From the Codex Mendoza

The Codex Mendoza contains several pieces of artwork made by the Natives that depict their Native culture before European colonists arrived. Modern day historians can use these art pieces to learn about what the Native culture was like before the colonists changed the people. The artwork teaches us that the Native society had similarities and differences when compared to the European societies of the time. Native tribes paid tribute to their Mexican Lords, much like Europeans paid taxes. However, Natives paid with a different currency: they paid with greenstones, bundles of rich feathers of blue, red, green, ect., jaguar skins, large pieces of amber and other items. (Native's seemed to view objects with vivid colors as valuable) They paid tribute to Mexican Lords every 6 months, just like Europeans paid taxes every so often. Their maps differed from Europeans however, because Europeans were more concerned with the accuracy of distances and land masses, while Natives were concerned with historical elements and social organizations on their maps. This artwork shows that Natives had a rich and advanced civilization before Europeans came.

Cantares Mexicanos

This is a poem in grief of the loss of the Aztec capitol city of Tenochtitlan. This document can be of use to modern day historians because they can use it as a historical description of what happened when Tenochtitlan was taken over. It was designed to be a poem to show the emotions of the people who had just lost so much, but the poem contains many accurate details about what happened during the invasion of Tenochtitlan that historians can use to better understand how Cortez took the great city. Cortez took the Aztec kings as prisoners, and the Princes of Mexico were taken prisoner before the siege began; this shows that Cortez took out the peoples leadership before he besieged the city to create confusion. This tactic by Cortez was one of the reasons he was successful in his conquest of the Aztecs. It is also clear from this poem that Cortez burned down the city during the siege.

Selection from James Brooks, Captives and Cousins

This excerpt from Captives and Cousins is about the history of the rituals that go on between the different peoples in the New World. The groups of people mix in their native ideas with the Western ones, as shown in the ritual during Christmas time with the Christ child. The exchanging rituals are very important to the people; they are a major part of the shame/honor that occurs in native society.  Shame and honor play major roles in the lives of native men, and it is important that they act in ways that will increase their honor, which they can do by giving. The type of jobs men have also affects their level of honor; self-sufficient jobs give more honor than jobs where the man is reliant on someone else for income. Women were seen somewhat like objects. They were kidnapped by other tribes and bargained for, like they were a resource rather than people. Women could affect the honor of a man, such as the case where the Comanche's bride was given away. To protect his honor, he sacked the village and took the woman that was promised to him.

Hernan Cortes: Letter to Charles V

Hernan Cortes's letter to Charles V depicts the New World's landscape and the society of people that live there. This is a very useful "primary source" document because it shows us one side of the story of the colonization of the New World strait from the source of the colonizers. It is clear that the author approaches his description of the indigenous people in the America's through a "distorted lens" so to speak. Cortes vastly over exaggerated the sacrificing of humans. He says that the natives sacrificed their own, women and children. This is not true, because the natives only made sacrifices to the Gods with war prisoners, not their own people. Cortes also depicts a large number of human sacrifices ranging in the thousands, although it is likely that Cortes exaggerated this number. By depicting the natives as violent people who sacrifice their own children constantly, it gave Cortes a reason to control the people: to change them from their violent ways and turn them into Christians. In reality, Cortes was much more concerned with profiting of the natives than helping them become better people.

Vide" Edward Said on "Orientalism"

Edward Said is a professor who wrote a book on "Orientalism" because he thought artwork, literature and other arts of the Middle-East was not realistic, and as time passed this unrealistic representation of the Middle-East was not changing. He said that this unrealistic representation of the Middle-East was so ingrained into the minds of Westerners that even those who visited the Middle-East ended up describing the people that lived there in the same way as they had falsely read about them. The visitors to the Middle-East retained the unrealistic opinion instilled upon them by others that all the Middle-Easterners were the same. This view that all Middle-Easterners are the same was created when European Empires invaded Middle-East Nations. When they invaded them, they tried to figure out a way to control all of the Middle-Easterners that looked different than themselves, and they attempted to control Middle-Easterners by placing them into one category. Napoleon was the first European colonizer to try and actually understand the native people rather than to just conquer them. This is significant because it shows us the origins of false assumptions Westerners make about people with different color skins and different cultures than themselves.

Rudyard Kipling's "The White Man's Burden"

This poem describes the hardships the European colonizers faced. In Kipling's opinion, European colonizers were noble and selfless. He described European colonizers as servants who worked to improve the lives of the immature and savage natives. Kipling said nothing but good things about the colonizers, naming off their good deeds such as feeding the hungry and ending sickness. The latter claim seems a little ridiculous considering the fact that Europeans brought much disease to the Western Hemisphere and gave Native American's blankets with smallpox in them. Kipling described how noble the colonists were when he wrote about how some colonists died while working for the gain of the natives. This poem shows the positive view of colonialism that was instilled into the minds of European citizens throughout the centuries of European colonialism. This view that the leaders of the European Empires instilled is why colonialism was supported and thought highly of by Europeans for a long time. European citizens were only told of the good things the colonists did, and therefore thought highly of them. This belief that the European citizens held was detrimental because it undoubtedly encouraged European colonialism.

Aime Cesaire's "Discourse on Colonialism"

This chapter is about the negative effects of European colonialism. To justify colonialism, Europeans created the idea that colonization was a just cause because it created civilization. The Europeans argued the people they colonized were savage because they had less advanced technology and they were not Christian, and the Europeans said they were civilizing these people by providing them with more advanced technology and teaching them Christianity. Cesaire opposed this claim, arguing that the Europeans only colonized for personal gain. Cesaire said it was obvious Europeans were not colonizing to create civilization for the inhabitants of the colonies. Europeans treated their inhabitants with severe cruelty, and the Europeans treated the inhabitants with inferiority. The Europeans did build roads, port cities and teach the inhabitants certain skills. However, they did these things not to advance civilization for the inhabitants; they did these things only for the benefit of their Empires. The Europeans thought the inhabitants were like animals, and treated them like they treated animals. When the inhabitants were a barrier to advancing the European empires, they were eliminated. Europeans butchering inhabitants is not civilized; it is savage. Colonial conquest is fueled by contempt for the natives. The Europeans relieved their guilt by thinking of the natives as animals, and therefore justifying treating them like animals. However, as a result of this thought process, the European colonizers ended up having their own thought processes changed to animal-like thoughts. European colonization results in savageness, and therefore the thought that European colonization is just because it creates civilization is incorrect.