The first reading in this week entails the first hand accounts of Christopher Columbus and his voyage to the Americas. Before i read the Columbus’s  accounts my impressions of him were mixed. As a young child in America you’re taught that Columbus was a good man because of him it lead to the eventual founding of America. They celebrate him, and give him a special holiday. However as I got older by impression of him was more negative because he came to a new land and treated as if it had always been Europe’s land and that he was superior to the people who were living there.

However after reading his accounts of his encounters in the Americas my opinion changed a bit. His actions in the Americas weren’t inherently bad, although they did lead to negative things for the Native people of the Americas. Reading his journal it seems that he treated the native people in general with respect and was not extremely violent to them. They even were kind to him and he met with their Kings. They also communicated with them and navigated the foreign landscape with the help of the natives. The natives also helped them find food. Columbus’ intentions were morally sound, since he did not go with the intention of finding America, but rather he went in search for a new route to Asia.

The second reading comes from  translation of the works Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala. He was a self taught writer. His work is important because he keeps a track of the conquest of Latin America by the Spanish. One such conquest he talks about is that of the Don Francisco PIizarro and Don Diego de Almagro and Fray Vicente of the Order of Lord St. Francis on their encounters with the Incan people. They try and convince their king and the rest of them that they should convert to Christianity. However Their king does not accept their faith because he and his people worship the sun because it is always there. The Spanish are offended by this and thus they attack the Incan people. The disproportion of the attack and the ability of the native people to defend themselves against the Spanish is made very apparent in this story. It says that only 5 Spanish were killed in the attacks, while many natives were murdered.

It’s important to look at first hand accounts of historical accounts in order to gain the perspective of how society viewed the events at the time.