historical analysis

Purpose

To understand people in the context of their times and to think critically about what people have written/said: Why did people think as they did? How do we understand that past society?

First Analysis Assignment: Due Friday, February 10 at the beginning of class

Write and type up a two-to-four paragraph analytical essay in which you assess the interaction between Native Americans and the Spaniards from 1492 to the late 1500s. Be sure to have a thesis and put it in your first paragraph. Use support from course readings to support your argument.

Use and provide information from:

? Queen Juana’s “Laws of Burgos” and/or Bartolome de Las Casa

AND at least one of the following sources:

? Alan Taylor’s Colonial America, chapter 2; and/or

? Camilla Townsend, Pocahontas, chapter 1 (less from here, but there are some references to the

Spanish and their relationship with the Chickahominy and other Indian groups).

The analysis assignment is open-ended, but you might consider some of the following when developing your thesis:

– How would you label the Native-Spanish relationship? Was it a military conquest, a cultural conquest, a “new world” for everyone involved, a model for assimilation, a successful relationship, an even exchange, an awkward encounter, or what?

– How did Native Americans (e.g., Taino, Aztecs, Chickahominy–a group mentioned in Pocahontas)) resist the Spaniards?

– In what ways did the Spaniards learn from the native peoples? In what ways did the natives learn from their experience(s) with the Spaniards?

– Why did the Spaniards continue to migrate to the Americas?

– How did the Native Americans react to the Spaniards?

– How successful were the Spaniards in achieving their goals? In answering this, think about when

you will start and end your assessment (with what year—this may impact how you analyze it)?

– How do you characterize or label the overall result of this “encounter” between the Spaniards and

Native Americans?

– To what extent did religion, wealth, or increased power have an impact in how each group viewed

and treated one another?

– To what extent was culture, disease, or technology a factor in the conquest?

– How did forced labor or slavery contribute to the development of the Spanish empire?

SEE BACK SIDE for specific instructions and grading criteria.

Your essay MUST include:

.1) A thesis statement (this is the main point you want to make such as the 1927 handout which asserted that “America is the child of Europe.”) Your thesis should be in the first paragraph.

.2) An argument/interpretation (tell me what the readings demonstrate about the society/how we should understand the documents and this society using proof or evidence from the documents/textbook.) See above questions for ideas.

.3) Should include a timeframe, which should be in the first paragraph and preferably a part of the thesis; and

.4) At least one partial quote from the primary source document(s) that support your point(s) (e.g., Queen

Juana believed that the Indians of Hispaniola were inferior to Spaniards due to her description of the Indians them as having “evil inclinations” and being predisposed to their “customary idleness and vice.” Otherwise you may paraphrase your support from the textbook/documents.

Other General Requirements

– Typed;

– Submit a hard copy (always);

– Due at the beginning of class;

– Use the secondary sources for background information. Put information from these sources in your

own words; avoid quoting from them. Quote only from primary sources.

– Only use course materials I have assigned (no outside sources).