This week, I found several aspects of class interesting and some parts very disturbing. Most of my prior education in this matter was concerning the British so it was interesting to get some background information on the Spaniards. As a Cuban-American, though, I found it very disturbing that these people were so greedy that they would kill anyone and everyone in their path for just the hope of finding gold and other riches. In some areas, they found nothing but people were still being killed. I found that disturbing on both sides, actually, the indiscriminate killing of women and children without very much thought. Also, who were these families that were willing to pack it up and move themselves and their children to a strange land with no real knowledge of how they were going to survive when they got there? Maybe it was attractive to them to say that they were among "the first" and to get first choice on the land selection.
I have also heard of my churches and others sending people to do missionary work and this seems like a very kind thing to do. However, do the people in these countries want religious education or do they just want relief from starvation and such? I had never thought about that prior to now but it is interesting to think that people willing to go to third-world countries as missionaries could be going on their own agenda instead of to help others.
1 comment:
It is a little disturbing to know about the Spanish and their bloody, greedy conquests. I, on the other hand, had a little more background on the Spanish and was interested to learn more about other european explorers as well. When europeans first began entering America, much of their actions seemed rather foolish as though they did not really take time to formulate a real plan on how they would go about claiming the lands of the americas. It also made me wonder about the colonists who came over...did they want to be those special first ones or did they seek a land of opportunity like the immigrants of later years did?
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