1
Cultural Readings: Colonization and Print in the Americas This site serves the University of Pennsylvania Library’s exhibit on how the conquest of the Americas was discussed and advanced by the printed word.
http://www.library.upenn.edu/special/gallery/kislak/index/cultural.html
Questions for further exploration:
After reading the introduction to the exhibit and the remaining sections (Promotion and Possession, Viewers and Viewed, Print and Native Cultures, etc.) answer the following questions, using examples from these exhibit sites to support your arguments. How were European assumptions about their power facilitated by the printed word? How did the views of champions of conquest and critics, like the English readers of La Casas’s Black Legend writings, gain strength through the printed word? How were these different views—such as Las Casa’s view of Indians versus those of the colonists—fought out in print? How were histories, such as the histories of those held captive by Indians, used to justify European rule?
2
The Demographic Catastrophe in the Conquest of Mexico by Robert McCaa This site closely explores causes of the great loss of population in Latin America after the European conquest. It employs contemporary Nahuatl as well as Spanish accounts.
http://www.hist.umn.edu/~rmccaa/vircatas/vir6.htm
Questions for exploration:
What may have genetics and the victimization of entire Amerindian families possibly have had to do with the severity of the impact of the smallpox epidemics in the Americas? What was the political and military effect of disease on the Aztecs? In what ways is the debate over the severity of the impact of diseases introduced into the Americas by Europeans also political? How are these politics fought out over the use and interpretation of sources?
3
Moctezuma Meets Cortez These sites offer two texts relating to Hernan Cortez and his encounter with Moctezuma.
http://www.humanities.ccny.cuny.edu/history/reader/cortez.htm and http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/aztecs1.html
Questions for further exploration:
Why and how does Moctezuma speak to Cortez as if he belongs in the Aztec community? Why does he explain the history of the Aztecs to Cortez? How does he try to show Cortez that he is ready to obey his every command? Why is he willing to do so? What does Cortez tell Moctezuma in reply? How does the massacre at the Main Temple suggest that perhaps Cortez and his men had other ideas? (The attack, according to the Spanish, occurred after Cortez’s men panicked at a ceremony for the War God. Does the panic account for all that was done?)
4
Moctezuma: An Aztec Tragedy? This site sees Moctezuma’s uncharacteristic hesitation in dealing with Cortez as the downfall of pre-Columbian American civilization.
http://mexconnect.com/mex_/history/jtuck/jtmoctezuma2.html
Questions for further exploration:
Why can Moctezuma’s downfall be considered a tragedy? In what ways did Moctezuma destroy himself? What do you think? Caught between the responsibilities of a ruler and religious belief, what would you have done?
5
Donna Marina, La Malinche (“Cortez’s Captain”) These sites illuminate the life of a Nahuatl-speaking woman who was given to Cortez as a slave, served as his interpreter to Moctezuma, and bore him a child, the first Latin American.
http://www.emayzine.com/lectures/la.htm , http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/history/malinche.html , http://mexconnect.com/mex_/travel/slenchek/slmalinche.html , andhttp://ww2.lafayette.edu/~shuppr/malinche.htm (offers alternative access to the links mentioned here and to artwork)
Questions for further exploration:
Trace the life of Donna Marina in your own words. Why is the history and legacy of Donna Marina so controversial? How would you wish her to be remembered?
6
The Mines at Potosi, Bolivia These sites mount a photographic essay and commentary on the people of Potosi and the mines in which they worked after the Spanish conquest under the terms, if not conditions, of the Inca mita or forced labor system.
http://www.photoarts.com/journal/SABA/ferry/potosi/intro.html and http://www.foto8.com/issue04/potosi2.html
Questions for further exploration:
What was the long-term impact of the mines at Potosi for the people of the Andes? How deeply has centuries of Christianity reached into the beliefs of the people who worked in the mines for the god, the gold and the glory of the Spanish Empire?
7
The Inquisition in Peru This site offers the text of an account of the Inquisition in Peru’s effort to punish or destroy any Jews compelled to convert to remain Spanish subjects who still held privately to the faith of their fathers.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/17c-lea-limainquis.html
Questions for further exploration:
What were the punishments offered to Jews who offered to confess? What happened to those who kept to their faith? Do you think that, given that many of those denounced to the Inquisition were merchants, that their competitors did so to enrich themselves? A spokesperson for the Catholic Church complained that while the Church has apologized for some of its past behavior towards Jews, the Jews “can’t forgive us for anything.” What sort of apology do you think might satisfy you had your religion or family been victims of these tactics? Why would a staunch Catholic of the day argue in defense of any means necessary to root out Jews from their flock?
8
Castas This site offers text and images reflecting the mixing of races (castas) in colonial Latin America.
http://www.emory.edu/COLLEGE/CULPEPER/BAKEWELL/thinksheets/castas.html
Questions for further exploration:
View several of the images provided at this site. Then as the text offered here suggests, use the links to Jose de Acosta and Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ullora, and use their accounts to discuss the views of these men on the subject of such mixing of peoples.
9
Francisco Madero and the Mexican Revolution This site contains the text of a message from the fugitive Mexican reformer Francisco Madero calling on his countrymen to end the caudillo rule of Porfiro Diaz.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1910potosi.html
Questions for further exploration:
According to Madero, what has Diaz done to earn the wrath of Mexicans? How does Madero invoke the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in defense of his cause?
10
The Emancipation of Latin American Women This site offers the text of an 1876 appeal by Argentine feminist Maria Eugenia Echenique for the emancipation of women.
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/echenique.html
Questions for further exploration:
On what philosophical grounds does Maria Echenique believe women are entitled to the same rights as men? Why is the emancipation of women good for both men as well as women?
11
Jose Hernandez This site offers a very short description of Jose Hernandez’s masterwork, Martin Fierro.
http://www.sunypress.edu/sunyp/backads/html/hernandezgaucho.html
Questions for further exploration:
Hernandez’s poem, Martin Fierro, is about the fate of the gaucho. It is intended as a tragic tale, as Hernandez sees the gauchos as contributors to what important victorious movement in Latin America? The tragedy is that they become victims of a process that soon followed the achievement of that victory. What process was that? What other peoples of the world fell victim to that process in the nineteenth and twentieth century and still do today?
