Recognition for Spain

Le Regard Libre N° 32 - Hélène Lavoyer

Christopher Columbus's second voyage to South America began on September 25, 1493. 524 years later, colonization is still a hot topic. The pamphlet A very brief account of the destruction of India, published in 1552, was intended to be a relief for the natives; instead, it created a distaste for Spain.

«Very brief relationship»

When you look at Bartolomé de Las Casas' words, which he sent to Prince Philip of Spain in his A very brief account of the destruction of India, You'll feel your heart squeeze and dry up as you discover some of the monstrosities inflicted on Latin American Indians during the colonial era, each more atrocious than the last. It's hard to even finish this A very brief relationship which emphasizes and emphasizes images of horror that the imagination struggles to grasp.

Bartolomé de Las Casas was one of the first voices to speak out against the torture and exploitation suffered daily by Latin American Indians. In a raw, sometimes exaggerated and often debated way, he evokes the Indian communities, their numbers, their wealth, their immaterialism, their devotion and docility to the Spanish conquistadors. This work of unprecedented power, made up of words drawn from the priest's appalled heart, represents the need to cry out the disappearance of something priceless, the urgency to rise up. What a noble desire.

An entry in the Légende Noire

However, even the most moral wills and noble desires can have unexpected consequences. A very brief relationship. No one in the world can condemn a cry as heart-rending and useful as that of Las Casas, and it is fortunate that he was guided by it. In spite of himself, however, Bartolomé de Las Casas contributed to the construction of the Black Legend, which gradually relegated Spain, the great fatherland, to the last place in Europe, one day queen of the continent, the next a disgrace.

The concept of the Black Legend was coined by Julián Juderías, a Spanish historian, sociologist and journalist. It's about a negative perception of Spanish history and a Manichean interpretation of it. It goes without saying that the study and understanding of the smallest event or region already involves a multitude of facts; when it comes to the history of an entire country, it's impossible to simplify things or look at them from a one-sided point of view. Yet this is the fate that has befallen Spanish history, which many have discredited once the truth about the horrors of colonization has been uncovered.

Why Spain? Why not France, or England? They too, among others, have actively colonized, plundered, exploited, forcibly Christianized and silenced peoples the world over. In his introduction to Las Casas' work, Roberto Fernandez Retamar analyzes this pamphlet and warns that, while the horrors did exist, they and other Spanish events took precedence, distancing Spain from the rest of the world when it was almost at its center. Roberto Fernandez Retamar's thesis is that Las Casas' indictment has given this Black Legend a new dimension.

Retamar sets out to enumerate the beauty and power of Spain, and its contribution to philosophical, artistic, religious and cultural evolution in Europe and Africa.

Spanish heritage

A true crossroads between Islam, Christianity and Judaism, Spain boasts a diverse culture. One of the great events in Spain was the Muslim presence between 711 and 1492; al-Andalus bequeathed architectural gems such as the mosque in Cordoba and the Alhambra in Granada, and gave rise to thinkers whose most famous representative is Averroës. Even today, his commentaries on Aristotle are among the most renowned and studied in universities. Arab culture also influenced medicine, mathematics, astronomy, agronomy... and their influence spread to Europe, with texts from all fields being used by Copernicus and Galileo. As a result, architecture, literature and the decorative arts became «Arabized».

And how can we not mention the artistic heritage that Spain has bequeathed us? Europe's successive art movements have all produced great artists: El Greco in the Renaissance, Velasquez in Baroque painting, and Picasso, considered the founding father of the Cubist movement. The writer Cervantes, the fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga and the film-maker Pedro Almodóvar are other figures who have each had a special place in Spanish and European culture.

In September 1493, Christopher Columbus began the conquest and colonization of the New World. A world brimming with beauty, riches and civilization. While the memory of the millions of Latin American Indians must be honored, if only to raise awareness of the dangers of colonization - which even today suffocates cultures and peoples - it is also necessary to remember the riches of a country, to forgive it. The Spain of the conquistadors may have been ugly, driven by greed, but the Black Legend has no place in an open and curious world.

Write to the author: lavoyer.helene@gmail.com

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