Colonialism In The Great Spirit

The greed for gold and the race for El Dorado were the main inducements of the Spaniards who, at the peril of their lives, crossed the ocean in unfit vessels in a mad pursuit after the gold and all other precious property of the Indians” (Peace 479). The royal rulers of Spain made it a rule that nothing would jeopardize their ability to rob the land from the native people of Latin America. The missionary process, “had to be encouraged, but the missionaries could not be permitted to dominate the colony at the cost of royal rule” (Gibson 76). The European governments established missionaries to cleanse their minds of any guilt aroused by the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children. When European “ships arrived in the 16th century to colonize the land and exploit its natural resources, they killed indigenous people and brought black slaves from Africa. Millions of indigenous people were slain and their cultures completely destroyed by the process of colonization” (Ribero). The overall devastations caused by the Christianization of the native inhabitants created a blend of cultures within the indigenous civilizations which gradually isolated old native ways into a small population of oppressed people. The Christianized people became a symbol of loyalty to the European powers and were left alone simply on their religious status. This long term mission of total religious replacement caused very strong and advanced

The film Black Robe is set in Quebec, New France in 1634. The Jesuits put together a missionary with the approval of Captain Champlain to travel up the St. Lawrence River to try and convert the native tribes. They travel up the river to establish connection with a Jesuit mission in the Huron nation. Father Laforgue is chosen to the led the expedition along with Daniel, a young Frenchmen who was a worker who expresses his interest in returning to France and enter priesthood. The movie shows the relationship of the natives with the black robe is not good at the start. The natives fear them, however as they continue to interact with each other and learn from one another there relationship grows in a more positive aspect.

However, even though the Missionaries faced many cultural differences their teaching were able to appeal to all five senses of the Huron. The Jesuits were able to divide the Huron community as they ridiculed the Huron belief system. War, disease and external pressure of the fur trade also played a factor in the victorious conversion. The Jesuits were able to transform the Huron culture from an equalitarian tribble to a hierarchal Euro-Catholic society. The Jesuits baptized 16,000 natives. This evidence that Welton accumulated appears to have strongly supported his thesis. However, a large majority of the twenty-four sources are secondary. They were written 300 years after the events between the Jesuits and the Huron. The conversion happened in the 1600s but Walton’s references are from the mid 1900’s to early 2000s. These sources that were used to create the article were mainly obtained from European data. Therefore, even though the article is strongly written, I am spectable because the evidence is bias and out of date. If primary references such as church records and diaries were used I would be convinced of Walton’s

After observing local natives, the first Spanish conquistadors came to the conclusion that the Native Americans were barbaric and in dire need of Christian teachings. Thus, Spanish colonists made it their mission to convert the local natives to Christianity, using violence when there was resistance. In 1597, there were a series of uprisings by the Guale Indians in present-day Florida. They destroyed many missions, explaining that the Spanish missionaries had attempted to eliminate their religious practices such as feasts and celebrations. The Spanish also oppressed the Native Americans, and used them as a labor force under the encomienda system. The French, on the other hand, are known for their peaceful alliances with the Native Americans. Colonists established trade agreements with the local natives, obtaining raw goods such as fur and timber. Their peaceful relationship may in fact be attributed to the Spanish; the “Black Legend” of Spanish cruelty towards Native Americans made other European countries eager to prove themselves different. The French took pride in the fact that they treated the Native Americans more humanely than their Spanish counterparts. In addition, the French were not interested in expanding their territory, unlike the Spanish. They were simply looking for trade opportunities, and a mutual relationship with the Native Americans was advantageous. The primary goal of Spain

This books tells us a lot about the relationship between Christianity and colonialism. Originally, the Spaniards went to the New World to convert the natives to Christianity but, they got lazy and greedy. De Las Casas stated that “The reason the Christians have murdered on such a vast scale and killed anyone and everyone in their way is purely and simply greed” (13). The Spaniards only cared about getting the gold and conquering the land. Of course, they had the intention of converting all of the natives to Christianity at first but it was easier to conquer and to just kill the natives in horrific ways to be able convert all the land to be Christian rather than keeping the people and just converting the people. The land was easier to convert than the people. The land was especially easy to conquer because the natives were such a docile group of people and had such giving nature and were always welcoming with open arms. The Spaniards took advantage of that characteristic of the natives. De Las Casas states how the natives were “submissive” by saying, “Their insatiable greed and overweening ambition know no bounds; the land is fertile and rich, the inhabitants simple, forbearing and submissive” (13). The

In the opening scene of the movie the Frenchman Laforgue, whom repelled the Indian way of life, and the rest of the fathers deliver advanced tools, supplies, and weapons to the Algonquin Indians. Indians have the religious belief that those who can provide the best are the better leaders. The Frenchman used that to their advantage when providing the supplies. They used the supplies as a way to bribe the Indians to go on the journey with them and convert to Christianity. The supplies symbolized what they could have if they just accepted the Jesuits way of life and religious beliefs. On the voyage there was the Indian tribe, Laforgue accompanied by other Jesuits, as well a young non Jesuit male, Daniel. Daniel had no interest in going on the expedition to convert the Indians. Instead he was just bored and was looking for an adventure. Very early in the expedition Daniel caught interest in the

The Native American religion was very different from the Christian religion of the Europeans. The Native American’s didn’t pray to a god, they prayed to something in nature such as the sky or the sun. “O our Mother the Earth, O our Father the Sky” (Tewa Indian). The colonists thought that it was barbaric that the Native American’s didn’t believe in a God. The colonists thought that there was only one correct way to be religious and that the way that the Native American’s practiced religion was ‘the wrong way’.

a powerful weapon, and that was the weapon of being inferior to a race that had

The 1986 film The Mission depicts the relation of the Jesuits as a type of enlightening force for the Guarani people, that is able to organized theses people in way that was not before possible. The representation of the priest as these great liberators of knowledge by the movie is flattery, the natives where indeed capable of organizing themselves as a society that the films choses to ignore. The Guarani where not the pure molds that the movie presents, they contained there own original and optioned ideas on how society works after contact with the Jesuits and in the missions, a notable example of their ideas can be seen in religion. The natives are shown throughout the film of having weak constitution to their traditional spirituality, and this was not the cause in history. My argument is, the Guarini where not the passive molds for Christianity presented in the film, but where actually relatively organized in them believes of spirituality and held strong options on the subject. Supporting the argument against the films take will include: Ruiz de Montoya’s The Spiritual Conquest, a primary source form the prospective of a Jesuit priest during the time of The Mission; James Schofield Seager’s The Mission and Historical Missions: Film and the Writing of History, focuses on the historical issues riddled within the film; and lecture notes form Dr. Austin, discussing the actuality of what occurred in during the time period of The Mission.

At first the Indians welcomed the Americans with open arms and generosity and were in turn given “poison”, alcohol diseases, and a war. If these men who devastated his people were Christians, then it is not a religion his people are interested in. Furthermore, Red Jacket uses the past to tell the British how the Great Spirit created, has guided, and provided for his people over the years. It was not until the America “forefathers” came to the Seneca Tribe, that conflict began to arise. With that it goes to say that the religion that is associated with these men is not a good religion.

When the natives acquired the trust on the Jesuits, they started to Christianize

The Europeans, therefore, described the indigenous people as savage, polytheistic pagans and heathens, who were doomed to damnation for the worship of animals and nature. The Europeans, within their understanding of the will of God, believed it their duty and their responsibility to teach these indigenous people the “correct” way to live, and were determined to impose their own religion upon the indigenous people by enforcing the worship of the God of the Christian Bible through any means deemed necessary, including slavery, coercion, and the threat of, or actual maiming or death. Europeans chose to dismiss the religious and cultural practices of the indigenous peoples because the indigenous peoples did not engage in scheduled worship services as the Europeans did, or call their deities by the names that the Europeans used, nor did the indigenous peoples perform their worship ceremonies in the same manner as the Europeans.

Some historical events that are mentioned in American Colonies by Alan Taylor that are dramatized by the film include the relationship between the Jesuits and the Indians and the love story. While, to an extent, the relationship between the two parties had many moments of accuracy, the film also made it seem like no matter what the Jesuit priest always was only looking out for the Indian people in order to convert them. The film ignores the side of the relationship where the French Jesuits primarily colonize the Indians, which ultimately leads to the death of thousands of Indians. Also, the love story between Daniel and Annuka who is the daughter of Chomina, who is accompanying the French on their mission, was dramatized. Recognizing that this love story’s purpose is to entertain the viewer, the way the cultures collide is not as accurate as it could be. Overall, however, the film does deal with these dramatizations in a responsible and fairly accurate way.

Most colonists that came in the early 1600’s were Christians, a religion that has very specific rules and rigid regulations that must be followed to be a “saved” person destined for a paradisiacal after life. Within these restrictions were the directions to “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). It seems clear that from the first the Christian religion was telling the colonists to “help” the natives by making them conform to the culture of the colonists and destroying their own. This was always done with a sense of Native American natural inferiority. In most cases, the Native Americans were not told the entire nature of their conversion. A Jesuit described the tactics used in converting Native Americans, “The outward splendor with which we endeavor to surround the Ceremonies of the Church…with a magnificence surpassing anything that the eyes of our savages have ever beheld – all these things produce an impression on their minds” (Le pays reneverse by denys delage 168). For those truly religious souls, coming to the New World meant a chance to bring salvation and Christianity to new

As a part of the New France mission I have experienced various encounters with several different Indian nations. I do admit that these native people are very down to earth and connected with each other very well. The purpose of are mission to New France was to spread the word of God and our Catholic faith to the natives and convert them. This process is much easier said than it is to actually be done. For one just think about trying to first communicate with a person who speaks a different language, has no idea who you are, and where you came from. To sum it up basically trying to talk with an alien from another planet in the skies. This leads me to saying that communication and patience are the top two qualities that we missionaries have to have to even start to succeed with our mission. Other Frenchmen that came here to the New World to start a new life do not seem up to par with are communication and patience skills with the natives here. The fact of their skills not up to par with ours is mainly because as a Jesuit we have been trained