Blog

Pt 1) one major theme from your films. You will have seen and taken notes on all films but you don’t have to write about all of them here. For this essay, choose a major issue or central theme from one or a couple of them, tell us all about it, develop it (with examples), and tell us why that issue or theme is important for this hemisphere and for our “Colonial Legacies”. Show that you’re making connections with our lectures and readings. Films you’ve seen: “Guns, Germs & Steel”; “500 Nations: Clash of Cultures (Caribbean)”; “Engineering an Empire: Aztec”; and “We Shall Remain: After the Mayflower”(Sample themes: “Big Geography” and how that contributed to global inequality and shaped the conquest/colonization; Spanish/English attitudes towards Natives; Religion; Germs; Technology; Native Societies and how they organized their societies, adapted to their surroundings and adapted to colonization; the complexities of the conquest; “Settler Colonialism” in English realmLength of Part I: one substantial paragraph with specific examples.Part 2) our brief analysis of TWO of these primary sources (you’ve read them all but for this essay choose two you found most interesting and analyze them as primary sources):*Excerpts, Christopher Columbus’ journal encountering Taíno, 10/12/1492*“The Requerimiento” (“the Requirement”, a primary source),*“The Lords and Holy Men of Tenochtitlan Reply to the Franciscans” (1524, Primary Source, in our “Colonial Legacies Pt I Powerpoint)*Excerpts, Bartolomé de las Casas, “In Defense of

the Indians,” and Juan Ginés de Sepulveda, 1550 at “Great Debate” in Valladolid (short primary sources)*“The Town Council of Huejotzingo to the King (of Spain)”, 1560 (Nahuatl language primary source)For this part,a) Tell us all about the documents that you’ve chosen.: who wrote it? to whom? when? why? what was its purpose?b) Provide historical context from our lectures and readings (Chasteen ch. 2 as well). What is going on at the time this primary source is produced? (the “Requirement,” for example comes out of the “Reconquest” of Spain; “The Town of Council of Huejotzingo to the King” is a generation after the conquest written by the nobility of a native city-state that sided with the Spanish…)c) Analyze the primary source and tell us why it is valuable for our understanding of the Americas. Primary sources are very important for us, but as students as History, we know we can’t take everything they say at full face value. Why not? Question the document. Can you identify biases? Assumptions? Assumptions matter (as we see in the religious documents, for example). If we only read primary sources like this one, do we get the full picture? If not, what other kind of primary sources do we need to consult to have a fuller understanding of the topic/era?Length of Part 2: Two substantial paragraphs with specific examples- one per primary sourceWrite your essay in a word processing program so you can always have a copy. Proofread it and spell-check it. Clip it from your word processing program and paste it onto the Discussion Board. We will discuss your responses in class on the due date.