Caroline Dodds Pennock on Indigenous Americans in Europe, & ‘On Savage Shores’
, 2023-01-19 03:56:26,
How many Native Americans came to Europe, and when?
It’s hard to pinpoint exact numbers, because the official statistics we have are almost certainly very low. We know there were tens of thousands, at least, but the number could be much higher. The vast majority came as enslaved people in Spain and Portugal, but there are also recorded indigenous people in England, the Netherlands, the other Low Countries, and Germany. And they have appeared since the first voyage of Christopher Columbus, when he brought back the Taino people from the Caribbean. Therefore, from the first moment of encounter, the Indigenous travelers are part of the story.
in podcast |
What sources do we have for this?
The problem is that a lot of the sources are from the point of view of Europeans – written either by people who kidnapped Native Americans, or by diplomats or courtiers who saw them once they got to Europe. However, there are some sources that sometimes allow us to hear the voices of the indigenous people themselves.
After 1542, when it became illegal to enslave the natives in Spain’s American colonies, amazing testimonies were given by the indigenous peoples who applied for their freedom. Today these are held at the Archivo General de Indias in Seville. They are formulaic legal records, but they provide fascinating portraits of the lives of people from all over Central and South America. They explain what happened to them, including…
,
To read the original article from news.google.com, Click here
Private Internet Access gives you unparalleled access to thousands
of next-gen servers in over 83 countries and each US state. Your
VPN experience will always be fast, smooth, and reliable.
