The Come-Back, Day 34. Of Slaves and Statues.
These days, we have been hearing about statues getting beheaded, thrown into the sea, getting painted on, mutilated, etc. All because those statues represent certain people whose past was not glorious in the department of race relations. So, Christopher Columbus got beheaded in Boston, and Edward Colston got knocked into Bristol harbor.
Until now, we have worshipped men like these for all the advances they made to civilization. Our civilization. Europe. But our world no longer stops at the Atlantic Ocean and the Ural mountains. It's grown, and when we speak with our Chinese co-worker, our Ghanian neighbor, our Bolivian acquaintance, our Afghani doctor, we discover that they have a history just as rich as ours, and, more importantly, just as valid.
History is not just stories of brave discoveries and conquests. History is a story of people competing for natural resources and the power and wealth they bring. That people which is victorious, for whatever reason, is the people that imposes their point of view to the detriment of others. We have to recognize that. Statues of European heroes bristle the hackles of those whom these heroes subjugated.
Christopher Columbus was a sailor who wanted to make a name for himself, and who had been canny enough to calculate that sailing in a westerly direction one would eventually reach Asia. It's not true that he "proved" the earth was round; educated people of that time already knew it wasn't flat. The Romans knew it wasn't flat. To fund his journey, he found in Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragón the perfect couple. They wanted to extend the dominion of Catholic Spain to prove that God continued with them after expelling the Moors. They were willing to risk a large sum of money to acquire even more through conquest and controlling major trade routes that would be quicker to navigate than the ones the rival Portuguese had around the Cape of Good Hope.
He was lucky. Even though he hadn't found the trade route he wanted, he created a new one that led to continents with natural riches that would fund many wars Spain would wage in coming years. At the same time, included in those riches, were slaves. This is the major reason people don't like him now, including the fact that he introduced European colonization in the Americas, with all the havoc that wrought.
But slavery was not something new. It has existed since mankind exists. Conquering armies made slaves of the conquered. What is not mentioned very often in history books, though, is that slavery existed in Europe way beyond the Romans. Eastern slavic people were often sold into slavery (hence the name slave, from slav). The Ottomans took conquered Christians as slaves (Dracul was a slave of the Ottomans for a time). The Spanish also had Moors as slaves, and the Moors had Christians as slaves. And then, toward the end of the Moorish kingdom in Spain, African slaves started to be sold here.
Spain became the European country with the most African slaves. Seville was mentioned to resemble a chess board in the 17th century, because of the proliferation of blacks among whites. Many people owned at least one slave, and some land owners had many, working the land. In Cádiz, 15% of the total population at the beginning of the 18th century were African slaves.
Spain never formally abolished slavery. Attempts were made to pass laws in the middle of the nineteenth century, but they never were. Laws were passed in the colonies, though, such as Cuba, at the end of the nineteenth. Slavery just seemed to die out in the peninsula on its own.
Where did all these people of African descent go? Why aren't there people with dark skin like there are in the United States? The answers are mixed. Some argue that skin color was not as much of an issue as purity of blood, so mixed marriages were not frowned upon. Since the Catholic Kings' establishment of the Inquisition, what mattered most in late medieval, early modern Spain, was establishing that one's ancestors were neither Jewish nor Muslim. The argument of one African descendant who wanted to enter the Capuchin order in Seville was that, despite being of African origin, his blood was pure because he didn't descend from Jews, Moors, or heretics. He was allowed to join the order.
Others say that they weren't encouraged to marry or have children, and were generally released when they were too old to have children. Others say that they intermarried with other Spaniards. One of those that are known to have done so, was a slave called Juan Latino. He was owned by the Duke of Sessa, and was of the same age as the Duke's son, and thereby allowed to sit with the son at the same studies, at which Juan happened to excel. He accompanied the Duke's son to the newly founded University of Granada, where he earned his bachelor's degree. Upon earning it, the Duke set him free, and he was offered a professorship of Latin Grammar at the University. He went on to earn his doctorate and wrote various epic poems in Latin. He married the daughter of a titled family, Ana de Carleval, and had four children with her. Yes, Ana was white, and there didn't seem to be any argument against their marriage. This is a video I found that talks about Juan Latino and slavery in Europe in general.
So, if we're going to do revisionism with statues, how about we put up some to honor those who, like Juan Latino, embody human dignity? We can't rewrite history, and things, like slavery, that once were accepted, are not any more. Yet, we can understand them in their context. And we should learn that, the more cultures that share the same country, the more other cultures become part of our shared experience. We should study others' histories because they are just as important as ours, and helped to shape the world we live in today.
Life continues.
Until now, we have worshipped men like these for all the advances they made to civilization. Our civilization. Europe. But our world no longer stops at the Atlantic Ocean and the Ural mountains. It's grown, and when we speak with our Chinese co-worker, our Ghanian neighbor, our Bolivian acquaintance, our Afghani doctor, we discover that they have a history just as rich as ours, and, more importantly, just as valid.
History is not just stories of brave discoveries and conquests. History is a story of people competing for natural resources and the power and wealth they bring. That people which is victorious, for whatever reason, is the people that imposes their point of view to the detriment of others. We have to recognize that. Statues of European heroes bristle the hackles of those whom these heroes subjugated.
Christopher Columbus was a sailor who wanted to make a name for himself, and who had been canny enough to calculate that sailing in a westerly direction one would eventually reach Asia. It's not true that he "proved" the earth was round; educated people of that time already knew it wasn't flat. The Romans knew it wasn't flat. To fund his journey, he found in Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragón the perfect couple. They wanted to extend the dominion of Catholic Spain to prove that God continued with them after expelling the Moors. They were willing to risk a large sum of money to acquire even more through conquest and controlling major trade routes that would be quicker to navigate than the ones the rival Portuguese had around the Cape of Good Hope.
He was lucky. Even though he hadn't found the trade route he wanted, he created a new one that led to continents with natural riches that would fund many wars Spain would wage in coming years. At the same time, included in those riches, were slaves. This is the major reason people don't like him now, including the fact that he introduced European colonization in the Americas, with all the havoc that wrought.
But slavery was not something new. It has existed since mankind exists. Conquering armies made slaves of the conquered. What is not mentioned very often in history books, though, is that slavery existed in Europe way beyond the Romans. Eastern slavic people were often sold into slavery (hence the name slave, from slav). The Ottomans took conquered Christians as slaves (Dracul was a slave of the Ottomans for a time). The Spanish also had Moors as slaves, and the Moors had Christians as slaves. And then, toward the end of the Moorish kingdom in Spain, African slaves started to be sold here.
Spain became the European country with the most African slaves. Seville was mentioned to resemble a chess board in the 17th century, because of the proliferation of blacks among whites. Many people owned at least one slave, and some land owners had many, working the land. In Cádiz, 15% of the total population at the beginning of the 18th century were African slaves.
Spain never formally abolished slavery. Attempts were made to pass laws in the middle of the nineteenth century, but they never were. Laws were passed in the colonies, though, such as Cuba, at the end of the nineteenth. Slavery just seemed to die out in the peninsula on its own.
Where did all these people of African descent go? Why aren't there people with dark skin like there are in the United States? The answers are mixed. Some argue that skin color was not as much of an issue as purity of blood, so mixed marriages were not frowned upon. Since the Catholic Kings' establishment of the Inquisition, what mattered most in late medieval, early modern Spain, was establishing that one's ancestors were neither Jewish nor Muslim. The argument of one African descendant who wanted to enter the Capuchin order in Seville was that, despite being of African origin, his blood was pure because he didn't descend from Jews, Moors, or heretics. He was allowed to join the order.
Others say that they weren't encouraged to marry or have children, and were generally released when they were too old to have children. Others say that they intermarried with other Spaniards. One of those that are known to have done so, was a slave called Juan Latino. He was owned by the Duke of Sessa, and was of the same age as the Duke's son, and thereby allowed to sit with the son at the same studies, at which Juan happened to excel. He accompanied the Duke's son to the newly founded University of Granada, where he earned his bachelor's degree. Upon earning it, the Duke set him free, and he was offered a professorship of Latin Grammar at the University. He went on to earn his doctorate and wrote various epic poems in Latin. He married the daughter of a titled family, Ana de Carleval, and had four children with her. Yes, Ana was white, and there didn't seem to be any argument against their marriage. This is a video I found that talks about Juan Latino and slavery in Europe in general.
So, if we're going to do revisionism with statues, how about we put up some to honor those who, like Juan Latino, embody human dignity? We can't rewrite history, and things, like slavery, that once were accepted, are not any more. Yet, we can understand them in their context. And we should learn that, the more cultures that share the same country, the more other cultures become part of our shared experience. We should study others' histories because they are just as important as ours, and helped to shape the world we live in today.
Life continues.
 |
| Signature of Juan Latino |
Wouldn't be wonderful if we put up statues of writers, artists, musicians, humanitarians, teachers instead of military.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! These are the ones that deserve the honor!
Delete