Re: Who was worse?

On 2 Apr 2007 23:33:32 -0700, healthiest_throat@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

From some television programs I've seen(not sure exactly how true they
were), the Spaniards were very savage to the Indians of Central and
South America when they came through there looking for gold in the
16th century. Then, we know the British had many battles with the
North American Indians when they were colonizing North America, as
told in our history books. This leaves me wondering, who was worse to
the Indians, the British or the Spanish?

I wonder if there's a way to measure how bad the British or Spanish
were. I think that the degree of treatment of the various
tribes/sultures/groups depended on wether they were perceived as
humans and/or savages, etc.

It is true that in North America, the "indians" were just exterminated
and later put in reservations, etc. It might have been because they
could not submit them into slavery or forced labour, etc. and because
they were, please correct me if I'm wrong, warlike people. The people
who went to North America went to settle down and because the
establishment cause, for search of freedom of religion; so the
situation was different to the one of the Spaniards.

In South America, on the other hand, the Spaniards went with the
intention of getting gold, period. They did kill many "indians" but
most of them were submitted to forced labour. In the region of Peru
and Bolivia, nearly 65% are indian, the rest are mestizo and white.
In Argentina, on the other hand, mostly are "white" because they
exterminated the indians there.

However, there was a difference between North and South (Central)
America, and that was the degree of advancement of the cultures (Incas
and Azteks).

I still wonder how the Spaniards regarded to the "indians"... most
probably as human beings and they try to convert them into
catholicism, "intermarried", etc.

So, it is really hard to say who were the worse but I do belive that
the perseption of the locals as human beings/svages had to do a lot in
their treatment.

Interesting topic

Mrt
.

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