Topic 1.6 Cultural Interactions in the Americas

Bartolome de Las Casas

• advocated for better treatment of Native Indians, dissenting from the views of most Europeans toward Native Americans

• persuaded the king to institute the New Laws of 1542

New Laws of 1542

• ended Native Indian slavery, halted forced Native Indian labor, and began to end the encomienda system

• parts of the New Laws were repealed as Conservative Spaniards, who wanted to keep the encomienda system, persuaded the king to do so

Valladolid Debate

• a debate over the role for Native Americans in the Spanish colonies in 1550-1551 taking place in Valladolid, Spain

• On one side, Las Casas argued that the Indians were completely human and morally equal to Europeans, making slavery unjust

• On the other side, Juan Gines de Sepulveda argued that Indians were less than human so they were to serve Spaniards under the encomienda system

English interactions

• the English & American Indians coexisted, traded, and shared ideas, as the Indians taught the settlers how to grow new crops like maize & how to hunt

• the English introduced them to their manufactured goods, tools, and weapons

• peaceful relations soon ended as English people lacked respect for American Indian culture and the English began to seize land

French interactions

• maintained good relations with the American Indians, assisting some tribes and establishing fur trading posts