Lengua
people. Native people were generous and nice. They lived in harmony with nature. If people come there, as they are part of the nature, they accept them. The Spanish presence in America Before their arrival, other cultures arrived there like the Norse or the Chinese people. These groups didn’t settle or conquered the land. If they stayed, they mixed to the Native people. It didn’t mean any change. Spanish people settled there and changed the way of life. It was not until 1507 that Amerigo Vespucci demonstrated that they arrived at another continent. Smthg missing Bartolomé de las Casas described the Natives as gentle, honest, innocent… He was criticising the Spanish way to do things. It was not a Christian way. For him the only aim of Spanish conquerors was gold, economic reasons. He was the only one defending the natives and the Christian fate. Watch the videos on the campus: The Borderlands, the area in the South West of USA. The Chicanos are the decedents of the Spanish conquerors that were there. The English Settlements; the 17th century; Thomas More wrote Utopia (1516). Talked about a better society without government, without classes, education for everyone… That was based in the idea that society can be better (perfectible). At the same time of this idea America was discovered, this fed the dream of the American possibilities. The first English colonisers that went to America wanted to improve their lives. Become wealthier. The first attempt was in 1585 which didn’t go well. Historians don’t know how these colonisers disappeared. It was not successful, people disappeared.Jamestown (1607) in Virginia, was the first permanent settlement. The leader was John smith. The aim of this colony was merchantllistic. John Smith wrote to England what he found, an informative letter about what was moving on, and also to promote the enterprise of going there (we talk about the page 47 of the document): Although you have to work there, are more gains here than in England, even though not working in England takes more pains in UK than in the New World. Also, in the New World you take pleasure in the gains because there are no taxes. In the New World, there is freedom and a huge nature around, you can get everything you want. A person needs to be very very bad fisher if he or she doesn’t get one or the hundred fish in a day, fish which it’s sold in a good price. They could just fish for fun. There are lots of things you can do there apart from fishing. It’s a very utopic description. He is promoting the idea. Also, he made this to show UK he made a good job and the place what he has found. He found the utopic place the English people believed in. Mercantilist settlement: – Hunt, fish – Cultivate corn and tobacco -> traded to England – Trade with natives - Daily-work regime -> John Smith obligated people to work, there were noble men that were also obligated to work hard. The second colony was a religious colony. Plymouth (1620) in Massachusetts. A part of Protestantism, extreme Puritans that weren’t accepted in UK (they were expelled from England) went to Holland and there they took a ship called the Mayflower to go to the New World. They went here to be religion free and to create a better society. In general, in the religiously-motivated settlements: – They brought women from the start à It made easier to procreate. Men had their needs covered – Merchant-class background à they worked hard from the beginning, because they came from poor background. – Fairly good relations between colonists and Native Americans. Thanksgiving The story says that the first thanksgiving dinner was in Plymouth in 1621. They had a good hunting day and decided to have a party inviting the Wampanoag tribe which lived near them. The date is completely arbitrary, and they finally chose the 4th Thursday of November. The expansion of the Colonies – New York - Massachusetts More examples of the colonies (not important for the exam) Expansion of the colonies. The settlements developed into 13 colonies. 1640s-1650s there was a huge migration which helped to expand the colonies. People saw they were improving their lives. Compare English colonies and the Spanish colonies. Even if all the Spanish people had the justification of religion (while wanting money), English settlements aim was to make money, improve their lives and also there were some which were related to religion. The Spanish mixed more than English. Probably because Spanish were from the army and also a lot of priests. English had English women there or maybe in Europe. Spanish people were more violent because they didn’t need to trade or have the help of Natives as English people did. The Puritans were a much closed community. Also, the amount of English people which went there. The Puritan settlements: All the Puritan settlements were based on religious dissention from the Church of England. Beliefs: – Puritans thought they were the chosen ones. They were chosen men by God. Predestined to salvation from the beginning of times.- They saw themselves as The New Israelites (la història bíblica dels Israelites que van obrir les aigües en dues (Moisès)). – They were persecuted in England like Israelites long time ago. -They saw their real lives mirrored in the bible. They would not only see all these things in the Bible, but it provided them examples, telling them about the moral. -They thought their Manifest Destiny was to cross the ocean and build this Utopia. The way to justify the expansion to the west was this Manifest Destiny. The Puritans lived in a Covenanted society (covenant: it’s a secret agreement between God and humans). They thought they had a secret agreement with God because God has chosen them. The problem arrives when people who were not Puritans joined the community when the city got bigger. (QuakersàAnother religious sect) The Puritans thought that everything was happening there was made by God. It was impossible to know for a fact who was elected and who was not. Themselves justified this with: to behave like and elect. They wrote diaries, they controlled the