The Black Legend and White Legend: Relationship Between the Spanish an

The Black Legend and White Legend: Relationship Between the Spanish and Indians in the New World The Spanish-Indian relationship can be defined in many ways. One definition used is through the Black Legend and the White Legend. The interpretation of the Black Legend can depend on whom you are talking to. The Black Legend speaks of the Spaniards abusing the Indians and being guilty of much more misconduct than history has ever recorded. The White Legend speaks of how the Spaniards benefitted the Indian society by building communities, hospitals and spreading the Word of God. There are two reasons why the Spaniards were so intent on spreading the Gospel. The first is because Spain wanted to ensure political and military means of safety and independence of their own religious community and even more so their predominance over others. The second was a deeper desire to convert, which included appealing to the minds and hearts of individual unbelievers by preaching, reasoning and if needed by force (Plumb 152). The conquest of the new world began with a small band of Spanish soldiers. The soldiers proceeded to march against and subdue the huge population of the mainland (Black 24). The Black Legend speaks of all that the Spanish had done to the Indians and the horrible things done to them and the land. This Black Legend exists only in areas where the people are "anti-Hispanic" especially where English is spoken, and in modern Spanish America (24). The White Legend is true only in reverse. The people who claim to believe in this Legend hold to the belief that the Spanish were a credit to society and help the Indians in their everyday lives by providing livestock and new medici... ... they had never intended to live. They were forced to lose their families in the name of the Spanish crown and the Spanish crown had only a vague knowledge of what was really happening in the new world. Which one, whether Black or White Legend, a person believes will have to depend on their own personal view of the truth. Bibliography Gibson, Charles. The Black Legend: Anti-Spanish Attitudes in the Old World and the new. New York: Knopf 1971. --------- Spain in America. New York: Harper 1966. --------- Spanish Tradition in America. Ny: Harper 1968. Haring, C.H. The Spanish Empire in America. New York: Oxford 1947. Ludenfeld, Marvin. 1492 Discovery Invasion Encounter. Massachussets: 1991. Plumb, J.H. The Spanish Seaborne Empire. New York: Knopf 1966. Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Conquest of Paradise. New York: Plume 1990.