HIS 2213 Learning Unit Three Lecture

1. Learning Unit #03 Lecture
Tampa Bay, FL, prior to Spanish contact
“What is Civilization?”

2. “There are many humorous things
in the world; among them the
white man's notion that he is less
savage than the other savages.”
– Mark Twain

3. Civilization: A Working Definition
‘Ethnocentrism’
(see Learning Unit
One) has long been
an occupational
‘blind spot’ for
social scientists,
who not that long
ago were defining
‘civilization’ by
Euro/American
standards & making
value judgments
condemning the
many societies that much in a sense similar to the concept’s
did not measure up. original (French) meaning: A society’s ability
Nowadays, to meet the challenge posed by its
however, social environment & transform nature to its
scientists think of purposes. Hence, there is not one standard
‘civilization’ very for ‘civilization’ but multiple ‘civilizations.’

4. People who try to define
"civilization" often list
writing as a necessary
ingredient. Yet many
societies of impressive
achievement have
successfully
transmitted information
& data in other ways,
including by memory
Sky Woman,
and word of mouth. In painted in
fact, it has been said 1936, illustrates
a creation story
that "the epics of almost common to
every literary tradition many Native
American
preserve echoes from cultures that
an age of oral tradition." also shares
similarities with
the Genesis
account.

5. In his descriptions
of the 'New' World's
inhabitants,
Columbus variously
describes them
as timid & fearful but
also eager to give
up their valuables--
freely or in trade--
often to their
disadvantage. This
slide & the next show
the natives (Tainos)
doing both when they
meet Columbus and
the Spanish.
Like all native
peoples of the
Americas, the throughout the Caribbean and had systems of
Tainos had a governance and beliefs that maintained harmony
vital economic life. between human and natural environments. The
They could trade Tainos enjoyed a peaceful way of life and could feed

6. several million people without permanently wearing
down their surroundings. They had successfully
met the challenge of adapting their environment
to their will, which many contemporary social
scientists regard as the
true measure of
‘civilization.’
Landing of Columbus at the Island of Guanahani, West Indies, Oct. 12, 1492

7. [Caution: Eurocentric Propaganda! This slide and the next
three demonstrate how social scientists measured the peoples
of the world against a Eurocentric standard in the 19th & early
20th centuries. ]
In the Americas—as in much of the modern world—native peoples & their
systems of life have been put down & misunderstood by Europeans & their
descendants. Europeans’ ethnocentric worldview regards Indians
as "primitives," according to the old rule of "least advanced" to "most

8. [Caution: Eurocentric Propaganda]
advanced“ imposed by the standard of Western Civilization. The more
"primitive" a people, the lower the place they were assigned on the scale of
"civilization." Such an idea is hostile to the natural world, & it came over

9. [Caution: Eurocentric Propaganda]
to the Americas with Europeans of the time; some of whom even died
rather than perform manual labor, particularly tilling of the soil! The
production and harvesting of food from sea, land, & forests were

10. [Caution: Eurocentric Propaganda]
honored human activities among Native Americans. The contrast is direct
with the Spanish (& general Western-European) belief that to work with
land or nature directly, as a farmer and/or harvester, is a lowly activity
suitable for lesser humans & lower classes.

11. This engraving
was made c.
1600. The figure
on the left is
Amerigo
Vespucci, the
Italian explorer &
mapmaker who
showed that
Christopher
Columbus had
found not Asia but
a ‘new’ continent,
which was then The Latin inscription reads:
named “America” "Amerigo discovered (or, more
literally, undressed) America,
in his honor. The and once called, thenceforth she
figure on the right will always be awake (or, more
literally, excited.)”
(naked in the
hammock) is a woman. The two are of course having an imaginary encounter
representation of in this artist’s creation. In line with existing European practice in
“America” (the the visual arts, the ‘new’ continent was often depicted as a
‘New World’) woman & surrounded with creatures & objects seen as typically
personified as a ‘American’: small monkeys, tapirs, cannibal feasts, a war club,
& a hammock.

12. Tales of cannibals in the
Americas have been
handed down as
historical fact since the
earliest accounts by
Christopher Columbus.
However, Columbus
never met a cannibal,
and no evidence exists
to support the idea that
there were Native
Americans who preyed
on other humans for
protein. Ritualized
cannibalism as a
religious rite DID exist
among a number of
Native American
communities, most
notably the Aztecs of
central Mexico whose The belief in widespread cannibalism in the
priests consumed some New World enabled Europeans to claim the
moral right to conquer Native Americans and
organ parts of define their status as 'less-than-human.'

13. high-ranking sacrificial victims, believing that they were absorbing their life-
force. Even today, Christians should be familiar with the idea of cannibalism
as a religious rite because they metaphorically eat the flesh and drink the
blood of the Savior when they take communion. Some Native Americans were
doing something they understood to be similar in their religious practices, only
literally. In fact, the best documented cases of cannibalism in the New
World all involve Europeans eating other Europeans due to being
shipwrecked or living in colonial settlements where food has run out.

14. On the left is Chartres Cathedral,
arguably the finest, most
advanced building in Europe at the
time of first contact between the
'Old' and 'New' Worlds. Above is a
view of the Aztec capital
Tenochtitlan, its skyline dominated
by arguably the finest, most
advanced building in the Americas,
the Great Temple of Huitzilopochtli.

15. The Aztecs' more advanced agricultural practices meant that
fewer individuals were needed to work the land and thus
enabled them to live in cities larger and more densely populated
than any in Europe at that time.
Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, as it probably looked at the time
the Spanish arrived in the fall of 1519.

16. These images depict a sacrificial victim having
his heart torn out by the Aztecs in the name of
their religion. For the Aztecs, this activity was not
only normal but absolutely necessary in order for
the motions of the stars and planets to continue.

17. A scene from the
St. Bartholomew’s
Day Massacre,
(August 24, 1572)
when 10,000
French Protestants
were murdered by
French Catholics in
the streets of Paris.
During the same
time that they were
damning
Mesoamerican
religions as
‘savage,’
Europeans were
killing each other in
the name of the
Christian religion
and rationalizing
the blood spilled. A larger version of this image appears on the next slide.
Hypocritical, to say
the least.

18. St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, Catholics Killing Protestants, Paris, France 1572

19. These images offer conflicting
interpretations that portray Native
Americans for a European audience in
opposing ways. The one on the
left depicts Native Americans as
victims of Spanish cruelties. The one
below presents contrary evidence of
Native American resistance and
retaliation (pouring the molten gold so
prized by the Spanish down their
throats!). Given that cruelties were
committed by both sides, however,
there is no doubt that far more
murderous atrocities were committed
by the Spanish against the Indians
than vice versa, and such actions by
the Indians might even be
considered justifiable retribution,
given the lethal nature of the
Spanish (later European) threat.

20. Depicting an
individual
standing
with 'arms
akimbo‘ told
European art
viewers that
the subject
was an
important,
upper-class
person.
These
individuals
occupied
similar
social
stations in
their
respective
societies.
Europeans
equated
nakedness
with being sinful & uncivilized & covered themselves
accordingly--even wearing wool in tropical climates--
to distinguish themselves from the natives.