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US History Lecture 4 — Transcript

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0:00Hello and welcome to this new lecture in
0:02our US history survey. So last time we
0:05finished off with the material about
0:07pre-Colombian history. Now we are going
0:10to start soon with the arrival of
0:12Columbus, the meeting of natives and
0:14Europeans and all that kind of stuff.
0:17Now, before we get to 1492, one thing
0:20that we should mention, there's a whole
0:22debate regarding just how many Native
0:25Americans lived in this continent before
0:28contact with Europeans. And as you may
0:30imagine, this debate is not exactly, you
0:34know, nobody knows for sure. There are
0:37educated guesses been made about it, but
0:39that's what they are. Ultimately, there
0:40was no sensors. There's no way to know
0:43for sure. Um, so this is not the most
0:46precise science ever to figure out and
0:49not surprisingly
0:51the numbers are heavily influenced by
0:54people's politics.
0:56Native people themselves or people
0:58sympathetic to native interests tend to
1:00accept the higher estimates. People who
1:03are not so sympathetic to native
1:05interests tend to accept only the lower
1:06estimates. And again, why? Who cares?
1:10What's the big deal about it? Well, it's
1:13really simple in a way if you argue that
1:16there weren't that many natives to begin
1:18with. Now, we know how many natives will
1:21be left by the end of the 1800s when
1:23European colonization is complete. If we
1:26can say that the initial number wasn't
1:28that high, then it may the impact of
1:31European colonization may not look that
1:33dramatic. If on the other hand we say
1:36that that initial number was very high
1:39then it's a way to
1:42it kind of drives home the point that
1:44European colonization was indeed
1:46terrible for Native Americans. So it's a
1:49way to either magnify or sort of
1:53downplay the impact of European
1:56colonization which of course is a
1:58political issue in this. In any case,
2:01regardless, keep in mind the numbers I'm
2:03going to give you are approximations
2:05based basically on average between the
2:08more extreme positions.
2:10For North America alone, defined purely
2:13as modern United States and Canada, it's
2:16estimated that probably somewhere
2:18between 8 to 18 million people lived in
2:22this part of the country. For the
2:24entirety of the Americas, including
2:26these 8 to 18 million, plus Mexico, plus
2:30the rest of Central America, plus South
2:32America, we're looking at somewhere in
2:34the neighborhood of 75 million to maybe
2:38150 million people.
2:41So, what this means is this continent
2:42was not empty. There weren't just a few
2:45people here and there. There were
2:46clearly a lot of people living here. It
2:50also means that while North America was
2:53definitely heavily populated, I mean,
2:55we're talking about millions of people
2:56here, the bulk, the biggest native
2:59societies were in Mexico and south of
3:01that. That's where you find the vast
3:05numbers. But in any case, so with that
3:08in mind, I guess something else we
3:11should mention is there's all sort of
3:15speculation regarding the possibility
3:17that other people came to the Americas
3:20before Columbus other than Native
3:22Americans ancestors.
3:25Well, we do know of at least one case
3:27that is confirmed where is not
3:29speculation. It happened for sure
3:32specifically around the year about 1,000
3:34common era a few years later actually
3:38the Vikings
3:40from northern Europe made their way to
3:43Iceland made their way to Greenland and
3:45eventually made their way to the eastern
3:48coast of Canada. They stuck around for a
3:51little bit. They got in conflict with
3:54local natives and they decided that it
3:56just wasn't worth it. So they sailed
3:58back home and forgot about it. So yes,
4:01Europeans arrived here before Columbus.
4:04But no, this did not alter human history
4:07as we know it didn't really have much of
4:09an impact other than for the few people
4:11involved. And even the knowledge of that
4:14trip was probably largely lost to most
4:16other Europeans. So that's the one
4:19confirmed case that we know it happened
4:22even though it wasn't that dramatic in
4:24terms of its impact on world history.
4:28There are all sort of other
4:29possibilities that have been thrown out
4:31there. There's um for example Japanese
4:35potry has been found in some pre-colian
4:38villages in South America.
4:41Now that's interesting but of course
4:43that's not a whole lot of evidence to go
4:46on. You know, more likely than not, what
4:48that means is that maybe some Japanese
4:50fisherman got blown off course and ended
4:53up in South America by a, you know, due
4:55to a storm.
4:57Could be possible. If it did happen, it
5:01definitely affected this guy's life, but
5:03not the rest of human history. So,
5:05again, interesting, but not
5:08There are a few other pieces of
5:09evidence. You know, there are evidence
5:11used to argue for Chinese people
5:13arriving in the Americas before
5:14Columbus. There's some pieces of
5:16evidence used to This is actually a
5:19funny one. At one point doing chemical
5:22analysis of Egyptian mummies from
5:25thousands of years ago, they discovered
5:28traces of plants that only existed in
5:32the Americas, specifically tobacco and
5:35coa, the plant from which cocaine is
5:37made. Which if that's the case is kind
5:40of funny because you know if indeed
5:42there was longd distanceance trade it
5:44tells you that some ancient Egyptians
5:46were mainly interested in trading drugs
5:49which sort of funny. It's also possible
5:52that the specimens of this mummy were
5:55contaminated in the lab by people doing
5:58strange things in the lab with cocoa
6:00leaves and um and tobacco. And maybe
6:04this does not reflect an actual real
6:06sample. Nobody knows. Again, it's a
6:08tantalizing piece of evidence, but not
6:10enough to go on. Other people have
6:13argued for, you know, this colossal
6:16statues left by the old Mexicanization
6:19in Mexico.
6:21People have argued that the faces there
6:23reflect more African features that they
6:26do Native American. And again, yeah,
6:28maybe, maybe not. So moral of the story
6:32is there are all sort of theories out
6:34there that somebody may have arrived
6:36before Columbus,
6:38but the only proven one is the Viking
6:41trip around the year 1000. And even that
6:45one did not alter the course of history.
6:491492 on the other hand, Columbus arrival
6:52will alter the course of history in very
6:54dramatic way. It's one of the most
6:57meaningful moment in human history
6:59because it will bring these two worlds
7:02together. You know, Native Americans who
7:04have been isolated from Europe, Asia,
7:07and Africa for thousands of years in
7:10contact with what some books refer to as
7:12the old world, which is basically Asia,
7:15Africa, and um and Europe.
7:18So, let's start with the whole Colbo
7:20story.
7:22We do know that he will arrive in the
7:24Caribbeans in 1492.
7:27The power who financed this trip was
7:30Spain.
7:32The main reason for Columbus trip, you
7:34know, they weren't paying him to be a
7:35good boy scout and go find out new
7:37lands. They were paying him to find a
7:40faster way to get to East Asia because
7:43Europe was very interested in trade,
7:46particularly in luxury goods with East
7:48Asia.
7:49Now they have been there before. They
7:51had traded in the past. And if you look
7:54at the map, Europe and Asia, we call
7:57them two continents, but really they are
8:00one big land mass. So technically
8:02speaking, you can walk your way from
8:03Spain to China if you want or Spain to
8:06India. Of course, that's a very long
8:09trip. Problem number one. And problem
8:12number two is not a geographic one. It's
8:14a political one.
8:16In order to get to East Asia, starting
8:19from Europe, Christian traders of the
8:221400s, 1500s, and that period would have
8:25to cross through a bunch of lands
8:28inhabited by Muslim people. Now, Muslims
8:32and Christians did not love each other a
8:35whole lot in the 1400s.
8:37So, many Christian traders were trying
8:40to find a way to bypass
8:42having to travel through Muslim lands.
8:45So that's one of the reasons for why
8:48Spain will finance Columbus trip to go
8:50find another route to Asia.
8:54Spain had an interesting history by this
8:57point. They had been actually conquered
9:00by Muslims for a good 600 years. And it
9:05was only in the 1300s, at the very
9:07beginning of the 1300s, that what was
9:09known as the reconquista, which was the
9:11reconquering of Spanish homeland for
9:15Catholic Spain had been completed. So
9:18their culture had been built on fighting
9:21over religion
9:24with foreigners for a really long time.
9:26You know, centuries of this stuff
9:28happening. So that kind of colored their
9:31culture a little bit. this notion of um
9:34combining a warrior culture with uh
9:37faith was sort of a big deal to Spain at
9:40the time.
9:42Now by the time Columbus arrives in the
9:46Caribbeans, he does not really know
9:48where he is because nobody knows that
9:50there is this huge big continent
9:53right smack in the middle of the ocean
9:55there. So what happens there? That's
9:59where you get the term Indian because
10:01Columbus's goal was he had figured you
10:03know the prevailing theory unlike what
10:05you normally hear is that most people
10:07knew that the world was round. They did
10:10not by this point believe that the earth
10:12was flat. So Columbus was going in the
10:15right direction. He figured okay if the
10:17world is round I can go around and get
10:19to Asia from the other side. The problem
10:22was he had miscalculated the distance.
10:24He thought the trip was much shorter
10:26than it would have been and definitely
10:28didn't know that there was a continent
10:29in between. So that's where you get the
10:32whole idea of Indians to refer to Native
10:34Americans because initially he believed
10:37he may have arrived in India somewhere.
10:40The people whom he's going to meet in
10:43these islands are,
10:47you know, the Caribbeans were populated
10:49by a whole bunch of people. There were
10:52mainly native who had come from South
10:55America who had migrated centuries
10:58earlier to the islands and made a living
11:01there from fishing, hunting, gathering,
11:04but also articulture. They would planted
11:07corn, beans, squash, sweet potatoes and
11:10things like that.
11:12All in all, not a bad life for these
11:15guys. They one of the nations that
11:19Columbus ran into first are known to us
11:22today as the Tyino.
11:25And their initial encounter is really
11:28interesting in lots of ways because
11:31neither group knows what to make of the
11:33next. Neither group has uh translators
11:36that can mediate the dialogue. They're
11:39both trying to figure out each other.
11:41And the way they perceive each other has
11:43a lot to do with the culture that they
11:46each had.
11:49By all accounts, and by all accounts, I
11:51mean mainly Columbus because the tino
11:52didn't exactly leave behind written
11:54records of his. By Columbus's accounts,
11:59he was actually fairly impressed with
12:00the Teno. He felt that they he praised
12:03their disposition. He said they were
12:04very nice. They were hospitable. kind of
12:07naive because for example they didn't
12:09know anything about steel weapons of how
12:11sharp they are or things like that but
12:14his attitude was like yeah very nice
12:17people they offered us food they seem
12:19very kind
12:21and you know you no longer finish
12:23reading this sentence and you're like oh
12:25that's a nice sweet meeting on the beach
12:28where they shake hands and they you know
12:30that you know invite them to lunch and
12:33they start trying to figure each other
12:34out that's so cute And then you get to
12:37the next passage where Columbus goes on
12:41to say, "With 50 men, we could subjugate
12:44them and make them do whatever we want."
12:47And you go like, "Wait, time out. What
12:48did I just read there?" Because
12:50essentially what Columbus is saying is,
12:52"Okay, they are nice, they are sweet,
12:54cool people. Um, it's going to be really
12:56easy to enslave them." Now, I don't know
12:59about you guys, but me, when I meet a
13:02new person and I'm like, I met this cool
13:05new person today, I'm not thinking,
13:06great, I got a new slave. So, it takes
13:09some peculiar mindset to make the
13:12connection from nice and naive to new
13:15slave.
13:18So let's explore that a little bit
13:19especially because the whole Columbus
13:22legacy is tricky to this day because on
13:25one end col you know we still have a
13:27Columbus day holiday. Uh there's a huge
13:31amount of ink has been spilled about the
13:35greatness of Columbus. And from an
13:37exploration standpoint sure what he did
13:40was amazing. From a historical
13:43standpoint the arrival of Columbus
13:45changes history. Yes.
13:48However, these accounts which are
13:50usually the one given in grade school to
13:52you guys tend to gloss over what happens
13:55next which is really really ugly. there
13:59just no way to spin it
14:02because basically one of the thing that
14:03Columbus begin to get a little
14:08disturbed by is that he's not finding
14:11the luxury goods to take to take back to
14:14Spain which is sort of the point of the
14:16trip to begin with. That's what they
14:18paid for. So, you know, running into
14:21some sweet people who offer you food,
14:23that's not exactly that doesn't justify
14:25the expenses of the trip.
14:28What he does notice, however, is they
14:31notice that some natives have um some
14:34silver jewelry.
14:36And so Columbus figure, okay, maybe we
14:41maybe we cannot bring back the luxury
14:44goods we wanted, at least not from here.
14:46We can use this as a base to explore
14:48fter. But in the meantime, I have to
14:50bring back something. Maybe we could
14:53open silver mines out here and make some
14:56money from mining and bring that back to
14:58Spain and then the people who paid for
15:00my trip will be satisfied and all will
15:02be okay.
15:04Opening mines, of course, means you need
15:07slaves. And oh, look who's here. There's
15:09a bunch of Tino natives who seem uh not
15:13to have the technological edge needed to
15:16compete with Spaniards on a military
15:19level.
15:20And so that's I'm going to give you the
15:22quick version because Columbus has
15:24multiple trips and things get
15:26progressively uglier with each trip. I
15:28won't bother you with all the details,
15:30but the long arc of the story is that
15:31eventually the Spaniards will proceed to
15:36enslave the Tatino and the whole I mean
15:40when you read the accounts everything
15:41that happened from here is just so ugly
15:44that it's a wholesale origy of rape,
15:48slavery, absolute brutality.
15:51native women who give birth to their
15:53kids. They kill them as soon as they are
15:55born rather than have them see live in
15:58the slavery that they were experiencing
16:00being as brutal as it was.
16:03You know, the whole story is not pretty
16:05and that's why it's usually that part is
16:07left out of grade school narration of
16:10the encounter because
16:12it really is exact. you know, it kind of
16:14reminds you of the horrible things that
16:16human beings do to one another,
16:19unfortunately, very often throughout
16:21history.
16:22So, yeah, there's that, which is um, you
16:26know, there are a couple of images on
16:28the PowerPoint that sort of give you a
16:31vibe for the degree of brutality.
16:34I won't bother you with all the details
16:36right now, but you know, you got the
16:38picture. Now, another factor that's
16:40going to spell doom for the native
16:42populations, not just here, not just the
16:44Tino, but also for
16:47basically any encounter from here
16:49forward between Europeans and natives.
16:52There's a biological factor that will
16:54play a huge role, which is that the
16:57Americas were remarkably disease-free.
17:01Not all diseases but most of the
17:02epidemic diseases that today we still
17:06have things like anything as simple as
17:09the common cold to the flu to smallpox
17:13to you know bunch of these diseases that
17:16were very prevalent in Europe in Africa
17:18and in Asia. They were completely
17:21unknown in the Americas,
17:24which of course on the surface it sound
17:26great, right? I would rather be in the
17:27continent without all the nasty disease
17:30than the ones with the diseases.
17:33Well, yes, until the day with somebody
17:36bringing these diseases show up because
17:39what that means is that their people
17:42have had exposure to these diseases for
17:44generations and generations. So, they
17:46have kind of built an immunity. I mean,
17:47they still die from them, but not nearly
17:50at the rate that a population that has
17:52never been exposed to these diseases
17:55will die once they are first introduced
17:59to them. So, beside the monstrous amount
18:02of violence that the Spaniards unleash
18:05on the native population,
18:08you even more deadly is the fact that if
18:10a Spaniard just sneeze on somebody, the
18:13following week half of the village is
18:14dead. You know, mortality rates will be
18:18insane when you, you know, you could
18:21have easily mortality rates between 50
18:23to 90% of a population. And each
18:26epidemic disease can wipe out a
18:28population even further.
18:31In many ways, this is probably the worst
18:34demographic disaster in all of world
18:36history. When you look at the numbers of
18:38how many native people were here and how
18:41much they will be wiped out by a
18:44combination of violence and diseases is
18:47downright apocalyptic.
18:50But quick question, why was it that
18:54Europeans, Africans and Asians had these
18:57diseases and Native Americans did not?
19:02primarily boils down to one issue that
19:04even to farming and domestication of
19:07plants is something that was discovered
19:09in throughout the world. Domestication
19:12of animals is something that will not
19:14happen much in the Americas. For the
19:17most part, people will domesticate dogs.
19:20There are a few places in South America
19:21where people domesticate llamas. It's
19:24about it. There's not a whole lot of
19:26real domestication of animals going on.
19:30And most of the viruses that affect the
19:32human population today, most of the
19:34epidemic diseases at least, they come to
19:37us from living in close contact with
19:39animals. I mean, even today, we heard
19:42things like the swine flu or the bird
19:45flu or things like that.
19:48There are diseases that
19:52are
19:53common among barn animals and because of
19:56living in close contact with those
19:58animals, these diseases are able to
20:00mutate, attach themselves to a human
20:02host and then they become human
20:04diseases.
20:06Of course, just for the sake of grossing
20:09you guys out and giving you a disturbing
20:11image. The way these diseases are
20:13passed, you have of course blood to
20:15blood contact. you know, when butchering
20:17some of these animals or some of these
20:20things could be passed could be
20:21airborne. You know, you breath the same
20:24air and you pick up some of these um
20:27germs.
20:28Of course, those are not the only ways
20:30that diseases are passed along. Some of
20:33the most disgusting statistics I've ever
20:36seen report that pretty much everywhere
20:38where people have barn animals,
20:41ridiculous numbers of human beings ended
20:45up having sex with said barn animals,
20:49you know, spend lots and lots of time
20:51alone on the farm. That sheep begin to
20:53be looking more and more attractive by
20:56the second. Yes, gross, I know, but
21:00that's the reality of it. So now, while
21:02I've implanted this gross image in your
21:04brain, I'll try to move on to something
21:07else. And I hate to tell you, but I'm
21:0999% sure that no matter how much you're
21:12going to try to shake that image of the
21:14sheep is still going to be there hours
21:16from now. So sorry about that.
21:20But the point being,
21:23Europe, Asia, and Africa, they all
21:25domesticated animals. They all were in
21:28contact with one another. They were all
21:30exposed to similar diseases. The
21:33Americas were not. So when Europeans
21:36first show up,
21:38these new diseases just wreck the native
21:42populations. In some cases, the diseases
21:44reach the tribes before even Europeans
21:47do. So Europeans will have kind of the
21:49way paved for them as they arrive in
21:51areas that used to be densely populated.
21:54But because of being diseases being
21:55passed from European to native and then
21:57from native to native by the time
22:00European show up many tribes are already
22:02heavily suffering from these diseases.
22:06Keep in mind that at the end of the
22:081400s early for 1500s nobody's fully
22:11understanding how diseases are passed
22:13along. Nobody understand germs and
22:16bacteria and all that stuff. So the way
22:20people respond,
22:22well, they don't really fully know how
22:24to explain it. I mean, there will be
22:25cases, for example, when British
22:28Puritans will show up in the 1600s in
22:30the Americas and they will see native
22:33people dying like flies as a result of
22:35these diseases. Their interpretation
22:38will be basically the same way they
22:40interpret everything else, which is,
22:42"Thank you, God, for wiping out these
22:44evil pagans and proving that you we are
22:46your chosen people.
22:48in many way reinforced this idea that
22:50this must be a divine act um paving the
22:54way for a superior civilization and
22:57wiping out these evil people were not
22:59Christian that's basically the way they
23:01saw it
23:04in any case so in addition to fighting
23:08wars against European invasions natives
23:13were
23:15seeing their numbers been dramatically
23:18reduced from diseases.
23:20So these in many ways explain why more
23:24than technology more than anything else
23:26this explain why Europeans will be able
23:29to eventually conquer in the Americas
23:31and it still take a long time
23:35but you know if um native Americans had
23:38domesticated animals and the same
23:40diseases when Europeans showed up it
23:42would have not have been an easy thing
23:43to take over the Americas. They may have
23:45not been able to. Maybe they would,
23:47maybe they wouldn't.
23:49If natives had the diseases and
23:51Europeans did, when Europeans would have
23:53shown up, when they showed up, they
23:55would have quickly gone back home
23:56realizing that this was not a healthy
23:58place for them. So this one element,
24:02this one random piece of history, the
24:05fact that natives did not domesticate
24:08animals is what make European
24:10colonization possible. Without that, it
24:14would have been a very different story.
24:18Before we leave off Columbus and get
24:21into something else, one thing I should
24:23mention, I kind of hinted at this
24:24earlier when I said that the culture of
24:28the times has an impact on the encounter
24:31between the Tyino and the Spaniards.
24:34Well, here is one thing. If you recall
24:36our first lecture when we discussed the
24:38whole difference between inclusive
24:40religious worldviews and the exclusive
24:42ones, the encounter between the Tyino
24:45and the Spaniard is very representative
24:47of that because the inclusive approach
24:51which is sort of the Tyino worldview is
24:53these guys are different. The Spani are
24:55showing up. They are obviously different
24:57people with different beliefs. Let's
24:59check them out. Maybe we'll hate them.
25:01Maybe we'll get into wars with them. But
25:03maybe we won't. So, you don't know until
25:06you check them out what it's going to be
25:08like. So, come on in, have some food,
25:11and let's figure it out if we like you
25:13or we hate you.
25:15The Spanish approach is a bit different
25:17and it is influenced by that exclusive
25:20mindset. You know, the moment
25:23they find out that the tyino don't
25:25belong to what they believe to be the
25:28one true religion, it's pretty much all
25:31they need to know about them. It's then
25:34there are only two possibility you're
25:35either one of us or you are a servants
25:38of the devil and if you are a servant of
25:40the devil I mean the nice approach will
25:42be Spanish priests will try to convert
25:44them or the other approach is we you
25:46know we can do whatever you want because
25:49you're on the side of evil and so
25:51inevitably these two have lead to a less
25:55uh friendly interaction which is
25:57basically what you see happening in this
26:00encounter between the two sides.
26:03Now having said that, the encounter
26:06between
26:08the new and old world has a big impact
26:11on everyone. For one, what what become
26:14known as the Colombian exchange is the
26:16fact that it's an exchange that's very
26:18profitable for Europe, Africa, and Asia,
26:21and not so much for the Americas.
26:23Because part of this exchange is that
26:25the Americas will receive a bunch of
26:27diseases that will wipe out big chunks
26:29of the local population.
26:32The Europe, Africa, and Asia on the
26:34other hand receive a whole lot of
26:37products that will help life in those
26:39continents quite a bit.
26:42Think of things like tomatoes, which
26:45kind of makes me wonder what Italian
26:46cooking was like before contact with the
26:49Americas. Uh, potatoes are an American
26:52crop that will have a huge demographic
26:54impact on the old world, allowing for
26:57the survival of many more people thanks
26:59to this food that's rich in calories and
27:01relatively easy to grow. So, potatoes
27:04will have a big impact in growing the
27:06population of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
27:09Corn come from the Americas. uh things
27:13like chocolate. You know, there are 10
27:14million things that come from the
27:16Americas that will make life better for
27:19the old world. So that's part of that
27:23Colombian exchange.
27:25One thing that the Spaniards will do as
27:28they begin to venture in and exploring
27:31first in other islands throughout the
27:33Caribbeans and then on the mainland
27:36because at this point the Spaniards will
27:38be the dominant power on the ocean. the
27:40Portuguese a little bit but the
27:42Spaniards in a big way and they will
27:44have a virtual monopoly over
27:46colonization in the Americas in the
27:48early days.
27:50And one thing that they will do they
27:52create this document known as the
27:54requirment
27:58was something that Spanish soldiers were
28:00required to read when they will
28:02disembark on a new land and meet the
28:05local population.
28:07The requirement is a really funny weird
28:09document because essentially gives
28:11native people a choice which sound very
28:13sweet except not so much because what
28:17the requirement does essentially is
28:18telling them look you have a choice
28:20here. you can become our subjects,
28:23in which case will be somewhat fair to
28:25you. Or if you stubbornly resist to
28:29become our subjects, then I'm sorry to
28:31tell you, but you brought it upon
28:33yourself, and it's only right for us to
28:35start wars against you and enslave you
28:37and wipe you out, which is kind of like,
28:40well, neither choice sound all that
28:42exciting. Do you want to be my subject
28:43or do you want to die? It's like, can I
28:45get the third option here?
28:48But that's no, sorry, you don't got a
28:51third option. That's the And somehow
28:54reading this document and giving this
28:56ridiculous choice to natives made
28:58somebody back home feel better about the
29:00whole process of colonization of how
29:02they were still the good guys.
29:05By the way, to make the whole thing even
29:07funnier in a tragic kind of way is the
29:09fact that the document was usually read
29:11in either Latin or Spanish. Of course,
29:14neither language being spoken by native
29:16people. So the whole thing went like
29:18going once, going twice, they're not
29:20becoming our subject. Okay, forget it.
29:22Let's just move in and start conquering.
29:25So it's odd to say the least. And with
29:28this, it's a wrap for today's lecture.

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