The Suppression of the Indian Religion and Culture in the New World Ess

Thesis Statement: I believe that a profound effect on Indian religion practiced in the New World was caused by Columbus and the Age of Discovery. Historical evidence proves that, before there were Europeans on this continent, there were native peoples living in communion with their environment and, very often, each other. Their religious practices were interwoven with their daily lives and religion held a prominent, significant place within their culture. The intrusion by Europeans into this peaceful world had profound effects on the Indians, especially their religious practices. What had been a peaceful, harmonic lifestyle changed dramatically that fall of 1492. The Europeans entered the native people's world in search of a trade route to the Indies. They felt it their "duty" to save these poor creatures in the name of the King of Spain. "It wasn't so much that Europe discovered Americas as that it incorporated it and made it a part of its own special, long-held and recently ratified, view of nature."(Sale p. 75) This arrogance would have profound effects on these natives to last throughout all time, including the present. Let us begin our search for truth by asking ourselves this question: Why are native peoples in the Americas referred to as Indians? The naming of these peoples is credited to Columbus. It was "Columbus, who gave to the peaceable multitude of the islands the name, indios - because he considered their habitat to be "the Indies", of course, but perhaps also because he thought of them as living "in God". (Sanders p. 95) The Spanish word for God is "Dios". Columbu... ...bert F. Jr. The White Man's Indian. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1978. Goodykoontz, Colin Brummitt. Home Missions On The American Frontier. New York: Octagon Books, 1971. Lunenfeld, Marvin. 1492 Discovery, Invasion, Encounter. Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company, 1991. Ronda, James P. and Axtell, James. Indian Missions. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978. Royal, Robert. Columbus On Trial: 1492 v. 1992. (Royal-01 ART and Royal-02 HIS). Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Conquest of Paradise. New York: Plume, 1991. Sanders, Ronald. Lost Tribes And Promised Lands. New York: Harper Perennial, 1992. Shirk, Willis. Encounter With The New World: European Psyche Confronting Its Own Dragons. (Shirk-01 HIS). Usner, Daniel H. Jr., Indians, Settlers, & Slaves In A Frontier Exchange Economy. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992.