Christian View of the Natives in the New World Essay -- American Ameri

Christian View of the Natives in the New World Some would say that Christopher Columbus was a devout Christian. He believed that "his was a mission that would put Christian civilization on the offensive after centuries of Muslim ascendancy" (Dor-Ner 45). Columbus' original mission was to find a western route to the Indies. But when that failed, his mission became clear: convert these new people to Christianity. Throughout this paper I will show the view of the natives by Columbus and Christendom and how these views changed over a span of fifty years. Columbus made it very clear that he was doing this not only for Ferdinand and Isabella, but also for the faith that he was subject to (Dor-Ner 150). He may not have always had the backing of the Papacy, but he always claimed to be doing, whatever it was that he was doing, for the Church. In 1492, when Columbus first arrived, the first thing he saw were a bunch of naked people. I guess to someone who is used to "civilization" this would be somewhat shocking. His first impression of them was recorded in his log. He says that all he saw were young people, handsome and well built, and they seemed to be friendly and well-dispositioned (Dor-Ner 152). So first contact was not a hostile thing. This friendly attitude towards the natives did not last long. There was a settlement left on the island of Hispaniola, after the first voyage, called Navidad. The settlers were supposed to be cementing relations and trading with the natives. On the night of November 27, 1493, when Columbus was on his second voyage back to visit this colony, he was met with only silence. All that was found were the ashes of the town and the remains of the settlers bodies (Dor-Ner 206-207). From this ... ...es or even killing them, but it was a start. It took fifty years for people to even declare that the beasts that they were killing were indeed human and capable of understanding religion. They went from being looked at as a friendly people, to slaves and evil abominations, to truly innocent men who need and want to receive the Word of God. It took five hundred years for people to truly realize that what we did was just plain wrong. Bibliography Davies, Nigel. Voyagers to the New World. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1979. Dor-Ner, Zvi. Columbus and the Age of Discovery. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1991. Dyson, John. Columbus: for Gold, God, and Glory. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991. Kung, Hans. Christianity: Essence, History, and Future. New York: Continuum, 1995. Sublimus Dei. http://www.listserv.american.edu.