Relationship Between Europeans And Native Americans

The Indian societies were of a huge variety with different traditions and cultures which the Europeans became aware of the more they explored the Americas. However, the Europeans too, were considerably different with their aims and this therefore created different results from each relationship between the two. The Europeans were interested in a variety of things when they went across the Atlantic to the Indies, for example, the assistance of the Native Americans as military allies and valuable resources. The valuable resources would be obtained from the Indians, but only through trade, and for cooperation which constrained European behaviour. This need for trade and alliances put the Europeans on an equal level with the Indians and also created
these alignments among the different European and Indian groups. This constant need for trade gave the Indians purpose to the Europeans and meant they depended on them for their help and knowledge. We are aware that all Europeans thought the native peoples were barbarians, monsters and downright evil beings, but what did these indigenous peoples think of the Europeans? Did they think the Europeans were something immaculate like Gods or did they think they were savages and resembled beasts too?

The first indigenous peoples that will be looked at are the Taino (which means ‘friend’ or ‘peace’) who were initially approached in a well-respected manner by Columbus in 1492.
The Taino had never seen white men, men with beards, people who wore clothes and had never seen anything like ships before; they thought they were from the heavens. Due to this, Columbus and the Taino managed to create a friendly bond with one of their powerful chiefs Guacanagarí, or as the Taino called them, ‘caciques’. The Taino were very generous to Columbus and his crew by trading them valuable gifts, such as gold, green parrots, exquisite stones and more which shows how easy it was to approach these peoples! As sighted in the summary of Columbus’ journal by the friar Bartolome de Las Casas, “the utmost care should be taken not give offense to the natives in anything, and that no article should be taken from them without his permission; in this manner they were paid for everything they gave the Spaniards” justifies that this bond between the two peoples was strong and that the Europeans put orders in place to make sure they didn’t ruin it. However, some of these peoples were afraid of the Spaniards and ran away from them. Guacanagarí remained loyal to Columbus and asked him to kill two of the leaders of Española for taking his women which resulted in many deaths. This shows that this cacique trusted Columbus and believed he could help him solve his problems even though it did not end so
well.
During Columbus’ second voyage, it was discovered that the Taino where attacked, but the Christians broke the friendly bond which was once there as these Christians took the native women and gold by force, their forces were divided and the Taino also faced attack by one of the rulers, Conato.
Due to all of this, the Taino became more precautious of who they had alliances with and became less open, thoughtful and trustful of both the Castilians and Columbus. They also made threatening gestures which is the complete opposite of how they initially felt towards these Europeans. The Taino were affected horrendously due to the effects of war and forced labour as their men had been slaughtered. Las Casas wrote, “There were generally left only boys and women and children” which shows the measures of what had happened to this once, blossoming tribe that was extending its petals towards the sun only to have shrivelled. Despite all their efforts to survive, disease did play a part too as diseases such as smallpox, measles and also such things like famine came into play over the years which wiped large numbers of the
population.
The population of the Taino decreased to only of a few remnants who were dotted over the area, but the indigenous peoples were almost completely gone. These indigenous peoples were not known to be bellicose or combative even when Columbus arrived as they were welcoming and passive towards these Europeans who stomped into their territory. However, though they may seem as though they did not have any problems, they had a fear of the Caribs who were their distant neighbours and made sure that they never crossed paths with one another.

This leads onto the second indigenous peoples, the Aztecs. These indigenous peoples worshipped the Spanish and initially would do anything to please them as they were sent by their god, Quetzalcoatl. He was a significant god to them because it was believed that if he arrived that he would save the Aztec people from the end of the world which they thought would always happen soon. Cortes had never heard this legend, but he was aware the Conquistadors had been mistaken for supernatural beings. In spite of this Moctezuma, the Aztec ruler wasn’t so sure of these Europeans because they did not behave like gods, but he still invited the explorers to his capital to observe them. After a while when he was determined that they were not gods in the end he wanted them to leave their lands which the Spaniards quickly obeyed. Consequently, the Spanish returned due to Cortez (the leader of the conquistadors) as he realised the riches he’d have if he took over the land that Montezuma already controlled. After the conquistadors arrived, it was discovered that they were very much like the Aztec’s enemies who were just as brutal because they brought weapons, men to fight (their own and men from other tribes who wanted to kill the Aztecs), dogs and horses to defeat the Aztecs. The Aztecs were at unease when witnessing all of this and it was recorded in the Codex Florentino:
“Four stags (horses) came in front like leaders… Following him are those with unsheathed swords shining and glittering… Now come stags with riders on their backs. These riders wear cotton armour, carry shields covered with leather… Then come crossbowmen, musketeers and finally their Indian allies."
Some Spaniards managed to get caught, who either ended up being sacrificed or eaten as that is how they kept their gods happy, but also to try stop the end of the world happening any sooner. Although it seems like the Aztecs had the upper hand, the Spanish managed to take that away from them because of their superior weapons that were much better than the Aztecs and they were much more advanced too. Moctezuma attempted to make peace several times to stop the fighting, but unfortunately failed and was stabbed to death by these Europeans as they prepared to flee. Too add onto this, the Spaniards brought across many diseases that came to the Americas by the Spaniards soon resulted in the Aztec Empire to collapse.

To conclude, the Europeans came across many of the once, native peoples who lived in the Americas and they found that they all had different responses. Though some of these alliances have helped our world be the world today, it has had its devastating impacts which we have come to take for granted. Many of the tribes became extinct due to the conflicts of the Europeans barging in to take whatever they pleased, but some lasted a long amount of time due to the strong bonds created until something disturbed that, for example, disease. Though it is not truly evident that some of the native peoples believed that the Europeans were in fact Gods, it is evident that some thought of them as highly respected people, whilst others thought they were vicious and greedy. Both the Taino and the Aztecs initially acted welcoming, but in the end they ended up acting out in the same way which resulted in an extortionate amount of deaths and harmed the tribes greatly to the point of extinction.