The word "rasa" in Castilian or in Portuguese, meant a population of plants, animals or peoples who through inheritance possessed common characteristics. The Spanish did not regard the Tainos as a "race," not at least in the invidious pseudoscientific way that it was to be understood in the nineteenth century. They were simply "people," or members of a "nation," who could be conquered and enslaved.
This was not an uncommon belief. The act of enslaving the members of the conquered people was not an invention of the Spaniards into colonial America, and should not be treated as such.
What should be noted is that, unlike British or Dutch colonists, who killed any tan skinned person within their borders, the Spanish, Portuguese, and French gave their Native Americans a place in their society, despite it being a low one.
The scarcity of European women among the Conquistadores meant Spanish and Portuguese settlers and soldiers had extensive relations with indigenous women. Unlike English settlers of North America, who arrived as members of families, Iberian peninsula conquerors were for the most part single men. Large numbers of these men married native Americans which resulted in the emergence of a class whose parents were of mixed Iberian and Indian ancestry.
The Black Legend works to say that all the native women were raped. However, most native women willingly married their Spaniard "conquerors". The mestizo grew up in Spanish society, and learned Spanish. If they had been bastards, as you state, the liklihood is the mestizos would have grown up more tied to their native ways, and perhaps forget the idea of Spaniards completely.
The Black Legend further speaks about Catholic cruelty to the Americans.
Dominican clergy in the Caribbean region were concerned about the mistreatment of Tainos. In 1511, Antonio de Montesinos, a Dominican priest, denounced to his Spanish parishioners their treatment of Indians:
The Spanish monarchy was caught between religious demands to ameliorate the conditions of Indians, and settler demands that they be allowed to conduct their plantations as they saw fit. Religious leaders such as Father Montesinos—as early as the first decades of the sixteenth century—exerted sufficient pressure upon the monarchy to force implementation of new laws regarding the Indians. The Laws of Burgos endeavored to restrict punishment of Indians and guarantee them access to the clergy.
A few years before his death in 1566, las Casas addressed a memorandum to the King which reiterated the basic ideas of many clergy seeking to help Native Americans:
-All wars called conquests are unjust.
-The system of encomiendas is tyrannical.
-The King can not justify wars in the Americas against peaceful peoples.
-All gold and silver taken from the New World is stolen.
-Indians have a right to fight against invasion of their land by Spanish conquerors.
In 1680, the monarchy issued the "Leyes de Indias," which supported the idea of peaceful conversion of native Americans.
In 1511, Spain began to take actions to protect their slaves for mistreatment, nearly two centuries ahead of the North American colonists. Dominican protests eventually led to several laws protecting Native Americans from slave labour. In fact, before the 18th century even rolled around, Spain had enacted laws to protect native Americans, laws not enacted by the United States until the early 20th century.
The great evil Inquisition helped protect the rights of the dying Native American race.
Of seperate note, Spanish colonists were thus free to protest about their government. Name one other European country who allowed their peoples to critisize their king's or their country's way of running things?
The expulsion of the Jews in 1492 has often been quoted as an example of the Spaniards' religious intolerance. However, many other expulsions took place in Europe during the Middle Ages. Though the expulsion from Spain of at least 200,000 Jews was by far the largest and most significant, this can be explained by the fact that Spain had the largest Jewish community.
France 1182
England 1290
France 1306
Austria 1421
Crown of Aragon 1492
Many other countries were already well ahead of the Spaniards in their persecution of Jews. Spain was not the first, nor the last, to hold on to an inquisition, and it is merely cited as such due to the Black Legend.
The legend depicts the Spanish Inquisition as cruel and bloodthirsty. The Inquisition already existed in many European countries before it was established in Spain in 1480. It appeared in 1184, and torture was first used in 1252. That was a
usual method in the medieval legal system, and its application was
much more violent in the secular justice.Sources:http://www.catholicleague.org/catholici ... skych2.htmhttp://www.answers.com/topic/black-legend[/quote]