Why Did The Arawak tribe Disappear - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1149 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2019/04/15 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: Christopher Columbus Essay Did you like this example? As children, we are taught all about Christopher Columbuss voyage to the New World, and how he is the one person responsible for discovering America. Even though we spent so much time on the topic, we were never taught about his destructive tendencies. We were never told that he was responsible for the murder and extinction of Indian tribes, such as the Arawak. Although Columbus is popular for discovering the New World, he brought diseases and slavery that killed tribes such as the Arawak. Over 520 years ago, Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean on August 3, in search of Asia where he would obtain riches such as gold and pearls. Once his journey began, him and his crew would realize that it would be a much longer voyage then they had imagined. The crews anxiety was at an all time high by the time October came around, but Columbus promised that if they had not found land in two days, they would go back home. The next day, on October 10, they found land that would be later known as the New World. In Christopher Columbuss replica journal, written by Bartolome de la Casas, Columbus wrote, At two hours after midnight the land was sighted at a distance of two leagues. The vessels were hove to, waiting for daylight; and on Friday they arrived at a small island of the Lucayos, call in the language of the Indians, Guanahani. Presently, they saw naked people. This was Columbuss first encounter with an Indian tribe, known as the Arawak (History). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Why Did The Arawak tribe Disappear?" essay for you Create order The Arawak were the original people to live in the Caribbean Islands. Arawaks did not wear much clothing, like Columbus stated in his journal entry. The climate in the Caribbean was always warm, so men usually went without clothes unless it was for a special occasion. Women wore skirts and necklaces. The Arawak people were advanced and quite intelligent, and there ways of life were futuristic. For transportation, they used canoes that could hold up to fifty people, and they were also known as agricultural people. There most important crop was a potato-like root called cassava, and they also grew beans, squash, peppers, and corn. Arawak men would also hunt, primarily catching fish and other seafoods (Redish). The Arawak people were known to have impressed Columbus with their kindness and hospitality. They will give all that they do possess for anything that is given to them, exchanging things even or bits of broken crockery, Columbus noted as he met them. He also stated,They do not ca rry arms or know them. They should be good servants. (Poole) In the beginning, the Arawak and the Spaniards had a good relationship. From Columbuss journal he stated,They brought us sticks of the cotton candy thread and parrots and other little things which it would be tedious to list, and exchanged everything for whatever we offered them. After Columbus realized how useful the Arawak could be in the use of work, he wasted no time in establishing his first empire. As the Spaniards and Arawak continued to co-exist, there once good relationship deteriorated. The Spaniards began to remove Arawak men from the villages to work in newly discovered gold mines and colonial plantations. As forced work was pushed onto the Arawak, members of the tribe began to experience starvation, depression, suicidal thoughts, and fell to deadly diseases. (Poole) As the Arawak worked on the plantations and in the gold mines, the Spanish settled and became physically closer to them. The members of the tribe were not able to plant crops while they were being forced to work, which led to many Arawaks to die due to starvation. Many other members committed suicide so they would not have to be under control of the Spaniards any longer. (Poole) The Arawak were not immune to diseases that came from Europe, specifically smallpox. As time went on and the more settled the Spaniards were, the Arawaks number decreased. In 1531, the number of Arawak was down to 600, from an estimated number of 100,000. Today, there is no trace of the Arawak people, except for archaeological remains. (Corbett) The arrival of Columbus and the rest of the Spaniards to the Caribbeans caused a genocidal end to the Arawak Indians. Columbus had an idea of dominating that new land he had found, but his only problem was the Arawak. In April, 1493, Columbus wrote a letter to Luis de Santagnel declaring their Highnesses may see that I shall give them as much gold as they need . and slaves as many as they shall order to be shipped. Christopher Columbus and his crew took advantage of the generosity and accommodation that the Arawak granted them because they knew how naive they were. After the Arawak were enslaved by the Spaniards, it is said that Columbus went back to Spain, where he celebrated through the street of Seville and Barcelona. (Bourne, pg. 270) Famous for his New World discovery, Columbus is responsible for the genocidal end of the Arawak tribe. On October 10, 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered what he thought was the New World, but was actually already established by the Arawak people. The Arawak were good willed and gracious people who showed no threat to Columbus or his crew. Columbus took advantage of there humanity and enslaved them to take control of his new domain. Women were not able to plant crops, and the men were not able to hunt for food, so many began to succumb due to famine. I personally do not believe that this conflict evolved in American society, these conflicts have bee covered up as the years have gone on. If they were more popularized, I do not believe Columbus Day would be a national holiday in the United States. I do believe it has impacted the American society instead of evolving it. I believe it impacted it because since we do celebrate Columbus Day, the people whos ancestors and relatives were a ffected by his actions, see him as a villain and murderer. I also believe it impacted the American society because when people discovered that Columbus was not as gracious and giving, it created a divided opinion on if the holiday should be celebrated. Biblography: Christopher Columbus Discovers America, 1492, EyeWitness to History, https://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/columbus.htm (2004). Morgan, Edmund S. Columbus Confusion About the New World. Smithsonian Magazine, October 2009. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/columbus-confusion-about-the-new-world-140132422/ Christopher Columbus: The Untold Story. Understanding Prejudice. https://www.understandingprejudice.org/nativeiq/columbus.htm#source8 Exploring the Early Americas. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/exploring-the-early-americas/columbus-and-the-taino.html Redish, L., Orrin, L. Native American Facts for Kids. Native Languages of the Americas, https://www.bigorrin.org/arawak_kids.htm Corbett, Bob. Pre-Columbian Hispaniola Arawak/Taino Indians. World History Archives, https://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/100.html Poole, Robert M. What Became of the Tarno? Smithsonian Magazine, October 2011. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/what-became-of-the-taino-73824867/

Martin Luther King, Just and Unjust Essay - 1052 Words

Justice in the Eyes of Martin Luther King What is law? Law is a system of rules used to govern a society and control the behaviors of its members. In this case, Martin Luther King is charged for breaking a law. King questions the differences between just and unjust laws to justify his actions in Birmingham and the charges of breaking laws willingly. Defending his willingness to break laws, King argues, â€Å"How can you advocate breaking laws and obeying other?† He answers to accusation of his willingness to break laws with a well-written argument of what is just and unjust laws. Martin Luther King uses the definition, the categories, and the implication of the law excellently to answer the charges of breaking laws willingly. King†¦show more content†¦To further support his analysis of the law, King states a third definition of â€Å"an unjust law is a code inflicted upon a minority which that minority had no part in enacting or creating because they did not have the unhampered right to vote† (PAR 14). This definition is given to show that there are unjust laws occurring. This implies that the white people are devaluing democracy and what it stands for. He states after that, clearly, Negroes are not allowed to vote in the state of Alabama regardless if they are the minority or not. He is stating that it is unjust for Negroes not to be able to vote. Although these statements do not directly answer the charges of the clergymen, King is building up to that answer. While defining the laws, King is focusing on what he believe is wrong and its relationship with unjust laws. King uses this technique to support breaking unjust laws to obey just laws. Defending his willingness to break laws, King argues, â€Å"How can you advocate breaking laws and obeying others† (PAR 11)? King uses the strategy of answering a question with a question. King was arrested for parading without a permit in Birmingham, AL. The ordinance used against King was deemed unjust because it denies citizens the First-Amendment. King’s arrest is a prime example of breaking laws and obeying others. He accepted the charges of breaking the law, while,Show MoreRelated Civil Disobedience Martin Luther King David Thoreau LA riot Essay examples1119 Words   |  5 PagesCivil Disobedience On April 29, 1992, the City of Los Angeles was surrounded in a riot in response to the quot;not guiltyquot; verdicts in the trial of four white Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers accused of unlawfully beating Rodney King. 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Guns Germs and Steel Free Essays

1. Yali’s question; â€Å"Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea but we black people had little cargo of our own? † 2. Diamond rewords the question as â€Å"History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among people environment not because of biological differences among peoples themselves. We will write a custom essay sample on Guns Germs and Steel or any similar topic only for you Order Now † 3. Jared Diamond analyzes several factors that he believes contributed to the existing balance of the world’s resources. In order to answer Yali’s question, he speculates about the role of geography, technology, cultural diffusion, agriculture, culture and biology. . The Maori evolved differently because of population and leadership differences. The Maori conquered the Moriori due to its advanced weapons and technology and the Moriori lost due to its lack of leadership and simple weapons. 5. Population density affected economies because the more people there are the more things you need such as food. It also affected social complexity because it easier to control smaller populations. With more people you need more control over things for decisions which goes with political organization 6. Atahualpa was the last ruler of the Inca Empire of pre-Columbian South America to exercise power independent of Spanish control. Francisco Pizarro and a small group of Spanish soldiers captured Atahualpa. In a vain attempt to save Atahualpa, his subjects assembled one of the largest ransoms in history, an estimated $30 million worth of gold and silver. 7. Pizzarro completely surprised and overwhelmed Atahualpa’s empire; Pizzarro had guns germs and steel where the Incas didn’t. Pizzarro also had horses that terrified the Incas having never seen it. Pizzarro also had a written language and the Incas did not. 8. Availability of more consumable calories means more people equals strength of numbers. Domestic animals fed people by furnishing meat, milk, and fertilizer and by animal labor. Animals and crops also provide warmth and tools. 9. These areas are Southwest Asia’s Fertile Crescent, China, Mesoamerica, the Andes and possibly the Amazon Basin, and eastern United States. 10. These areas are Sahel, tropical West Africa, Ethiopia, and New Guinea. 11. These areas were western and central Europe, Indus valley, and Egypt. 12. The only hunter-gatherers to continue to exist were those who were separated geographically or lived in areas not fit for food producing. One theory of why people first started producing food was just as a back-up plan. Another theory is that there are different factors in different parts of the world that caused the decision to move to farming. 13. A plant is to be domesticated when its native characteristics are altered such that it cannot grow and reproduce without human intervention. 14. Because Different factors in different parts of the world caused the decision to move to farming. 5. Some plants need to be pollinated by another plant, but some mutant plants are self-pollinating. These self pollinating plants would also be picked and eventually wipe out the non self-pollinating plants. 16. Eurasia 17. Three advantages were the climate of the Fertile Crescent was wet in the winters and dry in the summers, ancestor crops were already very productive and fruitful, and many of the crops that inhabited the Fertile Crescent were self-pollinating. 18. For one the continent contained the largest amount of wild mammals. Another reason is that Eurasia has had the least extinction in the last 40,000 years. In other parts of the world large mammals were not as readily available for domestication. 19. Diamond gives six reasons why: diet, growth rate, and problems of captive breeding, nasty disposition, tendency to panic, and social structure. 20. The Americas and Africa both have a north-south axis while Eurasia has a west-east axis. It is because west-east regions share the same length of day, same types of seasons, same diseases, and same aspects of climate such as rainfall and habitat. Trade spread farther west east than it did north south. 21. Plants moved from north to south or vice-versa were not built to endure the different climates, times of day, and etc. Domestic animals could not fight off the new types of disease and climate as well. 22. Genetically some people have developed immunity to certain diseases or illnesses through generations of repeated exposure. The small populations can’t fight outside epidemics, and can’t evolve their own because they are nearly wiped out every time, therefore the epidemic disappears. 3. Blueprinting copying- when you copy or modify an available detailed blueprint. Idea Diffusion-when you receive little more than the basic idea and have to try to do it yourself. 24. If kings limited writing they can better control the masses and there is a smaller chance of and uprising. 25. â€Å"Invention is often the mother of necessity† which means that many inventors created things out of curiosity rather than becau se of need. In other words, they made a product before there was a demand for it 26. The factors are economic advantage of new technology, social value and prestige, vested interest, and ease of observing advantages. 27. Factors are peaceful trade, espionage, emigration, and war. 28. Behavior became lethal in the presence of peasant soldiers ungracefully blasting away with guns. Eventually reduced government orders for guns until japan was almost without functional guns. 29. Sedentary living was decisive for the history of technology, because it enabled people to accumulate non-portable possessions. 30. Bands are the smallest societies lack many types of institutions that other societies have. They are so small because the region they live in lacks the resources for larger societies. Next is the tribe, being a little larger. Tribes are large enough where they can have separate clans. Next is Chiefdoms, which contain different lineages, and have many jobs that were often filled by captured slaves. Chiefdoms had a redistributive economy in which the chief received all the goods and then spread it back out among all the people. States have many more slaves and are supported by a political and territorial basis, not one of kinship and heredity. 1. There are four reasons why large societies must have complex centralized government. Secondly is the â€Å"growing possibility of communal decision making with increasing population size. † Thirdly involves economic reasons of differentiating talents and transfer of goods. The final consideration is that larger societies have denser populations 32. One reason is because of early extinction of large wild fauna in the Americas, while in Eurasia there were a variety of wild animals for domestication. Agriculture is another reason. Eurasia also had much more variety of domestic able plants. Those parts of the Americas that did have agriculture were lacking in protein. It was also much less successful because they did not have the labor animals that Eurasia did. Germs, metal, military technology, and power to operate machinery were all more reasons that Eurasia had such an advantage over the Native Americans. 33. Those parts of the Americas that did have agriculture were lacking in protein. 34. These were blacks, whites, African Pygmies, Khoisan, and Asians. 35. Iron tools and agriculture How to cite Guns Germs and Steel, Papers