African Conquistadors

Knowledge is like a baobab tree; no one can encompass it with their hands. 

  "From the very onset of Spanish activity in the Americas, Africans were present both as voluntary expeditionaries and as involuntary colonists" states Matthew Restall from his book entitled, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest.

 

Black Conquistadors

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.”
― Aldous Huxley, Collected Essays

Contrary to history books, the European conquerors of  the Americans were not all white.  Some were brown skin and even black.

Case in point is Juan Garrido.  Fortunately we know of him first hand.   From his own letter to the Spanish Crown outlying 30 years of service in an effort to qualify for a well earned pension.

Juan Garrido

Conquistador Hernando Cortes Pizarro Part II

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

Cortes assembled a motley crew of experienced Spanish soldiers seeking fame and fortune and inexperienced skilled laborers and 16 horses aboard 11 ships.

On February 18, 1519 he set sail for the Yucatan coast

Conquistador Hernando Cortes Pizarro

We Spaniards know a sickness of the heart that only gold can cure...Hernan Cortes

His name has come down in history as the heroic explorer of Mexico, the Spanish soldier who brought down the Mighty Azteca Empire.  He is said to have conquered over 5 million Aztec subjects with just 1,000 Spanish men.  His name was Hernando Cortes Pizarro and he was neither hero nor conqueror of the Aztecs.   This over simplification of history is much more complicated.  Our primary sources come from the numerous letters penned by the invading Conquistador himself as well as letters from soldiers under his command.  Secondary sources are those who wrote decades after the conquest interviewing Azteca and Spanish participates.  Finally we have modern day historians who were brave enough to reexamine the facts from a different perspective.

Cortes was born in 1485 in Medellin, Castile.  He was born into a hidalgo family that was not considered wealthy.  He was the only son of Martín Cortes de Monroy and Catalina Pizarro Altamarino and his childhood seemed to be plagued by sickness.  His parents sent him to the University of Salamanca to study law.  Evidently he wasn’t very patient to sit and learn since he came home without a law degree.  According to Cortes’ friend and biographer, Francisco Lopez de Gomara, Cortes proved to be “a source of trouble to his parents as well as to himself, for he was restless, haughty, mischievous, and give to quarreling, for which reason he decided to seek his fortune.”

His choices were either to join forces in Naples or join an expedition to the “New World” to earn fame and fortune.  He booked passage with a distant relative, Nicolas de Ovando y Caceres who was being sent to the Americas to take up position as the new governor of Hispaniola.  Cortes never made the voyage due to his adulterous affair with a local married woman.  He injured his leg when caught by the outraged husband as he was leaping over the garden wall to escape.

http://www.aztec-history.com/hernan-cortez-biography.html

https://suite.io/tony-dunnell/3d1x2j7

In 1504 Cortes finally boarded an expedition headed by Alonso Quintero.

Side note:  Alonso Quintero was such a greedy ambitious individual that he left Spain earlier to reach Hispaniola before his superiors in order to gain the upper hand in personal profits, but fate sent a storm which forced him back to Spain.  Although he was forgiven of his mutinous act he tried once again at sea to deceive his commanders but karma intervened once again and he arrived months after the main fleet.  This amoral act of selfish greed will be repeated by Cortes time and time again.

http://us.wow.com/wiki/Hern%C3%A1n_Cort%C3%A9s?s_chn=92&v_t=na&s_it=article.link

Upon arriving he applied for his citizenship and was immediately given land to farm.  His distant relative Nicolas Ovando granted him an enconmienda which gave him local indigenous natives as personal slaves.  They were forced to work his land.  Cortes also received a position in the town of Azua de Compostela as a notary.  In 1506 Cortes took part in the conquest of Hispaniola and Cuba to which he received more lands and more Indian slaves from the expedition leaders.

Cortes continued to rise in power and prestige.   However, Cortes was made out to be an encomendero.  Farming was not his beloved occupation.  Warfare boiled in his blood and he excelled in invasion expeditions. In 1511 he joined the expedition of Diego Velazquez de Cuellar to complete the conquest of Cuba under the orders of Diego Columbus brother of Christopher Columbus. 

Before Diego Velazquez even set out from Hispaniola to conquer the island of Caobana, he was preceded by Cacique Hatuey.  He had fled Hispaniola with four hundred warriors in canoes to warn the inhabitants of Cuba about the impeding invasion from the Spaniards.

Without prior knowledge such atrocities told by Cacique Hatuey was not believed by the people of Cuba and few joined him to resist.  Cacique was forced to resort to guerrilla tactics and was able to confine them to their fort at Baracoa.

Diego Velazquez had learned from past experience that when the indigenous inhabitants lost their cacique they would become disorganized and scatter.  Velazquez taught this to Cortes and they concentrated all their efforts on capturing the war leader.  When the Spanish eventually captured Cacique Hatuey he was tied to a stake and burned on February 2, 1512.  The warrior and leader Hatuey sacrificed his life defending his right and the rights of his people to live and be free.  http://cubahistory.org/en/spanish-settlement/rebellion-of-hatuey.html

After the invasion of Cuba was complete, Velazquez was appointed its first governor.  New colonizers arrived quickly and began settling the land.  These new settlers, however, did not want to be under the personal authority of Diego Columbus.  In response to their demands Velazquez ordered a general cabildo ( a local government council) which under Spanish law duly authorized them to deal directly with Spain.

 In 1513 Cuban Governor Velazquez authorized the importation of African slaves to augment production on the farms due to the infectious diseases taking heavy toll on the local population.

http://www.afrocubaweb.com/history/History.htm

For Cortes participation in the slaughter of Cuba he was made clerk to the treasurer.  With this grant came more land and more native slaves.  The other Spanish landowners looked to Cortes to force their demands upon the governor to assign even more Indians to their growing farms.  Cortes courted Catalina Xuarez, the sister in law of Governor Velazquez but rumors of him having an affair with one her sisters at the same time put a strain on the relationship between himself and the Cuban Governor.  He finally married Catalina securing the alliance of a powerful family.

Expeditions to Yucatán by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba in 1517 and Juan de Grijalva in 1518 had returned to Cuba with small amounts of gold, and tales of a more distant land where gold was said to be abundant.   Cuban Governor Velasquez granted Cortes a charter to explore and trade in the new lands.  He was forbidden to colonize but Cortes tricked his father in law to insert a clause about emergency measures that might have to be taken without prior authorization in the true interest of the realm.

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Mexicoweb/factfile/Unique-facts-Mexico7.htm

Cortes then applied all of his funds, mortgaged his estates and borrowed from merchants and friends to outfit his ships. Velasquez may have contributed to the effort, but the government of Spain offered no financial support

William Prescott – Mexico and the Life of the Conqueror – Volume I, Book 2, Chapter 2, circa 1843

To Be Continued….

Mvto

Papal Bulls

"Racism has historically been a banner to justify the enterprises of expansion, conquest, colonization and domination and has walked hand in hand with intolerance, injustice and violence."- Rigoberta Mench Tum, Guatemalan Indigenous Leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate from "The Problem of Racism on the Threshold of the 21st Century"

United Nations World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance 2001

In the arsenal of claiming legitimacy for invasion, the monarchs of the Iberian Peninsula held another secret weapon other than the Requerimento.  This time it came from a higher source.  It came from their highest spiritual leader of their faith; the Pope.  The documents were called Papal Bulls and it was yet another armor of self justification.  A Papal Bull is a historical document issued by the Catholic Popes to define a spiritual issue or grant special privileges.  There have been many Papal Bulls issued throughout the course of Catholic Church history but there are 3 which are specific in the formulation of human ignorance that leads one to believe they have the right to invade and subdue the world.

List of Papal Bulls

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_papal_bulls

The reigning Monarchs of Europe, the nobles of the land and those seeking personal fortunes used both the law and the bible to justify their illicit actions against native peoples.  These two components combined; the law and spiritual authority, gave rise to a twisted fanatical concept called legalism.  However, the bible never promoted the abuse of the scripture to justify a means.

Momen  tecakkvte  toyatskat,  mv  opunvkv-hervn  cem  erkenakvkin,  mv  eenakuecatskvte, ofv  svpaklatskan  cen  kerkuecvkvyet  os. …mv  Cesvs  Klist  pun  naorketv  elvtet omat, Hoccat vevkvyen Momet  herihohcen, Hoccat  vevkvyen,  nettv  svtutcenan  akvwvpkvtet  omat. 1Kvlenrvlke 15: 1,3,4

“I declare unto you the gospel ... that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day.”1 Corinthians 15: 1,3,4 "

The gospel or good news was to be spread by sharing the words of love not through condemnation or conquest.  Love your neighbor as yourself were the powerful instructions Jesus commanded his followers to obey.  The Bible records Jesus’ relationship with the spiritual authorities of his time, the Pharisees.  Jesus condemned their hypocritical behavior of twisting the spiritual laws to their political gain by pretending to do what is right but neglecting showing mercy and compassion to others which is the summation of the law. (Mathew 23).  Jesus called them religious and despised their legalistic attitudes.

On June 18, 1452 Pope Nicholas V issued “Dum Diversas” or Until Different.  It granted King Afonso V of Portugal to conquer the Saracens and pagans and reduce them to perpetual servitude. 

"We grant you [Kings of Spain and Portugal] by these present documents, with our Apostolic Authority, full and free permission to invade, search out, capture, and subjugate the Saracens and pagans and any other unbelievers and enemies of Christ wherever they may be, as well as their kingdoms, duchies, counties, principalities, and other property ... and to reduce their persons into perpetual slavery.”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dum_diversas

Two years later in 1454 Pope Nicholas V wrote “Romanus Pontifex” or The Roman Bishop to King Afons V of Portugal granted him exclusive rights to all the lands discovered by his countrymen.

“since we had formerly by other letters of ours granted among other things free and ample faculty to the aforesaid King Alfonso – to invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ wheresoever placed, and the kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery, and to apply and appropriate to himself and his successors the kingdoms, dukedoms, counties, principalities, dominions, possessions, and goods, and to convert them to his and their use and profit – by having secured the said faculty, the said King Alfonso, or by his authority, the aforesaid infant, justly and lawfully has acquired and possessed, and doth possess, these islands, lands, harbors, and seas, and they do of right belong and pertain to the said King Alfonso and his successors, nor without special license from King Alfonso and his successors themselves has any other even of the faithful of Christ been entitled hitherto, nor is he by any means now entitled lawfully to meddle therewith.”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanus_Pontifex

Although the bull's primary purpose was to forbid other Christian nations from infringing the King of Portugal's rights of trade and colonization in these regions it set the stage of invasion and conquest of all unknown lands for the profit of the Catholic Monarch. 

In the year 1493 on May 4^th, Pope Alexander VI issued “Inter Caetera” or Among other Works which granted to Spain (the Crowns of Castile and Aragon) all lands to the "west and south" of a pole-to-pole line 100 leagues west and south of any of the islands of the Azores or the Cape Verde islands.
The purpose of the papal bull along with The Treaty of Tordesillas was to divide the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and Spain and was set at the meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands of the west coast of Africa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter_caetera

Consequently “the Dum Diversas, the Romanus Pontifex and the Inter Caeera came to serve as a justification for the Discovery Doctrine and the Age of Imperialism.  They were also early influences on the development of the slave trade of the 15^th and 16^th centuries, even though the papal bull Sublimus Dei of 1537 forbade the enslavement of non-Christians.  The executive brief for Sublimus Dei was withdrawn by the Pope after protests by the Spanish Monarchy.  Pope Paul III publicly sanctioned slavery in Rome in 1545…”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanus_Pontifex

The Papal Bulls have never been revoked.  However, the Catholic Church through Pope John Paul II has apologized for individual roles within the Catholic community for abuses in the past.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apologies_made_by_Pope_John_Paul_II#cite_note-BBC_News_1-3
http://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/14/world/pope-apologizes-to-africans-for-slavery.html
http://www.whitebison.org/boarding-school-apology/history-of-apology.php

Historians and academics agree that the colonization of the New World saw extreme expressions of racism - massacres, forced-march relocations, the "Indian wars", death by starvation and disease. Today, such practices would be called ethnic cleansing and genocide. What seems even more appalling for contemporary minds is that the subjugation of the native peoples of the New World was legally sanctioned. "Laws" of "discovery", "conquest" and "terra nullius" made up the "doctrines of dispossession", according to Erica Irene Daes, chairperson/rapporteur of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, in a study on indigenous peoples and their relationship to land.

These "doctrines of discovery" provided the basis for both the "law of nations" and subsequent international law. Thus, they allowed Christian nations to claim "unoccupied lands" (terra nullius), or lands belonging to "heathens" or "pagans". In many parts of the world, these concepts later gave rise to the situation of many Native peoples in the today - dependent nations or wards of the State, whose ownership of their land could be revoked - or "extinguished" -- at any time by the Government.

Indigenous leaders today contend that it is essentially discriminatory that native title does not confer the same privileges as ordinary title. According to Mick Dodson, an Australian Aboriginal lawyer, the concept of extinguishment "treats indigenous rights and interests in land as inferior to all other titles". According to indigenous law and custom, indigenous interests can only hold native title, and, according to the law put into place since then by the European immigrants, native title can be extinguished.   http://www.un.org/WCAR/e-kit/indigenous.htm

Summation of United Nations World Conferences on Racism 2001 and 2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Conference_against_Racism

Mvto