The Whites Review on the Early American History

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2.2.2 The Whites

The term of “the Whites” hence referred to the Europeans coming to the New World. It was the Indians who then called them so due to the skin-color diversity between them. According to Tindall and Shi 1982, the Europeans involved in the voyages to the New World were originated from Spain, Portugal, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Italy and the various German states p. 2. They came in this vast land as conquistadors, adventurers, merchants, settlers, and missionaries with different motives forging their dangerous ventures to the New World. Unger 1982 says Europe in seventeenth to nineteenth centuries had already developed into the monarch civilizations with elaborated technologies, clothing, food production, knowledge, family structures, farming, and weaponry. Nevertheless, America was still almost entirely a wilderness with very little civilizations in some regions; regarding the advanced Indian Tribes like the Inca and the Aztecs in Southern America. The rest of the inhabitants, especially the North American Indians, were still living unstructured pp. 45-46. The basic motives were fascinated by the tales that Marco Polo, a Venetian who had spent his seventeen years in China, India, and Malaya, had brought back the riches, luxuries, and splendors in thirteen century to the western world Graff and Krout, 1959, p. 7. The Europeans were henceforth competing with each other to conduct explorations and sailing-trails eastwards until an Italian sailor named Christopher Columbus discovered a land he thought as India in 1492. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 33 Under the flag of Spain, Christopher Columbus gained the outfit of expedition from the Spain monarch couple, Ferdinand and Isabella, to the Oriental Continent Eastwards. The approval was obvious due to the success of the former Portuguese sailors, Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama, in exploring and bringing back plenty of spices, gold and potteries from India by the end of fifteenth century. Columbus built the first colonies in Hispaniola and Santo Domingo. Later they moved to Puerto Rico in 1508 and Cuba in 1511 to 1514 and also New Mexico, Texas and California. The settlements of new lands were then contributed to Spanish Empire. The main goals of the Spaniards were similar to the previous European conquistadors: Gold, Gospel, and Glory Tindall Shi, 1984, para. 14-15. The gold they collected from the Indians was sent to the throne as embedded taxes. Thus, they collected more resources and spread across countries in order to find the unsettled lands. On the contrary, the missionaries had no motives but to spread religion as they were vowed to serve God and the throne Shoen, 1955, pp. 53- 54. It was evident that many of the Indians were then converted into Roman- Catholic by the force of those missionaries. According to Paul et al. 1990, the social status that was applied in Europe was firmly influenced by gender, wealth, inherited position, and political power p. 13. Some noblemen would absolutely gain special privileges in their social communities like respects, exclusive seats in a theater and certain positions in a work field. There was a subordinated stratum in a social community that separated the high class people from the underclass ones. A similar social system PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 34 was also applied in Spain. “Spain was not ill governed in the absolute Bourbon style” Trend, 1952, p. 153.

2.2.3 The Clash between the Indians and the Whites