scholarly journals Punishing the sea wolf: corsairs and cannibals in the early modern Caribbean

2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 201-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kris Lane
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Spanish Caribbean ◽  
Similar Image ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Western European ◽  
Western Law ◽  
Semantic Linkage

Looks at how Western law was interpreted and applied to perceived cannibals and corsairs in the Spanish Caribbean in the 16th and 17th c., by Spanish jurists in the period, and at the development of the cannibal and corsair image in Spanish culture. Author outlines the convergence of terms suggesting a growing semantic linkage between certain indigenous peoples, specially the famed "Carib cannibals", and foreign, mostly Western European, corsairs poaching on Spanish wealth. He describes how of the Caribs, said to be cannibals, involved in piracy, an image was constructed of not only cannibals, but also greedy criminals, or rebelers against Catholicism, in order to (legally) justify punishments or wars against them, and thus Spanish rule. He then discusses how of French, British, and other corsairs in the Caribbean involved in piracy against the Spanish, an in some ways similar image was painted of fanatical canine types ruled by appetites, and also of anti-Catholic heretics and criminals, in order to justify punishments as well as the Spanish claim on rule of the Caribbean.

An Early Jesuit Encounter with the Qur’an

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Paul Shore
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
European Language ◽  
Intended Audience ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Western European

The manuscipt Animadversiones, Notae ac Disputationes in Pestilentem Alcoranum is an almost entirely unknown translation of the Qur'an into baroque Latin completed by the Jesuit priest Ignazio Lomellini in 1622, of which only one copy exists. It is accompanied by extensive commentaries and includes a complete text of the Qur’an in Arabic and numerous marginalia. It is, therefore, one of the earliest complete translations of the Qur’an into a western European language and a crucial document of the encounter between western Christianity and Islam in the early modern period. This essay examines Lomellini’s understanding of Arabic and, specifically, of the cultural and religious underpinnings of Qur’anic Arabic. Special attention is given to his lexical choices. This essay also deals with the document’s intended audience, the resources upon which he drew (including the library of his patron, Cardinal Alessandro Orsini), and the manuscript’s relationship to the Jesuits’ broader literary and missionary efforts. Finally, it asks why scholars, particularly those who study the history of the Jesuits, have ignored this manuscript and its author.

scholarly journals Overcoming Issues in Ancient Puerto Rican Boulder Art Research: Reflections from the La Mina Petroglyph Project

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Rhianna C. Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Spanish Caribbean ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Art Research ◽  
Number Of Publications ◽  
Funding Opportunities

Puerto Rico has long been understood by archaeologists as a key geographical location for understanding the succession of cultural occupations in the Caribbean (Alegría, 1965; Curet, 2006; Siegel, 2005.) Unfortunately, despite the importance of archaeology in this region, the island has been continuously effected by socio-economic instability, lack of archaeological funding opportunities, few specialized academic programs, and a heavy focus on cultural resource management (CRM) rather than academic research. Though more Puerto Rican-focused archaeologists have joined the academic discussion, publications in this area are still relatively low and heavily focused on CRM and salvage work. Poor funding and resources for non-consulting archaeological projects has relegated Puerto Rico to the “island with the lowest number of publications in the Spanish Caribbean.” (L.A. Current, 2006 pg. 656). This paper will highlight some of the limitations of working in Puerto Rican archaeology. We will use the experiences we gained from our research project at the La Mina archaeological site to shed light on some of the difficulties we encountered as well as (hopefully) encourage an increase in academic and financial support for this understudied region of the Caribbean.

Catholics in Colonial America (1500–1700)

2020 ◽  
pp. 325-355
Author(s):  
David W. Kling
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
North America ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
New World ◽  
Colonial America ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
Attitudes And Practices ◽  
Alta California ◽  
Full Knowledge ◽  
The Caribbean

Conversionary efforts in the New World mirrored attitudes and practices in the Old. Christendom remained as much a project in the New as in the Old, and thus religious differences remained as problematic in the Americas as they did in Europe. Images of military conflict—combat, battle, and victory—language familiar on the Continent—infused the outlook of early modern Catholic missionaries, whereas Spanish and French missionaries in the New World often had the arm of the state to protect them and, all too often, to coerce the natives. This chapter selectively examines initial missionary efforts in a variety of locations—Spanish missionary outreach in the Caribbean, Peru, and Alta California and French missions in North America. The depth of Native American conversions was as varied as the methods used to produce them. On a superficial level, conversion meant a transfer of loyalty or allegiance, often without a full knowledge of what that transfer entailed. Or, with defeat, conversion might represent a conscious acknowledgment of the more powerful Christian God over weaker traditional deities.

Slavery in the Americas

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert L. Paquette ◽  
Mark M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
New World ◽  
Western World ◽  
Slave Society ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Forced Relocation ◽  
Western European ◽  
Ethnic Origins

This article presents a general discussion of slavery in the Americas. Slavery in the Americas pre-dated Columbus, but once taking root in the Americas under western European auspices, acquired a predominantly commercial character whose benefaction to the sustained economic growth of the Western world no serious scholar can any longer doubt. The introduction of slavery into the New World affected indigenous peoples in many ways, sometimes drawing them into the orbit of slave society, sometimes alienating them from it, and sometimes augmenting a preexisting commitment to different types of slavery already practiced by some of those societies. The experiences of the enslaved also varied depending in factors such as the ethnic origins of the slave, the timing of his or her forced relocation to the Americas, the type and size of plantation, and the particular proclivities and personalities of the master and mistress.

Religion

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Gardina Pestana
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Atlantic World ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Central Area ◽  
Protestant Reformation ◽  
The North ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
South Portugal

Religion shaped the early modern Atlantic world in many ways. Although Iberian expansion began before the Protestant Reformation, Europe soon divided between Protestant and Catholic, and this division created a context for European understandings of the purpose of expansion. With permission from the pope to evangelize outside the Old World, the Spanish and the Portuguese split the extra-European world between them; Spain was responsible for most of the Americas (excluding only the area that would become Brazil), while Portugal took Brazil and Africa (as well as Asia). Soon representatives of each kingdom were at work, conquering, colonizing, and evangelizing. Protestantism, although it arrived late in the contest for colonies and trade in this New World, was central to Spanish understanding of its work; evangelizing the native peoples of the Americas would add additional souls to the church, making up for those who had been lost to the Protestant Reformation. When Protestants finally became involved in colonizing the Americas and trading with Africa, they similarly understood their role as combating the reach and influence of their Catholic rivals. If in 1600 the European presence outside of Europe was overwhelmingly Catholic, by 1700 a map of the spread of Christianity showed varied results. Spain controlled the central area of the Americas, including much of South America and the Caribbean, all of Central America, and all the southern area of North America (from Florida and New Mexico south). Portugal had Brazil, while Catholic France held Quebec to the north and selected islands in the Caribbean. The Protestant presence was predominantly British, and included eastern North America between Quebec and Florida as well as some islands in the Caribbean. The Protestant Dutch also held island colonies and a South American outpost. West Africa and West Central Africa hosted trading forts controlled by most of these European powers, from which were shipped slaves as well as trade goods. The religious rivalries of early modern Europe had been effectively exported. Every faith represented along the shores of the Atlantic prior to contact would participate in the intermixing that occurred afterward. The history of religion in the Atlantic world therefore explores the variety of traditions within that world and the effects of the circulation, transplantation, and encounter of these various faiths.

The Spanish Caribbean, 1492–1550

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ida Altman
Keyword(s):  
Native Americans ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Christopher Columbus ◽  
Spanish Caribbean ◽  
African Slaves ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Diverse Groups

The arrival of Christopher Columbus in the northern Caribbean with three Spanish ships in October 1492 marked the beginning of continuing European contact with the Americas. With his second voyage of 1493 permanent European occupation of the Caribbean began, with enormous consequences for the peoples and ecology of the region. Failing to encounter the wealthy trading societies that Columbus had hoped to find by reaching Asia, Europeans in the Caribbean soon realized that they would have to involve themselves directly in organizing profitable enterprises. Gold mining in the northern islands and pearl fishing in the islands off the coast of Tierra Firme (present-day Venezuela) for some years proved enormously profitable but depended on Spaniards’ ability to exploit indigenous labor on a large scale. The imposition of the Spanish encomienda system, which required indigenous communities to provide labor for mining and commercial agriculture, and the large-scale capture and transportation of Native Americans from one locale to another wrought havoc among the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean, resulting in high mortality and flight. Spaniards in the islands soon sought to supplement indigenous labor by importing African slaves who, in the early 16th century, became a significant if not always easily controlled presence in the region. From the earliest years the Spanish Caribbean was a complex, dynamic, and volatile region characterized by extensive interaction and conflict among diverse groups of people and by rapid economic and institutional development. Although the islands became the launching grounds for subsequent Spanish moves to the nearby mainland, throughout the 16th century and beyond they played a crucial role in sustaining Spain’s overseas empire and integrating it into the larger Atlantic system.

Early Modern Afro-Caribbean Healers

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo F. Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Native American ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Human Body ◽  
New World ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Cultural Survival ◽  
Spanish Caribbean ◽  
Natural Landscapes

In the early modern Spanish Caribbean, ritual practitioners of African descent were essential providers of health care for Caribbean people of all origins. Arriving from West and West Central Africa, Europe, and other Caribbean and New World locales, black healers were some of the most important shapers of practices related to the human body in the region. They openly performed bodily rituals of African, European, and Native American inspiration. Theirs is not a history uniquely defined by resistance or attempts at cultural survival, but rather by the creation of political and social capital through healing practices. Such a project was only possible through their exploration of and engagement with early modern Caribbean human and natural landscapes.

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