How Cruel Were the Spaniards? Author(s): Iris H. W. Engstrand Source: OAH Magazine of History, Vol. 14, No.

4, The Spanish Frontier in North America (Summer, 2000), pp. 12-15 Published by: Organization of American Historians Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25163377 . Accessed: 04/12/2013 16:35
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Organization of American Historians is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to OAH Magazine of History.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 200.75.19.130 on Wed, 4 Dec 2013 16:35:26 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Iris H. W.

Engstrand

How

Cruel

Were

the

Spaniards?

TI

he

Spanish

word

"conquistador"

means

"conqueror"

and

today's answers,

standards. they can put

Even our

though discussion

comparisons into a broader

cannot framework.

give

the But

has been used loosely to describe Spaniards who came to the New World during the colonial period in search of wealth and theword has been applied to Spaniards Indian labor. Unfortunately,
who came as missionaries to chart the cattle to convert coasts, and sheep, as the natives farmers or even to to Christianity, cultivate the soil, as as the explorers ranchers

because of space limitations

examples to confirm or dispel

itwill be possible
the "conquistador

to give only a few

image" as applied

to all Spaniards of the colonial period.

From from placed Muslims their them first contact in the Caribbean, forced them Spaniards to give who and were up uprooted their treasures, of conquest sailors who natives and by were homelands, in captivity. of

to raise

as naturalists

to study

fauna and flora (1). Curiously, the English, French, Portuguese, Dutch, and Russians
came ors." for The similar English purposes, but have escaped the label of are usually remembered as colonists "conquer or settlers,

Spaniards their history,

victims

over much

common

while
merchants have

the French, Portuguese,

or traders (2). The been against the Eskimos

and Dutch
Russians, or Aleuts,

are often thought of as

as aggressive are seldom as referred they may to as the

weeks of deprivation on board struggling to find some kind ofwealth after were not to act kindly. Coundess Indians died during the ship disposed first years of contact, although mainly from disease. Other Spaniards in theCaribbean, like theDominican priestAntonio deMontesinos, spoke
out against When Spanish mistreatment rumors headquarters of of Indian Indians riches as early as 1511 (5). on the mainland Indies, the men of reached the conquest the

"conquerors."

It is the Spaniards?because

of events

surrounding

Spanish Inquisition, the notoriety of the so-called "Black Legend" (3),

and the widespread became attention the given to the conquest "conquistadores." of the Aztecs The and Incas?who avaricious crudest

in the West

followed their dreams of instant wealth. They soon found that the civilizations of both theAztecs and the Incas were sedentary, wealthy,
powerful, and in control of a "true" in the name known subjugated on religion of peoples. the Iberian course Centuries Peninsula?the of action. With of warfare well the

deeds of individual Spaniards have become emblematic of a people

and ample television have been described in general in detail textbooks, audiences in various and monographs, in movies Cape Horn given and to the space popularized from

Reconquista?shaped

the Spanish

for American

stretching

Bering Strait. Even the spread of smallpox among Indians of the

Northwest Coast has been attributed to Spaniards without support

leveled defeat of these New World empires, the conquistadores in of the arrival and built churches their With priests place. pyramids and missionaries, they introduced the Catholic faith and set up
schools and hospitals. less fruitful This pattern gain, of conquest throughout continued, the sixteenth although century. United with economic

ing evidence
Were Of course.

(4).
conquistadores it be But toward possible of one must of the to sixteenth conquer century other cruel? peoples or of How would

the Spanish

Exploratory

expeditions

covered

the southern

part of the present

without one

acts of cruelty? of people

cruelty another,

nation be

toward evaluated

another, in terms

group

time and place. One

century infanticide, as "cruel." of cruel?" and We cities, prisoners, areas Of other could

could ask, "Were the Indians of the sixteenth

Some engaged in human behavior cruelty sacrifice, regard slavery, today forms also of human ask about that we in modern

course.

tolerating or eliminating Indians as must It be kept inmind, however, that deemed necessary (6). Spaniards America also fought against natives when the English and French in early necessary and introduced them to gunpowder and distilled spirits, both of which were capable of destroying life and health (7). States from Horida to California,
By stances serve the seventeenth within and and early eighteenth of New centuries, new circum that can prevailed as case studies the areas give No today's Mexico viewpoint had Jesuits and Texas about been built while Mexico, between

times?the torture A of

bombing of political study of

the destruction and random by

caused shootings other

by nuclear of

attacks,

innocent or

victims. methods

a different obvious United and

the Spanish found missions Franciscan and Texas church and in the in

conquered

Europeans,

presence southern Sonora, missionaries

in America. regions southern moved the beginning, of

wealth States. Baja

punishment
eighteenth cruelty. flogged Sailors, or

throughout
centuries petty can

Europe
also

from the sixteenth

in understanding even schoolboys and

through
degrees

the
of

be helpful

Arizona, into

California New conflict

criminals, to treatment

were

routinely cruel by

Florida, however,

Georgia, the

subjected

considered

extremely

(8). From

12

OAH Magazine

of History

Summer 2000

This content downloaded from 200.75.19.130 on Wed, 4 Dec 2013 16:35:26 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Engstrand/Cruel

Spaniards

State?between

missionaries

protecting

the natives

and

those

wishing

The

next

important

contact

did

not

take place

until

1769,

when

to exploit Indian lands and labor?led to a different kind of struggle. The Spanish Crown, in its Royal Orders for New Discoveries o? 1573, decreed that Indians should be taught "to live in a civilized
manner, and cattle, oil clothed and many tools, and and wearing other weapons, shoes...given of all the use of bread silk, that linen, and wine horses, has had. essentials and life?bread, the rest

the expedition
Serra arrived

of Captain Gaspar de Port?la and Father Jun?pero

to found the first mission at San Diego. Lieutenant

Pedro Fages of the Catalonian Volunteers

interchange them and we with the natives, lacking gave them "We some some have are never little glass

reported on their friendly

very good hares, but friends and fish with that very rabbits, beads,

made

Spain

they bring

to us. We

they value

Instructed in the trades and skills with which

(9). The sacrifices Some leveled Franciscans, to carry considered against out as well those as other missionaries, instructions an antidote

they might
made

live richly"
tremendous areas. treatment despite

in some to

inhospitable the cruel Mexico,

highly any kind of cloth" (16). in By 1775 Franciscan missionaries had founded five missions Alta California, and Juan Bautista de Anza from the presidio of
Tubac, south of Tucson, Arizona, opened an overland route connect

themselves natives by other

Spaniards.

In New

ing the mission

1775, revolted however, against

fields of Sonora and California.

several hundred nonmission attacked and Indians burned the Spaniards,

In late October
at San the mission, Diego and

difficulties of distance,
support, and struggles with

extremes of heat and cold, lack of material

civilian and military authorities, Franciscans

founded eleven missions and baptized some ten thousand Indians in New Mexico by 1616. By 1629, numbers had increased to twenty
five missions, count. groups standards. save souls As fifty "politically we priests, and over sixty thousand actions may Indians seem by their incorrect" cannot as these to certain by today's necessary to

killed the resident priest along with several others. Father Jun?pero Serra, who had sought protection for Indians against the exploitation by soldiers
that apparendy of the Indians provoked responsible. the revolt, "Give asked him the viceroy to understand, for leniency after for one a moderate

at present,

judge missionary that entry authorities serve

motivations was

amount of punishment,
our law, which commands

that he is being pardoned in accordance with

us to forgive injuries; and let us prepare him,

Franciscans and assure

believed a person's

conversion into heaven.

not for death, but for eternal life" (17).

Indians against to work warring Even in In California, as throughout the Spanish empire, the Franciscans

Nevertheless, textile tribes, mills and and

nonreligious leather work

wanted as of soldiers

factories, for

otherwise

the benefit

the government.

supported the rights of Indians when they conflicted with demands of Spanish settlers. In 1786 Father Francisco Pal?u complained to
the viceroy that the proximity of the civilian town of San Jos? to

though Europeans
mines, Indians were

also worked
unaccustomed

long hours
to such

in fields, factories, and

structured servitude for

Mission
been livestock scandalized

Santa Clara had caused harm to the Indians.

of mission damaged the Indians, and town herds of cattle, and had the mission committed corn fields. Moreover, and

There had
the the settlers' settlers those

foreign overlords
freedom, suppressed

(10). Both
native

church
and

and state restricted

religion, and

Indian

a mingling

customs

inadvertently

introduced disease (11). InNew Mexico,

to the most disastrous event in the

these excesses led eventually

colonial history?the

adultery,

threatened

province's

Pueblo Revolt of 1680, inwhich the Indians succeeded in expelling the Spaniards from their territory for more than a decade (12). Some Pueblo Indians in New Mexico had benefitted from Spanish occupation,
Spaniards that way.

husbands who protested. They asked that a fixed boundary between the mission and town be drawn so that further conflict could be
avoided. the The matter, of taken seriously by all concerned, and their charges topic was settled to satisfaction The nia live ride mission the missionaries remains stress that in 1801. among if they cattle ways. enjoyed Califor learned and sheep, Others indepen to

however,
back. Like natives

and fled with

were in other parts

them; others welcomed

not the all Indians saw empire, of Spanish

the
them the

system Some

a controversial Indians the benefitted soil,

If Spaniards

cruel,

historians. in settled horses,

communities, weave cloth, groups

cultivate and who adapt had

tend

Pueblo Indians of New Mexico also found protection in the Hispanic legal system through the office of the protector de indios. The
protector, whose duty was to "aid and defend" the natives against the

to European previously

emphasize

that native

Spaniards, often played amajor role in guiding them through judicial

procedures The with occupation varying degrees of success (13). earlier contacts in of California little resembled

dence were forcibly reduced to subject peoples, rigidly controlled by a foreign nation, and decimated by European diseases (18). For their
part, their tians. the Franciscans aboriginal Missionaries friars but give culture used were their their believed or that Indians not and had learn to be separated from they would rewards the ways of Chris Certainly in lives forms of of their

New Mexico
purposes wealth or of

because of differences
Spanish explorers, of natives and

in the nature of the Indians, the

the Spaniards' remote setting. prospects As early for as

both

punishments. of excesses the ways,

individual punishment, charges Indians and

sometimes motives souls were

guilty to

exploitation

in that

improve

1542
bushes

Juan Rodriguez
Island, and grass,

Cabrillo
number

reported
of and

that on San Salvador

emerged signs from that the they

salvation. of discipline

In several

[Catalina]

"a great shouting,

Indians making

to the

same

forms

as they meted

they subjected out to Spanish

dancing,

students in Franciscan schools (19).With

that Indians, who encroachment may have have nations been been in the long run their off under or European World, upon better under (20).

hindsight

itmight be said
to the resist New than of other

should land." The Spaniards "gave them beads and other articles, with which they were pleased" (14). In 1602 Sebasti?n Vizca?no
visited the same came island and the natives our "came alongside their own.... without the least fear and on board ships, mooring [Vizcaino]

proved lands Spanish

powerless throughout missionaries forces

they would conquering

civilians

the military

received them kindly and gave them some presents"

(15).

OAH Magazine

of History

Summer 2000

13

This content downloaded from 200.75.19.130 on Wed, 4 Dec 2013 16:35:26 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Engstrand/Cruel

Spaniards

Finally,

it must

be

remembered

that

some

Spaniards

came

to the

with

their

little

ones.

They

are

loving

mothers,

and

they

are

not

New World

to study rather than subjugate Indians. Spanish naturalists

sought They note to learn surveyed of natural about native native customs much from as a villages

of the late eighteenth century a purely scientific viewpoint. sociologist does today, taking

indifferent nor unfaithful wives." (24). How cruel then, were the Spaniards?
first Spaniards in many areas?adventurers,

Ifwe are talking about the

seekers of wealth at any

resources,

social

customs,

cost, and illiterate fighters

inhabited their also armies cruel by pagan were in terms peoples cruel. Later

imbued with
were land, mine,

the idea that territories

and labor. conquistadores owners factory Even missionaries, and were

goods produced,
medicinal plants,

food supplies, kinds of housing,

and even musical instruments. This

religious beliefs,
kind of investi

fair game?the

gation reflected the enlightened learning found in Europe during the eighteenth century (21). Although defense of the empire and trade
considerations tions, were the Crown's of science motives in sponsoring a major role these (22). in Mexico, expedi the advancement Mozi?o, played a naturalist/physician

of exploitation

of native

who had the purest of motives,

Native hand, excesses, contrast Americans there and were there into resistance those often by other always were

often displaced, estranged, and forced

or outright who protected rebellion. Indians On the other from settlement Spaniards these in built

Jos? Mariano

born

advantages European

to Spanish nations.

Indians of Nootka Sound on Vancouver lived with the Mowachaht Island formore than fourmonths in the spring and summer of 1792,
learning the language and becoming familiar with their customs,

to colonization

schools and hospitals for Native Americans

the conquest and brought new crops,

from the earliest days of

and tools.

livestock,

religion, and history. A trained scientist, Mozi?o

save souls or to achieve economic gains, and

had no agenda to
so he recorded the

Mowachahts'
difficult, noted Preserver for that of "the all

customs
example, natives things"

as objectively
to give their recognize as well as the

as he could.
an existence

He

found
name but Creator, author

it

In the long run, interactions between Spaniards and Indians have resulted, not in the annihilation of either group, but ultimately in the development of racially and ethnically merged peoples living in the
Americas and a portion of what is now the United States. In the

religion

adequate of a God deity,

"another

malign

of

wars, of infirmities, and of death" (23). Dionisio Alcal? Galiano and Cayetano Vald?s of the Spanish navy, in command of the exploring respectfully described the expedition of the Sutil and Mexicana, Indians in the area of Monterey, California, in their journal of 1792: "[The Indians] show signs of tenderness toward their children, and
like tiring sensitive people, but they never leave they them, not even seen in their most loaded down occupations, rather are frequendy

main, Spanish society absorbed Indians rather than excluded them. As historian Philip Wayne Powell wrote in 1971: "Spain's three centuries of tutelage and official concern for thewelfare of theAmerican
Indian government For is a record of peoples not of lesser, Europeans equaled by other or what were considered for all the crimes to the American (25). in lesser, overseas cultures.

all the mistakes, performance apology

for all the failures, Spain, in relation people

committed...in Indian, need

its overall offer no

to any other

or nation"

We

cannot

go back
Standards,

and
but we

change
can

history and

to suit present
actions and

try to understand

motives
events. and we

by both
We can can know we can

players
understand only what

recorders
we But,

of past
know, most

only what we learn. by keeping

importantly,

learn

only

an open

?*?ftt

mind

and not falling victim dices developed over time. Endnotes

1. As the result of an intense

to half-truths

or preju

reexamination

of Native

American
Spaniards

issues during the Columbus

underwent tremendous

quincentennial,
for having

criticism

been the first to exploit the resources of theNew World,

for mistreatment of indigenous peoples, and even for

opening theway for other Europeans to follow in their footsteps. See, for example, Kirkpatrick Sale, Conquest of Paradise (New York: Knopf, 1990). An insightful summary of the issues can be found in Frederick P. Bowser, "Columbus Transformed (Again)," in Colum
? "iSSiPi?'>-' bus, Confrontation, Christianity: The European-Ameri

Powerful

de Bry, such as this and engraver Theodore by the Frankfort publisher of the Indies ofthe Destruction for Bartolom? de lasCasas, Very BriefAccount in the minds of other Europeans. (1598), helped fix the image of extreme Spanish cruelty F1411 .C462.) University, Library, Southern Methodist (Courtesy of the DeGolyer scenes i 11 ustration

can Encounter Revisited, ed. Timothy O'Keefe Gatos, CA: Forbes Mills Press, 1994), 211-28.
2. Even when the epithet pirate or privateer is given

(Los
to

those who preyed on Spanish shipping, harmful treat

ment of Spaniards does not seem to constitute cruelty.

14

OAH Magazine

of History

Summer 2000

This content downloaded from 200.75.19.130 on Wed, 4 Dec 2013 16:35:26 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Engstrand/Cruel

Spaniards

3. A

scathing during Dominican Spanish native

denunciation the earliest priest sovereign inhabitants. for days

of of

Spanish the

mistreatment was Casas laws Laws not

of written to

Indians by the the the with

14. A

summary

account

of Juan Rodriguez

Cabrillo's

voyage,

quoted

conquest de las

Bartolom? Carlos As V a result, were Casas and

force

inHerbert E. Bolton, ed., Spanish Exploration in the Southwest, 1542-1706(1908; reprint, New York: Barnes and Noble, 1963),
23-24.

to promote the New but

to protect of 1542,

15. Journal of Sebasti?n Vizca?no,

Exploration, 80-82.

quoted

in Bolton,

Spanish

safeguards The writings

Indians, of Las

passed were

always

followed. into as known anti as

quickly and

translated used

English, Catholic

Dutch, and

French, anti-Spanish

German

16. Pedro Fages to Jos? de G?lvez, 26 June 1769, MS GA 487, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
17. Antonine Tibesar, ed. and trans., Writings of Jun?pero Serra, 4

propaganda,

becoming

"The Black Legend." For a r??valuation of the Black Legend, see Nicolas Kanellos, Thirty Million Strong: Reclaiming the Hispanic Image inAmerican Culture (Golden, CO: Fulcrum 1998). Publishing, 4. See Christon I.Archer, "Whose Scourge? Smallpox Epidemics on the Northwest Coast," in Pacific Empires: Essays inHonour of ed. by Alan Frost and Jane Sampson Glyndwr Williams, UBC (Vancouver: Press, 1999), 165-91. 5. See Lewis Hanke, The Spanish Struggle for Justice in theConquest of America 17-18. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1949), 6. The expeditions of Francisco V?squez de Coronado
de Soto committed unnecessarily cruel acts

(Washington, Academy History, 1955-1966), 2:7. 18. See David J. Weber, "Blood of Martyrs, Blood of Indians: Toward a More Balanced View of Spanish Missions in Seventeenth
Century tion, North America," The in O'Keefe, European-American ed., Columbus, Encounter Confronta Revisited, Christianity:

vols.

DC: American

of Franciscan

13447.
19. For a legal defense "Franciscan Period," of Native Americans, Practices see Iris H. W. Dur Missionary in O'Keefe, in California

Engstrand, ing

the Spanish

ed., Columbus,

Confron

and Hernando
towards Indians

during the early 1540s

other riches. The

in their relentless search for gold and

explorers under Juan Rodriguez

Pacific

tation, Christianity, 20. Examples include the crushing of Pequot resistance by the English during the 1630s; the distribution of smallpox-infected blankets to the Indians at a peace conference in 1763 after attacks by Pontiac; and the forced resettlement o? Cherokee,
Creeks, and other Indians under Andrew Jackson, known as the

158-68.

Cabrillo
natives 7. Even the on

in 1542, on the other hand, attempted to deal with the

the basis concept of of friendship. "Manifest Destiny"?the American expense received of Native the same popular westward Americans degree belief expan and racist

Trail of Tears, during the 1830s.

21. Another individual the dictates communal in opposition aspect of the Enlightenment, whereby or the state ideal a person authorities. for some of however, was no was longer the idea of to not freedom, of church living, was subject

in promoting sion Hispanic (i.e.,

nineteenth-century conquest) at the

Private liberal

property,

settlers?has

never

of criticism

thinkers?clearly society. See

as that leveled against Spain during the discovery period. A number of writings of the mid 1800s extol the virtues of an
"Anglo-Saxon" Indians, American ish Florida, introduction 8. The Jesuits by or civilization "a mixed in contrast to that of to Spaniards, this Anglo in Span the population." runaway the government slavery into Texas. the most important were well teaching known for order their slaves In contrast could of Mexico find

to missionary

goals

a cooperative

D. A. Brading, The First America: The Spanish Monarchy, Creole Patriots, and the Liberal State, 1492-1867 (New York: Cambridge University
22. See ment Iris H. W. Comes Engstrand, to Spanish

Press, 1991).
"The Eighteenth Century Southern Enlighten California California,"

attitude, and of this

freedom tried

to prevent

time were and

Quarterly, 80 (Spring 1998): 3-30. 23. See Jos? Mariano Mozi?o, Noticias
Nootka Sound in 1 792, ed. and

de Nutka: An Account
trans. Iris H. W. Engstrand

of

in the Americas, hospitals and

the Franciscans

orphanages.

in David J.Weber, 9. Quoted The Spanish Frontier in North America (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), 106.
10. Some against Indians were effectively enslaved despite royal strictures the practice.

(Seattle: University ofWashington Press, 1991). 24. Donald C. Cutter, California in 1 792: A Spanish Naval Visit (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990), 144. 25. Philip Wayne Powell, Tree of Hate: Propaganda and Prejudices Affecting United States Relations with (New York: Basic Books, 1971), 25. the Hispanic World

11. For details of this era, see Donald Cutter and Iris H. W. Engstrand, Quest for Empire: Spanish Settlement in the South west (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 1996), 73-116. 12. A new work on this subject designed for students is David J. Weber, ed., What Caused the Pueblo Revolt ofl680? Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999).
13. See Charles R. Cutter, The Protector de Indios in Colonial

(Boston:
New

Iris H. W.

Engstrand,

professor

and

chair

of history and

of San Diego, is the author of numerous books role in the New World, San including Diego:

at the University on Spain articles Corner

fs

California's

Mexico, 1659-1821 Press, 1986).

(Albuquerque: University

of New Mexico

stone (1980); Spanish Scientists in the New World (1981); and for in Settlement the Southwest Quest Empire: Spanish (1996). OAH Magazine of History Summer 2000 15

This content downloaded from 200.75.19.130 on Wed, 4 Dec 2013 16:35:26 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions