Caitlin
Maloney
12/03/2017
Columbus and the Beginning of
Globalization
Columbus's discovery of the Americas presents a great
representation and understanding of the beginning of globalization and
international relations. His interactions with the native people provide an
image of how Columbus and the other explorers thought of and viewed these
people. In many situations, Columbus stated that these people were
unintelligent. As he was able to easily convince them to trade their gold for
his low-value items, such as a glass.
The theory of globalization has been defined as "the radical
intensification of worldwide social relations and the lifting of social
activities out of local and national conditions" (Amherst College, 2009).
When examining Columbus's experiences in the Americas, this definition can
easily be applied and supported. Columbus writes of the people he encounters
and forms opinions of them from his European viewpoint. Rather, than attempting
to see how the natives' environment has shaped and influenced their thoughts
and actions. This level of ignorance plays an important role in how Columbus,
and the other explorers, choose to interact with the natives.
The explorers represented globalization in ways that stemmed from
this ignorance. For example, they acted out social behaviors that would be
common to Europe, yet not generally found within this foreign society. Columbus
largely pushed assimilation onto the natives, attempting to have them enact the
European customs and convert to Christianity. Additionally, he decided to bring
some natives back to Spain, in the hope of them becoming missionaries.
In his letters, back to the Spanish Monarchy, he wrote, "Your
Highnesses may have great joy of them, for soon you will have made them into
Christians and will have instructed them in the good manners of your
kingdoms" (Todorov, 43). Moreover, Columbus also intended to teach the
natives to, "build cities, to be taught to wear clothes, and to adopt our
customs" (Todorov, 43). In these way, Columbus was working to place his
own social activities and conditions upon the natives, much like the definition
of globalization states.
Along with converting the natives into missionaries, Columbus
worked to introduce trading and other formalized activities. Once he began to
trade with the locals it became clear that he could trade low-value goods with
them for high-value goods such as gold. As he believed they were too passive or
unintelligent to realize the trade was not of equal value. However, in reality,
they did have the same intrinsic value of the gold as Columbus and the other
explorers. Because of this difference in trading Columbus was able to use the
goods he acquired to create other transactions back in Europe and other lands.
This marked the start of global trading in the Americas and highly impacted
ongoing and future international relations of the developing nation.
The thoughts and beliefs Columbus carried with him to the Americas
greatly influenced his interactions with the natives. Due to his beliefs, he
pushed them to be missionaries wanting them to have the same faith as himself.
Additionally, the fact that the people were naked and acted as living parts of
nature disturbed him a great deal. Thus, he wanted to teach them to wear
clothing, to build cities, as well as adopt other European customs. These
actions represent globalization as a whole, as Columbus took the social customs
of his background and tried to apply them to the natives, despite the different
social and economic environments.
Sources:
"The Political Theory Of
Globalization." Amherst.edu. N.p., 2009. Web. 3 Dec. 2017.
Todorov,
Tzvetan. The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other. Translated
by Richard
Howard. Norman, OK: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1999, p.3-50
Caitlin, I agree and like how you talk about the ignorance Columbus had when looking at the natives and not looking at how their environment impacted them and made them different because of that. I think that ignorance can still be applied today and how we can view people from other countries. I think even today we can jump to conclusions and apply our own cultures when looking at others and thinks those are wrong because of the differences that exist. The difference is that Columbus was suppose to be an explorer and was suppose to look at all of those impacts.
ReplyDeleteThank you Cam, I also think these views can be examined as being seen in today’s current society. I find it interesting that people can view such an ignorance in history, yet repeat the same thing throughout other international relations today.
DeleteI remember that we talked about everything you said in class and Columbas seemed like a hypocrat or someone who changed his mind often to me personally since he went from calling the natives smart and wonderful to dumb and awful. You did a good job covering Columbas.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point. Columbus was ver hypocritical and thought of himself highly, even more than he was. He was looking at people like they were objects for him to mold, when he should have been looking at them as human beings that speak a different language, and have a different culture than his. Also, he disregarded them and how the environment could impact them.
ReplyDelete