The Effect Of Ethnocentrism & Greed On 17th Century America
After the Old World discovered that there existed an entirely different world on the western hemisphere, Old World countries such as Spain and England competed to transform the New World into a profitable infrastructure. European colonization of the New World primarily proved to be beneficial for Europe and its economy, but extremely harmful to Indian tribes and African people. Seventeenth century America can be best categorized as an era of dehumanization. Indian and African dehumanization was prominent in America because European ethnocentrism and greed infringed on the beliefs of indigenous tribes of and the freedom of African people.
During the seventeenth century, European feelings of ethnocentrism motivated the Spaniards to infringe the religious beliefs of Native Americans. These feelings of superiority essentially dehumanized the Indians by undermining the importance of their beliefs. When Don Antonio de Otermin states, “ I asked how they (Indians) expected to live without the religious… if they would return to obedience to his Majesty they would be pardoned” in regards to the 1680 Pueblo Revolt it shows that Spain not only believed that Catholicism was the best and sole religion, but also used religion to suppress Indian upheaval and manipulate general Indian thoughts. Spaniards essentially dehumanized Indians by attempting to remove them from their traditional and generational customs. This selfish act temporarily served beneficial to Spain by allowing them to take over Indian land and acquire free labor from Indians.
English ethnocentrism also categorized seventeenth century North America because it encouraged English settlers to establish a slave labor system. This labor system was a radical idea as forced labor or indentured servitude was normally determined by one’s economic status, not by skin complexion. The establishment of slavery dehumanized African people by completely removing their freedom . For example, a virginia slave law from 1669 describes that a slave owner who kills a rebellious slave should be exonerated from criminal charges because it’s safely assumed that a master would not destroy his “estate” without good reason.
The two main ideas of this law- slaves are “estate” and it’s legal to kill slaves- indicates that Englishmen viewed African people as inferior and thus treated them as property. European ethnocentrism convinced English white man that using people as a means to an end was acceptable because such imbalance of status helped increase the wealth of England and of the colonists. Ethnocentrism caused European countries to mistreatment Native American and African people. This concept essentially defined seventeenth century America because such belief of superiority shaped the way in which Spain and England interacted with Native and Africans during such century of colonization. The juxtaposition of ethnocentrism and greed gave European countries the ability to justify the dehumanization of other cultures, as it was a form of helping their country advance both economically and politically.
