From the Native American perspective, the sixteenth century marked the beginning of the European invasion. The first Europeans to contact the Native nations were explorers, adventurers, soldiers, and missionaries who were seeking personal glory, gold, and souls for their god.
European nations assumed that they had a right to govern the Indian nations they encountered. This right stemmed from the legal and religious Doctrine of Discovery which declared that Christian nations have a right, if not an obligation, to govern all non-Christian nations. Once an Indian nation had been read the Christian history of the world, even though it might be read to them in a language they did not understand, then they were obligated to be ruled by the superior Christian nation. Law professor Bruce Duthu, in his book American Indians and the Law, writes:
“Only Christian colonizers in their encounters with non-Christian peoples could invoke the discovery doctrine. An indigenous seafaring tribe, by contrast, could not plant a flag in the British Isles or on the beaches of Normandy and make comparable claims to England or France under the doctrine.”
The European worldview during this century, and for the next several centuries, was that the world was divided into two groups: civilized people who were Christian and who were inherently superior to all others because of divine right, and savages or heathens. Native Americans were seen as savages, in spite of the fact that most lived in agricultural towns and villages.
The Spanish entered the Americas fresh from victories over Islam. They felt that god was on their side and that the only religious belief was that of Catholicism. They viewed Native American religious practices as Satanic and as evidence that the Devil was everywhere.
Many of the Spanish explorers during the sixteenth century were seeking the treasures and precious metals that they found when they conquered the Aztecs in Mexico and the Inkas in Peru. The Spanish imaginations were fired with stories of places like Cibola whose streets are paved with gold. The treasures and precious metals of the Indians, however, were somewhat different that than those which the Spanish were seeking. In the southeast, Indian people used copper, mica, freshwater pearls, and quartz crystals as their treasures. Some of these were used as symbols of rank and wealth, while others had important spiritual significance. The Spanish The Spanish confused the crystals with diamonds, copper with gold, and mica with silver.
The early Spanish explorers in the Southeast assumed that the local Indians should provide them with food and with porters to carry their supplies. Historians Robert Utley and Wilcomb Washburn, in their book Indian Wars, report:
“When they suspected that a guide was deceitful, they killed him; if they thought an Indian ruler was less than cooperative, they often seized him to extort further concessions from his followers. The Spaniards burned villages and enslaved or killed their hosts in the conviction that terror and intimidation could serve their purposes better than any policy of kindness and accommodation.”
The Europeans were not invading or exploring a wilderness, but a land which had been occupied for thousands of years and whose geographic features—bays, rivers, mountains, and so on—carried indigenous names. Ignorant of these names, European explorers renamed them. Historian James Axtell, in his book Beyond 1492: Encounters in Colonial North America, writes:
“Although the Indians had already endowed many prominent geographical features with names, the first Europeans signaled their imperial intentions by naming or renaming everything in sight. In choosing names they paid homage to their religions, homelands, social superiors, and, not least, their own egos.”
Briefly described below are some of the events of 500 years ago, in 1521.
Attempted colonization
In Florida, Juan Ponce de Leon attempted to establish a colony for the Spanish Crown. With a force of 200 men, including Catholic priests, 50 horses, and livestock (cows, sheep, goats), the Spanish landed at San Carlos Bay. This was within Calusa territory and the Calusas had had previous contact with the Spanish: Ponce de Leon in 1513, Diego Miruela in 1516, and Hernandez do Cordoba in 1517.
Calusa warriors met the Spanish invaders and inflicted a number of casualties. When the Spanish first encountered the Southeastern tribes, they found that their chain mail armor offered little protection against the Indian arrows. In the time it would take a Spanish soldier to reload a crossbow or gun, the Indian warrior could send seven arrows at them. In the battle the Calusa warriors wounded Ponce de Leon in the thigh with a reed arrow. In the close combat conditions, the European weapons proved less than effective. The Spanish returned to Cuba where Ponce de Leon died.
Slavery
From the very beginning of the Spanish invasion started by Christopher Columbus, capturing Indians to be used as slaves was seen as a profitable undertaking. In 1621, two Spanish slavers—Pedro de Quejo and Francisco Gordillo—sailed up the Atlantic coast of North America, penetrating into areas where word of the Spanish had not yet reached the Native American populations. They named the area where they landed Chicora. This was in present-day South Carolina.
The Spanish landed in Catawba territory. The Siouan-speaking Catawbas were an agricultural village people whose villages were usually in river valleys. Their name, Catawba, means “people of the river.”
The Spanish traded peacefully with the Catawbas for a short while and then they forcibly abducted about 60 men and women after enticing them aboard the ships with trinkets. About half of the captives died at sea and the rest were taken to Santo Domingo as slaves. The Spanish justified their actions by claiming that the Indians were cannibals and sodomites, and thus slavery and warfare against them were justified.
The slavers’ descriptions of the region gave rise to a legend of a new Andalucia, filled with abundance. They described the Indians of the area as being taller than those found on the coastal islands. One of the captive Indians—a boy named Francisco by the Spanish—told his captors a story about a rich land in the interior of South Carolina where there was great mineral wealth. The Spanish concluded that the conquest of Chicora would bring them great wealth.
Indians 101
Twice each week this series presents American Indian histories, biographies, tribal profiles, museum tours, and other topics. More about American Indians in the sixteenth century:
Indians 101: 16th Spanish Religious Views of Indians
Indians 101: Early French Encounters With Indians
Indians 101: Sixteenth Century European Laws About Indians
Indians 101: Disease and Indians in the 16th Century
Indians 101: Acoma Pueblo and the Spanish, 1539-1599
Indians 101: Sixteenth-Century Books About Indians
Indians 101: The Zuni and the Spanish in the 16th Century
Indians 101: American Indians 500 years ago, 1520