H105, American History I

Lecture 2:  European Moral Dissension; Indigenous American Moral Resistance
I.  European moral dissensions — Las Casas and the “Black Legend” (1550)
II.  Indigenous American resistance — representations of cultural difference in Guaman Poma (1615)
16th century Images of European Barbarism
1577 Holinshed’s Chronicles
1511-1577 European Moral Dissension Within Spain
1511 Antonio de Montesinos dissented
1512 Law of Burgos regulated conquest
1513 Requerimiento
1519 Spanish invasion and conquest of Aztecs in Mexico
1525 Council of the Indies established
1526 Oviedo, De la natural historia de las Indias
1531 Spanish invasion and conquest of Incas in Peru
1535 Sepulveda, Democrates primus
1547 Las Casas returned from New World to Spain
1547 Sepulveda, Democrates alter
1550 Sepulveda and Las Casas debate at Valladolid
1552 Las Casas, Brevissima Relacion
1566 Las Casas died
1568-1648 Holland began rebellion against Spanish rule (diversion of moral debate; expansion of “Black Legend”)
1569-1572 Viceroy Toledo commissioned Spanish revision of Inca history
1572 Viceroy Toledo executed Inca historian and read Spanish version aloud of Inca history to Inca leaders
1577 Spanish Inquisition forbade any further research into Native American culture, and confiscated all manuscripts
1590-1634 European Moral Dissension Outside Spain
1590-1634 Theodore de Bry, America, Book 4
  Indigenous Histories
c.1400 Codex Borgia:  native supervision; native pictographic language
c.1541-1542 Codex Mendoza:  Spanish supervision; Spanish language; native illustrations
c.1577 Florentine Codex:  Spanish supervision; native language; native illustrations
1615 Guaman Poma, El Primer:  native supervision; Spanish language; native illustrations