Read: — The Age of Exploration & Discovery; pp. 7-10—Note how Columbus’s arrival brings European conquest and disease to Native Americans, and how religious settlers (Puritans & Pilgrims) establish the foundation of Christianity in the America we know today –See engraving, “Indian Village of Secoton, 1585” in “shiny pages (where the pictures, engravings, and portraits are),” p.C3—Note that eastern tribes did not live in tepees, but rather houses resembling those which the whites would build — Native American Creation Story: “The Iroquois Creation Story,” pp. 31-35 –“King Philip’s Speech,” p. 40 –“Lenape War Song,” p. 43 –Christopher Columbus: Bio, p. 44-45, and “Letter of Discovery [to Luis de Santangel],” pp. 45-51; “Letter [of] the 4th Voyage,” pp. 51-3 Journal #1 Assignment (Written for Homework, or in Class, at Instructor’s discretion) DUE THURS.—Week 1, Day 3: 750 words (50 pts.) in response to a literary work read in class this week. Should focus on a literary element or device in the story and include a thesis analyzing its importance to the literary work. Did you enjoy the work? Did you learn anything from it? Explain why. You must use APA Template for all submitted work–Cover Page (Running Header not required), Times New Roman Font Size #12, Doublespaced, or points will be taken off! 1. Years ago, Columbus was considered a hero, because he “discovered” America. Today, we understand that he never reached mainland; instead, he may have visited Hispaniola, Jamaica, and other Caribbean islands. Furthermore, he was very cruel to the natives already living there—he forced them to work on the Spanish plantation-farms (encomiendas) and murdered them for no reason, to the extent that pregnant Indian women would flee into the jungle to have their children, and afterwards kill them, so that the Spaniards could not enslave them. What do you think of Columbus today? 2. We would not have known anything about the crimes against humanity which Columbus committed against the Indians were it not for the writings and testimony of Bartolome de las Casas, who had started out as a soldier of Columbus, but afterwards became a Catholic priest, working with the Indians. Was it right for de las Casas to turn against his former superior and testify against him? 3. Note that Columbus did a lot of his crimes out of sheer ignorance—slavery was common in those days. As a matter of fact, after five years, with most of the Indians dead (of diseases which the Spanish sailors and soldiers brought—STDs, smallpox, and even the common cold, against which the natives had no natural antibodies—he allowed and encouraged the import of Black African enslaved persons. However, there was one instance where he “stood up” for the Indians, after a fashion—see p. 47, text, 20 lines (ll.) from page bottom, where he prevents his men from cheating the Indians in trade; e.g., giving them broken glass or broken leather straps in exchange for spun cotton or gold.
