The first account is by Sahagun's informants, stating that the strangers conquered the Otomies, fired canons at them, attacked them with their swords and shot them with their crossbows (Broken Spears; Leon-Portilla, 38). Leaving not a single person alive. The other version of the story could have been invented by the Tlaxcaltecas to excuse their part in the massacre. This story does not include a massacre but a friendly encounter, where the strangers were invited to enter, were paid with great honors and joined with them as allies. The Spaniards second massacre was at Cholula in the courtyard of the god.
The Native Americans felt threatened for their land by the colonists. It was stated that one of their reasons to fighting was that the colonists made them do it and they pushed their buttons, so to say, that they had no choice but to fight them. In addition to the colonists being very religious so were the Native Americans. As stated in the book the Native Americans said their reason for fighting was that God was on their side and told them to fight and kill and burn down houses. The Indians were depicted to be very violent by the colonists.
Indians throughout were forced to surrender their lands, and although they put up resistance, it was not enough to stop settlers’ expansion and the Indian’s lands were violently taken, and many were killed in the process. “Behind the English invasion and their massacre of Indians, their deception, their brutality was that special powerful drive born in civilizations based on private property. ...the need for space, for land, was a real human need. ..this human need was transformed into the murder of whole peoples.”(Zinn, pg. 16, A People’s History Of the United States) Wealth and fortune was measured by the amount of land a white man had ; therefore, acquiring land by exerting power with lies and deception was the goal of any settler who wanted to be perceived as a prosperous wealthy man.
The Mexicans thought that the Nueces River was the border but the U.S thought the border was Rio Grande. Mexicans saw the descending of the troops as an invasion. So in order to protect their land they fired upon the American soldiers. Polk obviously knew that they were going to protect their property so he provoked the Mexicans by sending troops. By doing so they killed American soldiers and Polk had a reason to go to war with Mexico and acquire
Smallpox, alcoholism, and other European ailments the Spaniards brought over lead to the destruction of the native population. The treatment that is well documented was barbaric and cruel. The natives that survived were enslaved, forced to convert to Christianity, and taken from their homelands and forced to live a civilized Spaniard lifestyle. Once the Spanish took control they forced the people to work in mines, ranches and local farms. On top of all this they had to pay encomiendas (taxes) on their own land.
Morelista forces captured Oaxaca in 1812 and in 1813 Morelos convoked a congress in Chilpancingo, Guerrero. The manifesto issued by the congress, radical for its day, advocated abolition of slavery, breaking up monopolies, imposition of an income tax and deportation of all Spaniards from Mexico. Morelos then assembled an army of 5,600 and marched on Valladolid, his native city. Leading the city's defenders was none other than Iturbide. The radical Chilpancingo manifesto had disturbed many conservative creoles, including Iturbide, and they went over to the Spanish side.
The Aztec’s were still angry with the Spanish and were planning on killing them all. By letting them back into the city the Spanish horses and weapons would be less effective. The Aztec’s were then able force in the Palace walls and the Spanish began to fear what was to happen next for they knew that the Aztec’s wanted them all dead. (Burkholder and Johnson p. 58) According to Díaz’s manuscript, the Spanish wanted to declare peace with the Aztec’s so that they could leave Mexico. In order to do this, they needed Montezuma to tell his people to cease the war.
Documents prove that the British intentionally killed off the buffalo in areas populated by the Native Americans. By doing this, the British took away their main source of food. Starvation occurred in many villages and the Natives population had reduced from an estimated 12 million in 1500 to barely 237,000 in 1900. Villages were pillaged, and prisoners were sent to camps or reservations. The British’s actions were rationalized through religion, Indians were seen as savages that needed to convert and those who didn’t were murdered.
The two groups went to war and the Native Americans targeted and killed many priests. - The New World challenged and changed the religious faiths the first European settlers brought to it. In New Mexico, the spiritual rituals of the Pueblo Indians collided with the Catholic of the Spanish Franciscan friars who came to convert them, ultimately exploding in violent rebellion. 2. Role of missionaries in the encounter between Native Americans and Colonists Missionaries came to save heathen souls.
Even with the concessions that the government made to the Native people, the fact is that they have been put through hell and they were initially and continue to be targeted for extinction in one way or another. The intended death and destruction of a people just because they are of a certain origin or ethnic background does fall under the definition of genocide. The fact is that most of white America is in denial of this term “genocide” and the idea that this continues to haunt the Native Americans of today. Is it a question of being too proud to admit that the whites could actually be this cruel and wrong and make such a mistake? I don’t think that the white man will ever own up to this