Hemispheric Jamestown

1 - From the start of the text, there are a few occasions where Don Luis's ability to interpret is questioned. Why does Don Luis intentionally interpret in ways that seem to side through the "perspective and emotions" of the natives? Do you think this was one of the signs of him betraying the priests?

2 - The priests writings indicate that "three of Don Luis's followers miraculously fall down dead after attempting to open a chest belonging to the slain Jesuits" (p.39) Do you believe this to be true, or just a story the priests proposed to ensure a fear of god, or rather a miracle, in order to shed some hopeful light on the massacre from a religious standpoint?

Hemispheric Jamestown

1) On his first journey back to Ajacan, accompanied by Dominican missionaries and backed by an army, Don Luis failed to find his homeland. On his second voyage (this time undertaken without an army) Don Luis successfully led the Jesuits to Ajacan. Might these facts support the idea that Don Luis planned the massacre in advance?

2) Why was Alonso de Olmos spared? Brickhouse, after all, alludes to the “twinned roles of Don Luis and Alonso as bilingual interpreters and cross-cultural internal narrators” (28). Do you think Don Luis felt a kinship toward him, and to what extent?

3) Why was Alonso’s account of the massacre elaborated upon (and often completely altered) by different authors? What purpose does it serve, particularly from a religious standpoint? As Brickhouse puts it, “How does one tell a conversion story in which the central figure of redemption apparently converts back?”

4) Finally, consider the “frame narrative” structure of both accounts. How reliable are these sources? What do they add to our understanding of Jamestown’s beginnings, and what do they leave out?

(*For anyone interested in further reading, Rogel’s full record of Alonso’s story can be found here.)

Independence and Dependency Issues: Group Therapy & Couples Counseling

1) Why do you think Latin America “failed” or rather which of the causes had the most downturn effects leading to their “Supplementary Existence” status? Could these have been avoided with a more American approach?

2) On page 145 (2^nd paragraph) Fernando-Armesto describes a different outcome of the civil war. Something I’m sure we’ve all considered at one point or another, but never described quite so fittingly. Do you think Brooklyn College would have any place in this southern north? Or any CUNY/SUNY? Who would we be in relation to a different American order? As NYers this is simply unfathomable, but really, where?

3) The rest of the world is going haywire over democratic desires; what can they learn from our first state of democracy? From Europe? The French? Latin America? Starting out with anarchy & tyranny, aren’t they doing the democratic thing backwards?

4) And finally (& I know this is extra, but I’m just wondering) where the heck did Canada go? Besides a single sentence blurb on 121-122 they have disappeared in the evolution of The Independence Era & The New Dependency. What’s up with that?

The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles

     The excerpt we read from Captain John Smith's work discusses his encounter with the Powhatans.

1) Why do you think John Smith writes his narrative in third person? How does this point of view affect the representation of events or the perspective of the reader?

2) On page 29 Smith writes, "As for the danger of our enemies...for your riches we have no use...for we have a rule to finde beyond your knowledge." Why doesn't Smith just rage war against the Powhatans instead of discoursing back and forth?

3) Who are Powhatan's Dutch-men?

Notes on Columbus' Journals

Students: the photocopies cut off a few sentences that may prove useful.  Here are a few.

P. 107 (bottom-left): "Accurate estimates of Indian populations before Columbus arrived continue to elude historians, but the destruction of up to four-fifths of the original population of Hispañola [present day Haiti & Dominican Republic] in Columbus' lifetime provides an essential starting point for any reading of his written representation of Indians."
P. 107 (bottom-right): "In the journal of this eventful voyage, Columbus puzzles over unexpected compass readings recorded during his travels."

P. 108: One of the footnotes indicates that Las Casas (who reproduced the Journals) is quoting Columbus at length here.  Another footnote says that Columbus' party is exploring various islands of the Bahamas.  (This is before they reach Hispañola and Cuba).

P. 109: Footnote 6 reads, "A variation of Bohío.  Columbus translated this name as "abounding in gold."  It most likely referred to the island that Columbus renamed La Isla Española (known as Ayti [Haiti] or "mountainous land" to its natives).

P. 110: Footnote 9 indicates that Las Casas stops quoting Columbus directly here and begins referring to him (and their party as a whole) in the third-person: "he" and "they".

P. 117: Footnote 2 indicates that the changes Columbus notes in the astrology "contribute to Columbus's conclusion about the earth's shape."