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“The Puebloan people of Chaco Canyon faced several ecological chal-

lenges, including deforestation and overirrigation, which ultimately

caused the community to collapse and its people to disperse to smaller

settlements”

-Jordan Estevez

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“When the world was finished, there were as yet no people, but the Bald Eagle was the chief of the animals. He saw the world was incomplete and decided to make some human beings.” -Salinan Indian Creation Story

“This was the Great Buzzard, the father of all the buzzards we see now. He flew all over the earth, low down near the ground, and it was still soft. When he reached the Cherokee country, he was very tired, and his wings began to flap and strike the ground, and wherever they struck the earth there was a valley, and where they turned up again there was a mountain. When the animals above saw this, they were afraid that the whole world would be mountains, so they called him back, but the Cherokee country remains full of mountains to this day.” - Cherokee creation story

These quotes highlight how animals were seen as these sacred creatures who created life and the land.

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The American Yawp Reader The story of the Virgin of Guadalupe

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The American Yawp Reader The story of the Virgin of Guadalupe

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“He unfolded his white cloth, where he had the flowers; and when they scattered on the floor, all the different varieties of rosas de Castilla, suddenly there appeared the drawing of the precious Image of the ever-virgin Holy Mary, Mother of God, in the manner as she is today kept in the temple at Tepeyacac, which is named Guadalupe…”

-Nahuatl by Luis Lasso de la Vega

Aaron R

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The legend of Moshup, 1830
Most Native American peoples shared information solely through the spoken word. These oral cultures present unique challenges to histori-ans, and force us to look beyond traditional written sources. Folk tales offer a valuable window into the ways that Native Americans understood themselves and the wider world. The Wampanoag legend of Moshup describes an ancient giant who lived on Martha's Vineyard Island and offered stories about the history of the region.

-Ashante Mabins

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…These people are very simple as regards the u.se of arms, as your Highnesses will .sec from the seven that I caused to be taken, to bring home and learn our language and return; unless your Highnesses should order them all to be brought to Castile, or to be kept as captives on the same island; for with fifty men they can all be subjugated and made to do what is required of them… MIGUEL DEYNES

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Race wasn’t completely fixed some people could change how they were recorded, which shows the system was somewhat flexible.

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The celebrants began to sing their songs. That is how they celebrated the first day of the fiesta. On the second day they began to sing again, but without warning they were all put to death.

Major T.

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Journal of Christopher Columbus 1492 (Clarence Alberts)

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Journal of Christopher Columbus 1492 (Clarence Alberts)

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“They neither carry nor know anything of arms, for I showed them swords, and they took the blade and cut them-selves through ignorance”

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Scandinavian seafarers reached the New World

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Scandinavian seafarers reached the New World

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"they sailed as far east as Constantinople and raided settlements as far south as North Africa."

Keagan Leanhart

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Bryce D. Solberg- Thomas Morton reflects on Native Americans in New England, 1637

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Bryce D. Solberg- Thomas Morton reflects on Native Americans in New England, 1637

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“The hand of god fell heavily upon them, with such a mortal stroke that they had died on heaps as thy lay in their houses…. And the bones and skulls upon the several places of their habitations made such a spectacle after coming into those parts.”

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Cliff Palace had 23 kivas and 150 rooms housing a population of approximately 100 people.

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Journal of Christopher Columbus, 1492

They neither carry nor know anything of arms, for I showed them swords, and they took them by the blade and cut themselves through ignorance. They have no iron, their darts being wands without iron, some of them having a fish’s tooth at the end, and others being pointed in various ways. They are all of fair stature and size, with good laces, and well made.

-Rene Hernandez

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The Spaniards attacked the musicians first, slashing at their hands and faces until they had killed all of them. The singers and even the spectators were also killed.

-Kaytie Torres

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“The Sun had treacherously murdered our people on the twentieth day after the captain left for the coast.”

-Gabriel Martinez

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…These people are very simple as regards the u.se of arms, as your Highnesses will .sec from the seven that I caused to be taken, to bring home and learn our language and return; unless your Highnesses should order them all to be brought to Castile, or to be kept as captives on the same island; for with fifty men they can all be subjugated and made to do what is required of them… Mdeynes

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Alvar Nun̈ez Cabeza de Vaca Travels through North America, 1542

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Alvar Nun̈ez Cabeza de Vaca Travels through North America, 1542

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… At sunset we came in sight of the lodges, and two crossbow shots before reaching them met four Indians waiting for us, and they received us well. We told them in the language of the Mariames that we had come to see them. They appeared to be pleased with our company and took us to their homes. They lodged Dorantes and the negro at the house of a medicine man and me and Castillo at that of another. These Indians speak another language and are called Avavares…. Forthwith they offered us many tunas [cactus fruit], because they had heard of us and of how we cured and of the miracles Our Lord worked through us…

Ryan Bello-Sergio

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“The dancers and singers were completely unarmed.”

- Rilei Mendoza

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…These people are very simple as regards the u.se of arms, as your Highnesses will .sec from the seven that I caused to be taken, to bring home and learn our language and return; unless your Highnesses should order them all to be brought to Castile, or to be kept as captives on the same island; for with fifty men they can all be subjugated and made to do what is required of them…

-Miranda L

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First encounters between Europeans and Native Americans were dramatic events. In this account we see the assumptions and intentions of Christopher Columbus, as he immediately began assessing the potential of these people to serve European economic interests. He also predicted easy success for missionaries seeking to convert these people to Christianity.

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"Whom they so despicably contemned, that they treated them (I speak of things which I was an Eye Witness of, without the least fallacy) not as Beasts, which I cordially wished they would, but as the most abject dung and filth of the Earth." -Bartolomé de Las Casas

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"Whom they so despicably contemned, that they treated them (I speak of things which I was an Eye Witness of, without the least fallacy) not as Beasts, which I cordially wished they would, but as the most abject dung and filth of the Earth." -Bartolomé de Las Casas

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Andrew R

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Reflection of Native Americans in New England

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Reflection of Native Americans in New England

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"they are willing that any one shall eat with them. Nay, if any one shall come into their houses and there fall asleep, when they see him disposed to lie down, they will spread a mat for him of their own accord… If he sleep until their meat be dished up, they will set a wooden bowl of meat by him that slept and wake him saying “Cattup keene Meckin,” that is, if you be hungry, there is meat for you, where if you will eat you may. Such is their humanity.”

Austin Williams

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“This city is as large as Seville or Cordoba with many plazas, temples, and markets.”

-Hernán Cortés, Letter to Charles V

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"Changing climatic conditions resulted in an increased competition for resources that led some groups to ally with their neighbors for both protection and subsistence. The circular rooms in the foreground were called kivas and had ceremonial and religious importance for the inhabitants. Cliff Palace had 23 kivas and 150 rooms housing a population of approximately 100 people; the number of rooms and large population has led scholars to believe that this complex may have been the center of a larger polity that included surrounding communities."

- Rayelynn Weed

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Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca Travels through North America, 1542

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Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca Travels through North America, 1542

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"Nothing was talked about in this whole country but of the wonderful cures which God, Our Lord, performed through us, and so they came from many places to be cured."

- Amy Benitez

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No, it is not a dream. I am not walking in my sleep. I am not seeing you in my dreams…. I have seen you at last! I have met you face to face! I was in agony for five days, for ten days, with my eyes fixed on the Region of the Mystery. And now you have come out of the clouds and mists to sit on your throne again.

-Jessalyn Guzman

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Thomas Morton saying indigenous people are dealing with the Devil

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“… some correspondence they have with the Devil out of all doubt, as by some of their actions, in which they glory, is manifested… A neighbor of mine that had entertained a savage into his service, to be his factor for the beaver trade among his countrymen, delivered unto him diverse parcels of commodities for for them to trade with… "

Thomas Morton

Thomas Morton stated that the indigious people were working with the devil. Ironically everything he said about them showed that they had immense hospitality towards guests.

- Amari Paulk (HIST 1301 - 174)

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“recommending them to God, Our Lord, and we all prayed to Him as well as we could to restore them to health. And He, seeing there was no other way of getting those people to help us so that we might be saved from our miserable existence, had mercy upon us, and in the morning all woke up well and hearty and went away in such good health as if they never had had any ailment whatever.”

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Zoe lopez

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"Then the Bald Eagle called to Coyote who happened to be going by and said to him, “Do you see that woman?” Try her first!” Coyote was quite willing and complied, but immediately afterwards lay down and died. The Bald Eagle went away and left Coyote dead, but presently returned and revived him. “How did it work?” said the Bald Eagle. “Pretty well, but it nearly kills a man!” replied Coyote. “Will you try it again?” said the Bald Eagle. Coyote agreed, and tried again, and this time survived. Then the Bald Eagle turned to the man and said, “She is all right now; you and she are to live together.”

Samantha Tidwell

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WE BELIEVE IT SO YOU SHOULD TOO!!! ( also let me take you for all you’re worth) - DAZMINE TREVINO

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WE BELIEVE IT SO YOU SHOULD TOO!!! ( also let me take you for all you’re worth) - DAZMINE TREVINO

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First encounters between Europeans and Native Americans were dramatic events. In this account, we see the assumptions and intentions of Christopher Columbus, as he immediately began assessing the potential of these people to serve European economic interests. He also predicted easy success for missionaries seeking to convert these people to Christianity.

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When this had been done, the celebrants began to sing their songs. That is how they celebrated the first day of the fiesta. On the second day they began to sing again, but without warning they were all put to death. The dancers and singers were completely unarmed. They brought only their embroidered cloaks, their turquoises, their lip plugs, their necklaces, their clusters of heron feathers, their trinkets made of deer hooves. Those who played the drums, the old men, had brought their gourds of snuff and their timbrels. The Spaniards attacked the musicians first, slashing at their hands and faces until they had killed all of them. The singers-and even the spectators- were also killed. This slaughter in the Sacred Patio went on for three hours. Then the Spaniards burst into the rooms of the temple to kill the others: those who were carrying water, or bringing fodder for the horses, or grinding meal, or sweeping, or standing watch over this work. The king Montezuma, who was accompanied by Itzcohuatzin and by those who had brought food for the Spaniards, protested: “Our lords, that is enough! What are you doing? These people are not carrying shields or macanas. Our lords, they are completely unarmed!” The Sun had treacherously murdered our people on the twentieth day after the captain left for the coast.

Brianna Julian

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Then he said to Montezuma: “We have come to your house in Mexico as friends. There is nothing to fear.” - Miguel LeonPortilla, ed., The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico (Boston: Beacon Press, 1962), pp. 6466, 129131. Carlos Ortega

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“Our lords, that is enough! What are you doing? These people are not carrying shields or macanas. Our lords, they are completely unarmed!”

-Shakia Williams

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Spaniards rushing to the New World to get wealthy

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Spaniards rushing to the New World to get wealthy

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As news of the Spanish conquest spread, wealth-hungry Spaniards poured into the New World seeking land, gold, and titles. A New World empire spread from Spain’s Caribbean foothold. Motives were plain: said one soldier, “we came here to serve God and the king, and also to get rich.”²⁸ Mercenaries joined the conquest and raced to capture the human and material wealth of the New World.

Matthew Stovall

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Spaniards rushing to the New World to get wealthy

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Spaniards rushing to the New World to get wealthy

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As news of the Spanish conquest spread, wealth-hungry Spaniards poured into the New World seeking land, gold, and titles. A New World empire spread from Spain’s Caribbean foothold. Motives were plain: said one soldier, “we came here to serve God and the king, and also to get rich.”²⁸ Mercenaries joined the conquest and raced to capture the human and material wealth of the New World.

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"The Lady from heaven ordered to climb to the top of the hill, where they previously met. She told him: 'Climb, my son the least, to the top of the hill; there where you saw me and I gave you orders, you will find different flowers. Cut them, gather them, assemble them, then come and bring them before my presence.'

…He immediately went down the hill and brought the different roses which he had cut to the Lady from heaven, who, as she saw them, took them with her hand and again placed them back in the tilma, saying: 'My son, this diversity of roses is the proof and the sign which you will take to the bishop. You will tell him in my name that he will see in them my wish and that he will have to comply to it. You are my ambassador, most worthy of all confidence…'"

Samuel Burek

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He saw the world was incomplete and decided to make some human beings. So, he took some clay and modeled the figure of a man. Then the Bald Eagle stood and admired his work. "It is impossible," said he, "that he should be left alone; he must have a mate."

Evelyn Iniguez

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Native American Creation Stories

These two Native American creation stories are among thousands of accounts for the origins of the world. The Salinian and Cherokee, from what we now call California and the American southeast respectively, both exhibit the common Native American tendency to locate spiritual power in the natural world. For both Native Americans and Europeans, the collision of two continents challenged old ideas and created new ones as well.

Salinan Indian Creation Story

When the world was finished, there were as yet no people, but the Bald Eagle was the chief of the animals. He saw the world was incomplete and decided to make some human beings. So he took some clay and modeled the figure of a man and laid him on the ground. At first he was very small but grew rapidly until he reached normal size. But as yet he had no life; he was still asleep. Then the Bald Eagle stood and admired his work. “It is impossible,” said he, “that he should be left alone; he must have a mate.” So he pulled out a feather and laid it beside the sleeping man. Then he left them and went off a short distance, for he knew that a woman was being formed from the feather. But the man was still asleep and did not know what was happening. When the Bald Eagle decided that the woman was about completed, he returned, awoke the man by flapping his wings over him and flew away.

The man opened his eyes and stared at the woman. “What does this mean?” he asked. “I thought I was alone!” Then the Bald Eagle returned and said with a smile, “I see you have a mate! Have you had intercourse with her?” “No,” replied the man, for he and the woman knew nothing about each other. Then the Bald Eagle called to Coyote who happened to be going by and said to him, “Do you see that woman?” Try her first!” Coyote was quite willing and complied, but immediately afterwards lay down and died. The Bald Eagle went away and left Coyote dead, but presently returned and revived him. “How did it work?” said the Bald Eagle. “Pretty well, but it nearly kills a man!” replied Coyote. “Will you try it again?” said the Bald Eagle. Coyote agreed, and tried again, and this time survived. Then the Bald Eagle turned to the man and said, “She is all right now; you and she are to live together.”

John Alden Mason, The Ethnology of the Salinan Indians (Berkeley: 1912), 191-192.

Cherokee creation story

The earth is a great island floating in a sea of water, and suspended at each of the four cardinal points by a cord hanging down from the sky vault, which is of solid rock. When the world grows old and worn out, the people will die and the cords will break and let the earth sink down into the ocean, and all will be water again. The Indians are afraid of this.

When all was water, the animals were above in Gälûñ’lätï, beyond the arch; but it was very much crowded, and they were wanting more room. They wondered what was below the water, and at last Dâyuni’sï, “Beaver’s Grandchild,” the little Water-beetle, offered to go and see if it could learn. It darted in every direction over the surface of the water, but could find no firm place to rest. Then it dived to the bottom and came up with some soft mud, which began to grow and spread on every side until it became the island which we call the earth. It was afterward fastened to the sky with four cords, but no one remembers who did this.

At first the earth was flat and very soft and wet. The animals were anxious to get down, and sent out different birds to see if it was yet dry, but they found no place to alight and came back again to Gälûñ’lätï. At last it seemed to be time, and they sent out the Buzzard and told him to go and make ready for them. This was the Great Buzzard, the father of all the buzzards we see now. He flew all over the earth, low down near the ground, and it was still soft. When he reached the Cherokee country, he was very tired, and his wings began to flap and strike the ground, and wherever they struck the earth there was a valley, and where they turned up again there was a mountain. When the animals above saw this, they were afraid that the whole world would be mountains, so they called him back, but the Cherokee country remains full of mountains to this day.

When the earth was dry and the animals came down, it was still dark, so they got the sun and set it in a track to go every day across the island from east to west, just overhead. It was too hot this way, and Tsiska’gïlï’, the Red Crawfish, had his shell scorched a bright red, so that his meat was spoiled; and the Cherokee do not eat it. The conjurers put the sun another hand-breadth higher in the air, but it was still too hot. They raised it another time, and another, until it was seven handbreadths high and just under the sky arch. Then it was right, and they left it so. This is why the conjurers call the highest place Gûlkwâ’gine Di’gälûñ’lätiyûñ’, “the seventh height,” because it is seven hand-breadths above the earth. Every day the sun goes along under this arch, and returns at night on the upper side to the starting place.

There is another world under this, and it is like ours in everything–animals, plants, and people–save that the seasons are different. The streams that come down from the mountains are the trails by which we reach this underworld, and the springs at their heads are the doorways by which we enter, it, but to do this one must fast and, go to water and have one of the underground people for a guide. We know that the seasons in the underworld are different from ours, because the water in the springs is always warmer in winter and cooler in summer than the outer air.

When the animals and plants were first made–we do not know by whom–they were told to watch and keep awake for seven nights, just as young men now fast and keep awake when they pray to their medicine. They tried to do this, and nearly all were awake through the first night, but the next night several dropped off to sleep, and the third night others were asleep, and then others, until, on the seventh night, of all the animals only the owl, the panther, and one or two more were still awake. To these were given the power to see and to go about in the dark, and to make prey of the birds and animals which must sleep at night. Of the trees only the cedar, the pine, the spruce, the holly, and the laurel were awake to the end, and to them it was given to be always green and to be greatest for medicine, but to the others it was said: “Because you have not endured to the end you shall lose your, hair every winter.”

Men came after the animals and plants. At first there were only a brother and sister until he struck her with a fish and told her to multiply, and so it was. In seven days a child was born to her, and thereafter every seven days another, and they increased very fast until there was danger that the world could not keep them. Then it was made that a woman should have only one child in a year, and it has been so ever since.

W. Powell, Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1897-1898, Part I (Washington: 1900), 239-240.

*Posted by Adrienne McDonald

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"Portuguese sailors perfected the astrolabe, a tool to calculate latitude, and the caravel, a ship well suited for ocean exploration. Both were technological breakthroughs. The astrolabe allowed for precise navigation, and the caravel, unlike more common vessels designed for trading on the relatively placid Mediterranean, was a rugged ship with a deep draft capable of making lengthy voyages on the open ocean and, equally important, carrying large amounts of cargo while doing so."

Elyse Hill

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"The elaborate Sistema de Castas revealed one of the less-discussed effects of Spanish conquest: sexual liaisons and their progeny. Casta paintings illustrated the varying degrees of intermixture between colonial subjects, defining them for Spanish officials. Race was less fixed in the Spanish colonies, as some individuals, through legal action or colonial service, “changed” their race in the colonial records. Though this particular image does not, some casta paintings attributed particular behaviors to different groups, demonstrating how class and race were intertwined."

Elyse Hill

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la Virgen de Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego. 

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The precious image of The Virgin Holy Mary, Mother of God

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The precious image of The Virgin Holy Mary, Mother of God

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"He unfolded his white cloth, where he had the flowers; and when they scattered on the floor, all the different varieties of rosas de Castilla, suddenly there appeared the drawing of the precious Image of the ever-virgin Holy Mary, Mother of God, in the manner as she is today kept in the temple at Tepeyacac, which is named Guadalupe…"

Jasmine Velazquez

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Thomas Morton, attributes medicinal practices to the devil

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Thomas Morton, attributes medicinal practices to the devil

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“Powahs, who are usually sent for when any person is sick and ill at ease to recover them, for which they receive rewards as do our surgeons and physicians; and they do make a trade of it, and boast of their skill when they come. One amongst the rest did undertake to cure an Englishman of a swelling of his hand for a parcel of biscuit, which being delivered him he took the party grieved into the woods aside from company, and with the help of the devil (as may be conjectured), quickly recovered him of that swelling, and sent him about his work again.”

-Kainan White

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“They should be good servants and intelligent, for I observed that they quickly took in what was said to them, and I believe that they would easily be made Christians, as it appeared to me that they had no religion.”

We immediately see the plotting of assumptions and intentions of Christopher Columbus, he was unbelievably quick to begin assessing the potential of these people to serve European economic interests. He also predicted easy manipulation of converting these people.

Celeste Maldonado

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Bartolomé de las Casas describes the exploitation of Indigenous people, 1542

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Bartolomé de las Casas describes the exploitation of Indigenous people, 1542

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"Bartolomé de Las Casas, a Spanish Dominican priest, wrote directly to the King of Spain hoping for new laws to prevent the brutal exploitation of Native Americans. Las Casas’s writings quickly spread around Europe and were used as humanitarian justification for other European nations to challenge Spain’s colonial empire with their own schemes of conquest and colonization."

This stood out to me because even though Bartolomé de Las Casas wanted to protect Native Americans, his writings were used by other Europeans to justify taking land for themselves. It shows how good intentions didn't stop conquering. This made me realize that Europeans cared more about control and power than about helping Indigenous people

Savanah Rodriguez

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Bartolomé de las Casas describes the exploitation of Indigenous people, 1542

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"Cuauhtlatoatzin was one of the first Aztec men to convert to Christianity after the Spanish invasion. Renamed as Juan Diego, he soon thereafter reported an appearance of the Virgin Mary called the Virgin of Guadalupe. This apparition became an important symbol for a new native Christianity. These excerpts are translated from an account first published in Nahuatl by Luis Lasso de la Vega in 1649."

-Jaclyn Gilmer

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"During the contact period, the frontier was constantly shifting and places that are now considered old were once tenuous settlements. This watercolor painting depicts New Orleans in 1726 when it was an 8-year-old French frontier settlement, nearly forty years prior to the Spanish acquisition of the Louisiana territory. In the foreground, enslaved Africans fell trees on land belonging to the Company of the Indies, and another enslaved man spears a massive alligator. Land has been cleared only just beyond the town limits and a wooden palisade provides meager protection from competing European empires." Allie Woods

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Now the ultimate end and scope that incited the Spaniards to endeavor the Extirpation and Desolation of this People, was Gold only…

Bartolomé de Las Casas, a Spanish Dominican priest, wrote directly to the King of Spain hoping for new laws to prevent the brutal exploitation of Native Americans.

-Abigail Noyes

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"Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Saint Juan Diego on December 9, 10 and 12, 1531. The image left on Saint Juan Diego’s tilma is the only true picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe in existence. The image has remained intact with all its original vibrancy for 475 years. The natural life span of a cloak made with fiber from the agave or maguey plant is only about 30 years.

The image is a pictograph which could be read and understood by the Aztec Indians".

-Sarah Gaitan

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Thomas Morton Reflects on Native Americans in New England, 1637

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Thomas Morton Reflects on Native Americans in New England, 1637

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“… they are willing that any one shall eat with them. Nay, if any one shall come into their houses and there fall asleep, when they see him disposed to lie down, they will spread a mat for him of their own accord… If he sleep until their meat be dished up, they will set a wooden bowl of meat by him that slept and wake him saying “Cattup keene Meckin,” that is, if you be hungry, there is meat for you, where if you will eat you may. Such is their humanity.”

Tristen Solorio

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Hernán Cortés, an ambitious, thirty-four-year-old Spaniard who had won riches in the conquest of Cuba, organized an invasion of Mexico in 1519. Sailing with six hundred men, horses, and cannon, he landed on the coast of Mexico. Relying on a Native translator, whom he called Doña Marina, and whom Mexican folklore denounces as La Malinche, Cortés gathered information and allies in preparation for conquest. Through intrigue, brutality, and the exploitation of endemic political divisions, he enlisted the aid of thousands of Native allies, defeated Spanish rivals, and marched on Tenochtitlán.

Maria D. R.

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Journal  of Christopher Columbus : started pack

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They should be good servants and intelligent, for I observed that they quickly took in what was said to them, and I believe that they would easily be made Christians, as it appeared to me that they had no religion, our Lord being pleased, will take hence, at the time of my departure, six natives for your Highnesses that they may learn to speak. I saw no beast of any kind except parrots, on this island.” The above is in the words of the admiral…

Essossolim AWI AGOBAYAM

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"Cliff Palace had 23 kivas(ceremonial rooms) and 150 rooms housing a population of approximately 100 people; the number of rooms and large population has led scholars to believe that this complex may have been the center of a larger polity that included surrounding communities."

-Ramiro Rodriguez

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Columbus Journal: Him seeing how well the Native Americans are and soon planning to conquer them to turn them into servants 

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Columbus Journal: Him seeing how well the Native Americans are and soon planning to conquer them to turn them into servants 

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"They are very well made, with very handsome bodies, and very good countenances. Their hair is short and coarse, almost like the hairs of a horse’s tail." - "…for with fifty men they can all be subjugated and made to do what is required of them…" - Laura Ozuna

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“Tell Montezuma that we are his friends. There is nothing to fear. We have wanted to see him for a long time, and now we have seen his face and heard his words. Tell him that we love him well and that our hearts are contented.”

Then he said to Montezuma: “We have come to your house in Mexico as friends. There is nothing to fear.”

- Orlando Salazar

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Salinan Indian Creation Story - Zach Simmons

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Salinan Indian Creation Story - Zach Simmons

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"When the world was finished, there were as yet no people, but the Bald Eagle was the chief of the animals. He saw the world was incomplete and decided to make some human beings. So he took some clay and modeled the figure of a man and laid him on the ground."

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Murica Merica GIF - Murica Merica America - Discover & Share GIFs

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They should be good servants and intelligent, for I observed that they quickly took in what was said to them, and I believe that they would easily be made Christians, as it appeared to me that they had no religion, our Lord being pleased, will take hence, at the time of my departure, six natives for your Highnesses that they may learn to speak.

Clinton F.

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"Race was less fixed in the Spanish colonies, as some individuals, through legal action or colonial service, “changed” their race in the colonial records. Though this particular image does not, some casta paintings attributed particular behaviors to different groups, demonstrating how class and race were intertwined." - Andres Vega

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Casta Painting | The American Yawp Reader

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This source aggregates a number of early written reports by Aztec authors describing the destruction of Tenochtitlan at the hands of a coalition of Spanish and Indigenous armies. This collection of sources was assembled by Miguel Leon Portilla, a Mexican anthropologist.

Anh L.

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This source aggregates a number of early written reports by Aztec authors describing the destruction of Tenochtitlan at the hands of a coalition of Spanish and Indigenous armies. This collection of sources was assembled by Miguel Leon Portilla, a Mexican anthropologist.

Tien D.

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"Native peoples in the Southwest began constructing these highly defensible cliff dwellings in 1190 CE and continued expanding and refurbishing them until 1260 CE before abandoning them around 1300 CE. The circular rooms in the foreground were called kivas and had ceremonial and religious importance for the inhabitants. Cliff Palace had 23 kivas and 150 rooms housing a population of approximately 100 people; the number of rooms and large population has led scholars to believe that this complex may have been the center of a larger polity that included surrounding communities."

James F.

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The Bald Eagle was the chief of the animals. He saw the world was incomplete and decided to make some human beings. So he took some clay and modeled the figure of a man and laid him on the ground. At first he was very small but grew rapidly until he reached normal size. But as yet he had no life; he was still asleep. Then the Bald Eagle stood and admired his work. “It is impossible,” said he, “that he should be left alone; he must have a mate.

Sandra V.

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The Lady from heaven ordered to climb to the top of the hill, where they previously met. She told him: “Climb, my son the least, to the top of the hill; there where you saw me and I gave you orders, you will find different flowers. Cut them, gather them, assemble them, then come and bring them before my presence.”

…He immediately went down the hill and brought the different roses which he had cut to the Lady from heaven, who, as she saw them, took them with her hand and again placed them back in the tilma, saying: “My son, this diversity of roses is the proof and the sign which you will take to the bishop. You will tell him in my name that he will see in them my wish and that he will have to comply to it. You are my ambassador, most worthy of all confidence…”

… the bishop realized that Juan Diego was carrying the proof, to confirm what the Indian requested.

Angel Anzaldua

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The elaborate Sistema de Castas revealed one of the less-discussed effects of Spanish conquest: sexual liaisons and their progeny. Casta paintings illustrated the varying degrees of intermixture between colonial subjects, defining them for Spanish officials. Race was less fixed in the Spanish colonies, as some individuals, through legal action or colonial service, “changed” their race in the colonial records. Though this particular image does not, some casta paintings attributed particular behaviors to different groups, demonstrating how class and race were intertwined.

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Casta Painting | The American Yawp Reader

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Columbus plotting on how to enslave the Natives 

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Columbus plotting on how to enslave the Natives 

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"They neither carry nor know anything of arms, for I showed them swords, and they took them by the blade and cut themselves through ignorance. They have no iron, their darts being wands without iron, some of them having a fish’s tooth at the end, and others being pointed in various ways."

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Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca Travels through North America, 1542

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Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca Travels through North America, 1542

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Early the next day many Indians came and brought five people who were paralyzed and very ill, and they came for Castillo to cure them. Every one of the patients offered him his bow and arrows, which he accepted, and by sunset he made the sign of the cross over each of the sick, recommending them to God, Our Lord, and we all prayed to Him as well as we could to restore them to health.

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Now this infinite multitude of Men are by the Creation of God innocently simple, altogether void of and averse to all manner of Craft, Subtlety and Malice, and most Obedient and Loyal Subjects to their Native Sovereigns; and behave themselves very patiently, submissively and quietly towards the Spaniards, to whom they are subservient and subject; so that finally they live without the least thirst after revenge, laying aside all litigiousness, Commotion and hatred…

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The earth is a great island floating in a sea of water, and suspended at each of the four cardinal points by a cord hanging down from the sky vault, which is of solid rock. When the world grows old and worn out, the people will die and the cords will break and let the earth sink down into the ocean, and all will be water again. The Indians are afraid of this.

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There is another world under this, and it is like ours in everything–animals, plants, and people–save that the seasons are different. The streams that come down from the mountains are the trails by which we reach this underworld, and the springs at their heads are the doorways by which we enter, it, but to do this one must fast and, go to water and have one of the underground people for a guide.

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I think it is interesting how Columbus was looking for a "faster" way to Asia. At that time Asia was super important to them because they imported some important goods. But the passage was kinda long and "dangerous" So Columbus thought "lets make a short cut" by sailing west but once he arrived to land and thought he was in Asia this whole time when he was in the Caribbean. I think its funny and such a weird coincidence but I understand because in those times (1492) there was not a lot of sources that would help them know there was a peace of land there (New world).

-Andrea

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in this story the people thought that the eagle was the chief of all animals, so it was the reason humans were created because the eagle saw the world as incomplete in the story it says the egal used clay to make a man and a feather to make a woman

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The story of the Virgin of Guadalupe

Cuauhtlatoatzin was one of the first Aztec men to convert to Christianity after the Spanish invasion. Renamed as Juan Diego, he soon thereafter reported an appearance of the Virgin Mary called the Virgin of Guadalupe. This apparition became an important symbol for a new native Christianity. These excerpts are translated from an account first published in Nahuatl by Luis Lasso de la Vega in 1649.

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Columbus’s journal describes his first encounters with the indigenous people of the Caribbean. He sees them as friendly and eager to trade, noting their physical appearance and lack of weapons. Columbus believes they could easily be converted to Christianity and used for labor. He mentions discovering gold and other valuable goods, and considers bringing some natives back to Spain. Throughout the account, he views the natives as naïve and inferior, focusing on their potential to serve European interests. jadelin castillo

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They fished and grew corn, yams, and cassava. Columbus described them as innocents. “They are very gentle and without knowledge of what is evil; nor the sins of murder or theft”. They loved their neighbors as themselves, and their speech is the sweetest and gentlest in the world, and always with a smile.”

-Joe. R

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"When the world was finished, there were as yet no people, but the Bald Eagle was the chief of the animals. He saw the world was incomplete and decided to make some human beings. So he took some clay and modeled the figure of a man and laid him on the ground. At first he was very small but grew rapidly until he reached normal size. But as yet he had no life; he was still asleep. Then the Bald Eagle stood and admired his work. “It is impossible,” said he, “that he should be left alone; he must have a mate.” So he pulled out a feather and laid it beside the sleeping man. Then he left them and went off a short distance, for he knew that a woman was being formed from the feather. But the man was still asleep and did not know what was happening. When the Bald Eagle decided that the woman was about completed, he returned, awoke the man by flapping his wings over him and flew away."

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Nothing was talked about in this whole country but of the wonderful cures which God, Our Lord, performed through us, and so they came from many places to be cured

Elijah Lopez ✝️

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Bald eagle creates human with clay to make him get laid 

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Bald eagle creates human with clay to make him get laid 

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The man opened his eyes and stared at the woman. “What does this mean?” he asked. “I thought I was alone!” Then the Bald Eagle returned and said with a smile, “I see you have a mate! Have you had intercourse with her?” “No,” replied the man, for he and the woman knew nothing about each other. Then the Bald Eagle called to Coyote who happened to be going by and said to him, “Do you see that woman?” Try her first!” Coyote was quite willing and complied, but immediately afterwards lay down and died. The Bald Eagle went away and left Coyote dead, but presently returned and revived him. “How did it work?” said the Bald Eagle. “Pretty well, but it nearly kills a man!” replied Coyote. “Will you try it again?” said the Bald Eagle. Coyote agreed, and tried again, and this time survived. Then the Bald Eagle turned to the man and said, “She is all right now; you and she are to live together.”

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“Native peoples in the Southwest began constructing these highly defensible cliff dwellings in 1190 CE and continued expanding and refurbishing them until 1260 CE before abandoning them around 1300 CE.“

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Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca Travels through North America, 1542

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Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca Travels through North America, 1542

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"On the night we arrived there some Indians came to Castillo complaining that their heads felt very sore and begging him for relief. As soon as he had made the sign of the cross over them and recommended them to God, at that very moment the Indians said that all the pain was gone. They went back to their abodes and brought us many tunas and a piece of venison, something we did not know any more what it was, and as the news spread that same night there came many other sick people for him to cure, and each brought a piece of venison, and so many there were that we did not know where to store the meat. We thanked God for His daily increasing mercy and kindness, and after they were all well they began to dance and celebrate and feast until sunrise of the day following."

Zoie Roell

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Thomas Morton Reflects on Native Americans in New England, 1637

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Thomas Morton Reflects on Native Americans in New England, 1637

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“Their women have shoes and stockings to wear likewise when they please, such as the men have, but the mantle they use to cover their nakedness with is much longer than that which they men use; for, as the men have one deer skin, the women have two sewed together at the full length, and it is so large that it trails after them like a great ladies train.”

“their infants are born with hair on their heads, and are of a complexion white as our nation; but their mothers in their infancy make a bath of walnut leaves, husks of walnuts, and such things as will stain their skin forever, wherein they dip and wash them to make them tawny…”

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Cortes’ introduction to the Aztec people and their deaths 

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Cortes’ introduction to the Aztec people and their deaths 

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When Montezuma had finished, La Malinche translated his address into Spanish so that the Captain could understand it. Cortés replied in his strange and savage tongue, speaking first to La Malinche: “Tell Montezuma that we are his friends. There is nothing to fear. We have wanted to see him for a long time, and now we have seen his face and heard his words. Tell him that we love him well and that our hearts are contented.”

Then he said to Montezuma: “We have come to your house in Mexico as friends. There is nothing to fear.” (…)

The Spaniards attacked the musicians first, slashing at their hands and faces until they had killed all of them. The singers-and even the spectators- were also killed. This slaughter in the Sacred Patio went on for three hours. Then the Spaniards burst into the rooms of the temple to kill the others: those who were carrying water, or bringing fodder for the horses, or grinding meal, or sweeping, or standing watch over this work.

-Jennifer McElroy

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During this same time, The Sun commanded that Montezuma and Itzcohuatzin, the military chief of Tlatelolco, be made prisoners. The Spaniards hanged a chief from Acolhuacan named Nezahualquentzin. They also murdered the king of Nauhtla, Cohualpopocatzin, by wounding him with arrows and then burning him alive.

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The elaborate Sistema de Castas revealed one of the less-discussed effects of Spanish conquest: sexual liaisons and their progeny. Casta paintings illustrated the varying degrees of intermixture between colonial subjects, defining them for Spanish officials. Race was less fixed in the Spanish colonies, as some individuals, through legal action or colonial service, “changed” their race in the colonial records. Though this particular image does not, some casta paintings attributed particular behaviors to different groups, demonstrating how class and race were intertwined.

-Saul Medrano

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"First encounters between Europeans and Native Americans were dramatic events. In this account we see the assumptions and intentions of Christopher Columbus, as he immediately began assessing the potential of these people to serve European economic interests. He also predicted easy success for missionaries seeking to convert these people to Christianity."

jadelin castillo

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Despite the arrival of these new Europeans, Spain continued to dominate the New World. The wealth flowing from the exploitation of the Aztec and Incan Empires greatly eclipsed the profits of other European nations. But this dominance would not last long. By the end of the sixteenth century, the powerful Spanish Armada would be destroyed, and the English would begin to rule the waves.

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The Spanish looking for wealth in the new land

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The Spanish looking for wealth in the new land

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As news of the Spanish conquest spread, wealth-hungry Spaniards poured into the New World seeking land, gold, and titles. A New World empire spread from Spain’s Caribbean foothold. Motives were plain: said one soldier, “we came here to serve God and the king, and also to get rich.”²⁸ Mercenaries joined the conquest and raced to capture the human and material wealth of the New World

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Cuauhtlatoatzin was one of the first Aztec men to convert to Christianity after the Spanish invasion. Renamed as Juan Diego, he soon thereafter reported an appearance of the Virgin Mary called the Virgin of Guadalupe. This apparition became an important symbol for a new native Christianity. These excerpts are translated from an account first published in Nahuatl by Luis Lasso de la Vega in 1649.

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"The Spaniards first assaulted the innocent Sheep, so qualified by the Almighty, like most cruel tigers, wolves, and lions, hunger-starved, studying nothing, for the space of Forty Years, after their first landing, but the Massacre of these Wretches, whom they have so inhumanely and barbarously butchered and harassed with several kinds of Torments, never before known, or heard (of which you shall have some account in the following Discourse) that of Three Millions of Persons, which lived in Hispaniola itself, there is at present but the inconsiderable remnant of scarce Three Hundred. Nay the Isle of Cuba, which extends as far, as Valladolid in Spain is distant from Rome, lies now uncultivated, like a Desert, and entombed in its own Ruins."

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Cuauhtlatoatzin was one of the first Aztec men to convert to Christianity after the Spanish invasion. Renamed as Juan Diego, he soon thereafter reported an appearance of the Virgin Mary called the Virgin of Guadalupe. This apparition became an important symbol for a new native Christianity. These excerpts are translated from an account first published in Nahuatl by Luis Lasso de la Vega in 1649.

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Cuauhtlatoatzin was one of the first Aztec men to convert to Christianity after the Spanish invasion. Renamed as Juan Diego, he soon thereafter reported an appearance of the Virgin Mary called the Virgin of Guadalupe. This apparition became an important symbol for a new native Christianity. These excerpts are translated from an account first published in Nahuatl by Luis Lasso de la Vega in 1649.

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Cuauhtlatoatzin was one of the first Aztec men to convert to Christianity after the Spanish invasion. Renamed as Juan Diego, he soon thereafter reported an appearance of the Virgin Mary called the Virgin of Guadalupe. This apparition became an important symbol for a new native Christianity. These excerpts are translated from an account first published in Nahuatl by Luis Lasso de la Vega in 1649.

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Christopher Columbus' first contact with Natives

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Christopher Columbus' first contact with Natives

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…"These people are very simple as regards the use of arms, as your Highnesses will .sec from the seven that I caused to be taken, to bring home and learn our language and return; unless your Highnesses should order them all to be brought to Castile, or to be kept as captives on the same island; for with fifty men they can all be subjugated and made to do what is required of them…"

-Dylan Burditt

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Casta paintings depicted mixed race families, showing the social hierarchy based on race. These painting created the 18th century, it illustrated the unions between Spaniards Indigenous people and Africans, reflecting the complexities of colonial society.

-Yalen Rodriguez

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Natives adapted their own unique cultural rituals & languages 

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Natives adapted their own unique cultural rituals & languages 

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In the Northwest, Native groups exploited the great salmon-filled rivers. On the plains and prairie lands, hunting communities followed bison herds and moved according to seasonal patterns. In mountains, prairies, deserts, and forests, the cultures and ways of life of paleo-era ancestors were as varied as the geography. These groups spoke hundreds of languages and adopted distinct cultural practices. Rich and diverse diets fueled massive population growth across the continent.

-Sophia Maldonado

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The kings who have gone before, your representatives, guarded it and preserved it for your coming. The kings Itzcoatl, Montezuma the Elder, Axayacatl, Tizoc and Ahuitzol ruled for you in the City of Mexico. The people were protected by their swords and sheltered by their shields.

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During this same time, The Sun commanded that Montezuma and Itzcohuatzin, the military chief of Tlatelolco, be made prisoners. The Spaniards hanged a chief from Acolhuacan named Nezahualquentzin. They also murdered the king of Nauhtla, Cohualpopocatzin, by wounding him with arrows and then burning him alive.

For this reason, our warriors were on guard at the Eagle Gate. The sentries from Tenochtitlan stood at one side of the gate, and the sentries from Tlatelolco at the other. But messengers came to tell them to dress the figure of Huitzilopochtli. They left their posts and went to dress him in his sacred finery: his ornaments and his paper clothing.

-Isabella Ortiz

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"1190 CE and continued expanding and refurbishing them until 1260 CE before abandoning them around 1300 CE" It's crazy to see they only were to have around an 100 people within that one community but it was also stated how they were also the center of a larger polity

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Bartolomé de Las Casas Describes the Exploitation of Indigenous Peoples

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Bartolomé de Las Casas Describes the Exploitation of Indigenous Peoples

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"Those that arrived at these Islands from the remotest parts of Spain, and who pride themselves in the Name of Christians, steered Two courses principally, in order to the Extirpation, and Exterminating of this People from the face of the Earth. The first whereof was raising an unjust, bloody, cruel War. The other, by putting them to death, who hitherto, thirsted after their Liberty, or designed (which the most Potent, Strenuous and Magnanimous Spirits intended) to recover their pristine Freedom, and shake off the Shackles of so injurious a Captivity: For they being taken off in War, none but Women and Children were permitted to enjoy the benefit of that Country-Air…"

-Ixchel Arce R.

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When the world was finished, there were as yet no people, but the Bald Eagle was the chief of the animals.

Jonathan Coutee

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The natives of New England are accustomed to build them houses much like the wild Irish; they gather poles in the woods and put the great end of them in the ground, placing them in form of a circle or circumference, and pending the tops of them in form of like an arch, they bind them together with the bark of walnut trees, which is wondrous tough, so that they make the same round on the top for the smoke of their fire to ascend and pass through; these they cover with mats, some made of reeds and some of long flags or sedge, fine sewed together with needles made of the splinter bones of a crane’s leg…

Arish Methani

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When the world was finished, there were as yet no people, but the Bald Eagle was the chief of the animals. He saw the world was incomplete and decided to make some human beings. So he took some clay and modeled the figure of a man and laid him on the ground. At first he was very small but grew rapidly until he reached normal size. But as yet he had no life; he was still asleep. Then the Bald Eagle stood and admired his work. “It is impossible,” said he, “that he should be left alone; he must have a mate.”

Gabriel Chavez

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Bartolomé de Las Casas on the Exploitation of Indigenous Peoples

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Bartolomé de Las Casas on the Exploitation of Indigenous Peoples

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"As to the firm land, we are certainly satisfied, and assured, that the Spaniards by their barbarous and execrable Actions have absolutely depopulated Ten Kingdoms, of greater extent than all Spain, together with the Kingdoms of Aragon and Portugal, that is to say, above One Thousand Miles, which now lye waste and desolate, and are absolutely ruined, when as formerly no other Country whatsoever was more populous. Nay we dare boldly affirm, that during the Forty Years space, wherein they exercised their sanguinary and detestable Tyranny in these Regions, above Twelve Millions (computing Men, Women, and Children) have undeservedly perished; nor do I conceive that I should deviate from the Truth by saying that above Fifty Millions in all paid their last Debt to Nature."

Deslyn Gonzales

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Juan Diego after he was visited by The Virgen de Guadalupe 

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Juan Diego after he was visited by The Virgen de Guadalupe 

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"The Spanish not only built Mexico City atop Tenochtitlán, but food, language, and families were also constructed on Indigenous foundations. In 1531, a poor Indigenous man named Juan Diego reported that he was visited by the Virgin Mary, who came as a dark-skinned Nahuatl-speaking Indigenous woman.³³ Reports of miracles spread across Mexico and the Virgen de Guadalupe became a national icon for a new mestizo society."

-Jacqueline Leon

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Shocked Surprised GIF - Shocked Surprised Gasp - Discover & Share GIFs