history

Legitimating Conquest and Slavery in the New World

The New World is a term that was coined some time during the 15th century . Although it was initially used to indicate parts of the world that were not Eurasian , it eventually came to refer to a single part of the Earth , the Americas . The Americas were new to Europe , which initially believed the world to be composed only of Europe , Asia , and Africa , and Christopher Columbus ' landing on its shores came as a complete surprise . Columbus was said , at the time , to be the

discoverer of the New World

The clamor to reach and conquer the New World was great in Europe after Christopher Columbus discovered its existence . The European colonizers already had preordained methods by which to conquer new lands . These same methods were employed for the conquest , colonization , and even the slavery of the New World and its inhabitants . European colonizers proclaimed conquest and slavery on the grounds of Christianity and holy sanction but executed these claims through violent and highly inhuman means raising suspicion that Christian virtue might not have been the true motivation for the action

There is much proof that can be presented to prove the validity of the above statement . A simple perusal of historical data will confirm these facts . European conquistadores were questionable in their methodology and even more so in their legitimacy to initiate the utilization of those methods to claim a land that already had inhabitants , to rule a people that already had a ruler , and to place faith in a region that already had its own beliefs . The very fact that what these colonizers tried so hard to maintain has , at the present time , been either abolished or discontinued stands as empirical proof of the questionability of both their legitimacy and appropriateness

One of the more concrete proofs that can be taken during the time of colonization that will assuredly point to the fact that European colonizers based their claim to the New World on Christian ideology and holy sanction is the letter to the Taino or Arawak Indians . This letter was written some time during the 1500s and shows specifically that European believed the Americas to be theirs by right of their Christianity

European colonizers legitimized their claim to both the land and the people by stating the following facts

1 ) St . Peter was chosen by God to be the leader of all mankind

2 ) God placed St . Peter in Rome because it was the most proper place to rule the world from

3 ) King Ferdinand of Spain and Queen Juana , Queen of Castile and Leon were given all the rights to the lands that the Pope , St . Peter , ruled over after his death . These were supposedly kept in writing

4 ) King Ferdinand and Queen Juana were now , by inheritance , the rulers of all mankind and the masters of the lands given by God to St . Peter to rule over

This claim is entirely based on the assumption that St...