King Philip II of Spain (BritishBattles.com)
What I found really interesting about this document was that the native lords petitioned the Spanish government to avoid being forcibly resettled. I thought that it was unlikely that the Spanish courts or government would acknowledge the complaints of the indigenous people, let alone try to correct the abuses of the Spaniards, but I was surprised to learn that the Spanish granted some people relief from forced resettlement. The Spanish, as we all know by now, wanted to resettle the native population for two main reasons: settlements made Christianization easier and made the process of controlling and “civilizing” the indigenous peoples easier. Yet resettlement posed many issues for native communities. To begin with, resettlement destroyed traditional survival structures, such as the ayllu, and weakened kinship bonds. I understand why the Spanish wanted to resettle the native population, but I think that their total disregard for traditional structures was unintelligent on the part ofthe Spanish.
I thought that the textbook was insightful by noting that the use of Spanish courts by indigenous people actually represented an acknowledgment of Spainsh colonial rule, whether they meant it to or not. I think this is unfortunate, one of those “between a rock and a hard place” situations; if the natives wanted their problems addressed, their best chance was to go through the courts, but the use of the courts, in itself, diminished traditional authority. Really, it seems like no matter what the natives did, colonial rule would prevail. However, I was surprised to learn that the courts did side with natives, and not just on rare occasions. Again, the textbook was useful in discerning why the courts did this; basically, concessions were made to the natives (on occasion) to avoid rebellions, revolts, and overt hatred for colonial rule. The Spanish needed the indigenous people for labor and, therefore, couldn’t entierly ignore their pleas for reform, justice, and certain freedoms.
Overall, in all of the documents we read, I saw a merging of cultures which (on the whole) benefitted the Europeans more than the natives. In my opinion, this kind of defines the process of colonization throughout history and around the world.