it Spanish land was for the better or the worse of the two worlds. The dispute does not alter, the same facts are laid down in front of the people who argue over this and same outcome repeats, nothing changes unless one can go back and change time itself.

The whole situation and story started on August 2, 1492 when Christopher Columbus set sail from Puerto de Palos, which is in the city of Huelva. Columbus, or Cristobal Colon as the Spaniards call him, had traveled through out Europe in search for a sponsor who could support his journey to the orient. When he at last came across the queen and king of Spain, Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand, after years of negotiations they came to an agreement and supplied Columbus with three small ships Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. Approximately two months later on October 12, 1492 he landed on the shore of an island, he claimed as Spanish land and named it Hispaniola in the Caribbean. This was only the spark that would result in a massive explosion of explores which would head to the Americas in search of gold as Columbus claimed.

The profit of the "discovery" or "encounter" caused an immense uprise of the world economy, government, and overall society to a point where it maybe useless and a waste of precious time to even argue over. "The sudden radical enlargement or geographical knowledge, the transcontinental exchange of plants and animals, the incorporation of a huge portion of the earth into a large economic system, the birth of new nations and cultures, even the widening of the political and moral horizons of humanity" (260, Falcoff) If Columbus ended up with no sponsor to voyage across to the Americas, sooner or later someone would have come along and discriminated the Natives them being European, Asian, and African. There are accounts of Norsemen voyaging across the northern portion of the Atlantic 500 years before Columbus did. Discrimination would have occurred and the Natives even more with awe for the fact that the Norsemen were light skinned people and usually of light hair and blue eyes.

If by any chance the whole spark of exploration didn't start in 1492 centuries could have gone by without the encounter ever happening. Although this might bring joy to the Natives, later in the next few centuries an explorer would have come the Americas and we might still be fighting to this day. Historical events pushed back centuries, if the encounter did not occur when it did we might still be in the United States civil war between the Union and Confederate army.
Natives must admit the fact that the encounter was not a complete negative in leading to the situation they are in today. If Europeans never came along technological, medical, and governmental advancements would most likely never have taken place. Cannibalism might still be practiced today, where each day one will wonder if they were next one to be sacrificed in the ritual.

"Nor were they, by and large, respectful of other Indian people, whom they considered as alien as the white man." (264, Falcoff) The Natives were not under good term between each other as well. If the Europeans never ended up encountering the Natives, a similar situation might have occurred, people like the Aztec could have easily taken the place of Europeans and a massacre and discrimination of the Americas could have occurred either way.

There are those who oppose and say that the coming of Columbus was strictly a con and not a pro in history and where it has lead us. Some might bring up the fact that the Europeans had committed genocide. If they had not another Native group would have. Basically what the descendents of these Natives are saying, anyone with the descendent of European blood should take back what they brought and leave the Americas. If the Europeans were to follow through on this demand, electricity, running water, and general hygiene would go along with them. The language that they are familiar with, English, Spanish, Portuguese, would no longer keep together the individual nations and the Americas would become two continents with many tribal groups. The Natives would continue living off the land and sacrifice human blood as a way to keep earthquakes from occurring would continue.

"Before an audience of uncomprehending islanders, Columbus claimed that their island now belonged to Spain." (Microsoft) The factor that Columbus dedicated any and all the islands he landed on to belong to Spain, Natives might comprehend this to be unfair for they had been there for many generations. In reality Columbus "introduced the old world to a new one." (261, Falcoff)

The Natives and those who go against the Europeans also declare that the education system has been corrupted by the biasness of the Americas. "Little kids will be told big lies in the name of education." , "There was life before 1492-although that period of our history is called 'prehistory' in the European and American educational systems" (Harjo) States Suzan Harjo, a woman of Native decent. When children are given the facts, how they interpret the event is their choice.

The protests the Natives are reasonable and somewhat fair, however the explanations that they point out to support their argument is invalid and practically useless to the overall situation. No matter what one may say negative results also came form the encounter, however after weighing the two sides of the dispute one must agree that a great quantity of positive results came from the encounter. One must also keep in mind that if the encounter had never taken place, the possibilities and outcome of the present-day society would be in today is unimaginable.

Work Cited

Auchincloss, Kenneth. "When Worlds Collide: Celebrate it or bemoan it: the encounter
between East and West had vast consequences that are still unfolding today." Special Issue Newsweek. January, 1992.

Falcoff, Mark. "Modern Attacks on Columbus Are Unwarranted Taking Sides:
Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History." Ed. Larry Madaras and James M. SoRelle. Guilford, Connecticut. McGraw Hill Publications. 2001

Harjo, Suzan S. "I Won t Be Celebrating Columbus Day." Special Issue Newsweek.
January 1992.

Hoobler, Dorthy and Thomas Hoobler. "Latin America: Tradition and Change." New
York and London. London Publishing Group. 1991

Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99. CD-ROM. Redmond, WA: Software Tool Works, 1991.

Sortillos, E. Cristobal Colon el Decucridor de America. Barcelona: Ediciones Toray, S.A., 1991.