What would North America be like now, had the European colonist had dealt fairly with the "Indians" they met ?

Question

The Iroquois, and others, had a democratic system, laws, trade agreements, and other social advancements that worked fine to keep the peace among regional tribes.
The natives in Mexico had an ancient civilization, which the Spanish destroyed. What might have happened if they hadn't killed the leaders, and enslaved the populace?

Answer 1

While,first the English and then we as the U.S.. commited genocide to be able to dominate the continent from sea to shining sea,the Spanish acted very differently. Our great foundational genocide was especially successful after the Civil War when we swept the great plains clean of all Indians,exterminating them,shafting them,exiling them and robbing them until they became a neglible presence in our country. The Spanish colonial presence in the Americas under the crown was very different.

In Mexico,for example, Hernan Cortez allied himself with many of the Indian civilizations which had been enslaved for years by the Aztecs,a great diplomatic and military strategy. That was one of the reasons such a tiny band of European men were able to bring down such a powerful empire as was the Aztec's.

Once they won,The Spanish captains married many of the Aztec princesses and noblewomen. These were legitimate marriages ,recognised by the Church in Spain and Mexico.Their children inherited their lands and titles both in Spain and Mexico. The Indians were not considered racially inferior in any way.

In all of the colonization of the Americas by the Spanish they sent in friars,many of whom became the best linguists the world has ever known.These dedicated men compiled incredible dictionaries of all the native languages they came across at a time that such linguistic science wasn't even known. Thanks to the Spanish friars,Indian culture -language, music and art- was preserved. In Paraguay,for instance, Guarani is still spoken by everyone( of Indian and European extraction alike) and is one of the official languages of that country together with Spanish.

One of the resaons that the Aztecs and Mexicas were cannibals is that they had no source of protein. Large wild mammals were scarce or unknown. The Spanish not only erradicated the practice of cannibalism but taught them husbandry(how to raise sources of protein -chicken,pigs,cattle,etc etc).

The Spanish created in Spain the first human rights tribunal the world has ever known,in the 16th century! They were the only European power to seriously debate , legislate, and philosophise about the moral right of the Europeans over the Indians. It was ruled that Indians were every bit as much human beings as the Spaniards. They were not slaves but subjects of the Spanish crown, exactly like the Spanish of the time were. There are Indians in New Mexico who still have the deeds to their lands given to them by the Spanish King.

When 2 centuries later the founding fathers of OUR country were writing the constitution ,not only did they all have SLAVES but there was a ruling that for taxation and voting purposes a black man was to be counted as only 3/5 of a man!

All one has to do is take a look at how many Indians and people of mixed race(Mestizos) live and thrive south of the Rio Grande to come to the conclusion that the Catholic Spanish were much more humane than the Protestant English when it came to colonising. The Catholic French in Canada were also much more successful at getting the Indians to cooperate with them and did not follow a policy of extermination.

The story of a "cruel and obscurantist¨Spanish colonization of the Americas has been one of history's most successful and vile myths, first propagated by the protestant enemies of Spain in the 17th and 18th centuries (England and The Netherlands especially) and is known by historians as the ¨Black Legend¨. Despite all the historical research that proves that the Spanish reputation was defiled for political purposes for centuries, this myth or black legend persists to this day.

Answer 2

The tribes you mention were in constant battle with other tribes. The Iroquois were constantly warring with the Algonquins and the Hurons, among others. Slavery was a common practice throughout both continents. The Aztecs held massive ceremonies involving the ritual sacrifice of hundreds of people at a time. It's not like there were real peaceful productive folks living here.

To the Europeans, the native were savages. They dealt with them in accordance with the rules of "fairness" in place at the time. Projecting current standards against historical events is an exercise in futility. All one can do is try to use historical "mistakes" as a learning tool for future decisions.

Answer 3

Interesting question. I was actually born in the US, but lived in Australia most of my life until I turned 14. So I have an australian accent that kind of mixed with a NY accent. I don't really find any accent more appealing than any others- although I'm not a fan of the southern drawl. It just kind of annoys me (usually when people exaggerate it)

Answer 4

Thats just NOT in our animal nature

Answer 5

We'd all be sitting around singing "Kumbaya"