Answer:
The Spanish attitude toward the Indians was that they saw themselves as guardians of the Indians basic rights. The Spanish goal was for the peaceful submission of the Indians.First impressions are said to be lasting impressions, and indeed, it is remarkable how soon the New World "that was never before known to anyone" was viewed as a land of wealth, promise, and opportunity. So we begin with three of the earliest European explorers to North America (after the Norse whose settlements in Greenland died out in the 1300s) and the impressions conveyed to their monarchs, financiers, and soon, due to the printing press, the peoples of Europe:
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS (Cristoforo Colombo), an Italian sailing for Spain, who explored the Caribbean islands in four voyages from 1492 to 1504, and who insisted to the end that he had landed in or near Asia
[Columbus, Letter to Luis de Sant Angel, Treasurer of Aragon, 1493]
JOHN CABOT (Giovanni Caboto), an Italian sailing for England, who in 1497 explored the northeast coast of North America in the region of Newfoundland, and was certain he had reached northeast Asia
[Letter from Lorenzo Pasqualigo to his brothers, August 1497; Raimondo di Soncino to the Duke of Milan, first and second despatches, 1497]
GASPAR CORTE REAL, a Portuguese sailing for Portugal, who explored the same region as Cabot in 1500 and 1501, failing to find a northwest passage and losing his life in the search.
[Pietro Pasqualigo, Letter to his brothers, 1501]
All three expeditions were financed by European monarchs to find a westward route to Asia or, later, to find a route around the obtrusive land mass to reach Asia. All claimed land and future riches for their monarchs. All returned with artifacts of the new land, and two returned with captured Indians. For Columbus we have the explorer's first-hand reports, but for Cabot and Corte Real we rely on second-hand accounts, the only documentation that survives. The three maps reveal how the western hemisphere evolved visually in the European mind, reflecting fact and faith alike. Explore these documents for the Europeans' first impressions, and yours. (10 pages, excluding the maps that are best viewed online.)
Explanation:
