Amerindian Genocide: Difference between revisions

|perpetrator = Spanish Empire<br>Portuguese Empire<br>British Empire<br>French Empire<br>Russian Empire<br>Mexican government<br>Canadian government<br>United States government<br>Argentine government<br>Chilean government<br>Brazilian government<br>Paraguayan government<br>Guatemalan government<br>[[Paxton Boys]]<br>[[Confederate States of America]]

When [[Christopher Columbus]] first landed in Mesoamerica in 1494, he took several members of the Arawak tribe captive in the hope that they could lead him to gold. Upon writing to King Ferdinand of Spain of his discovery, Columbus was granted permission to enslave the native population and use them to find gold. Columbus's troops immediately set about raping, killing and [[Torture|torturing]] in an attempt to force the natives to tell them where the gold was. Columbus organized several groups of armed men to search for the non-existent gold, leading to the deaths of thousands of sick and unarmed natives. Captives were used for sword practice, with Columbus's soldiers attempting to decapitate them or cut them in half with one blow. The situation was so bad that about 50,000 Taíno natives chose to commit suicide rather than live under Spanish rule.

Columbus enslaved the population of Hispaniola and set up a system wherein all natives over 14 were responsible for gathering a certain amount of gold each month, awarding them with a copper token to hang around their neck if they succeeded. If a native was caught without a token they would have their hands cut off and be allowed to bleed to death. Natives who attempted to flee slavery were torn apart with attack dogs. Sexual slavery was also widespread, with Columbus forcibly marrying native women to his men. During this period the native population of Hispaniola plummeted rapidly until it was practically wiped out, partly due to being killed and partly due to smallpox introduced by the Spanish which the natives had no immunity to. Columbus was eventually arrested by agents of the Spanish Crown for his atrocities, but the charges against him were dropped.   

After approximately three million natives were killed, the Spanish colonial authorities reformed their approach, adopting the ''[[encomienda]]'' system; a system of slavery wherein certain grant holders were awarded a monopoly on the labour of certain groups. Natives were allocated to certain ''encomiendero'' and put to work mining for gold. This ended up being deadlier than traditional slavery because there was no incentive to keep the native slaves alive as they could be replaced for free, resulting in the Spanish abusing and killing the native slaves regularly. The ''encomienda'' system has been described by modern historians as explicitly genocidal because it resulted in the intentional deaths of millions and the eradication of potentially thousands of native cultures.  

The Mexican government hired bands of scalp-hunters to hunt down and kill Apaches in the 1830s and 40s, offering a cash reward for every Apache scalp brought back. The most infamous of these groups was lead by [[John Joel Glanton]]. Many of these groups killed Mexican civilians in addition to Apaches since there was no way to distinguish between the scalps of Apaches and non-Apaches. The Mexican authorities eventually ended this practice in 1849 and declared all scalp-hunters outlaws when they realized how many non-Apaches were being targeted.  

In the 1870s, Argentina began a campaign of southward expansion into Patagonia to prevent Chilean influence in the region. This led to a series of conflicts against the indigenous Mapuche tribes living in the region, to which the Argentinians were successful in annexing the Patagonian region and subjugating the Mapuches. Many of the campaigns against the Mapuches happened under Julio Argentino Roca and the Mapuche resistance against Argentinian colonization is considered to be one of the most successful American indigenous resistance movements in history. Some have considered the Conquest to be a civilizing mission, while others labelled it as a genocide.

Due to continuous attacks by Selk'nam warriors on miners and farmers, the settlers decided to put an end to the attacks by attempting to completely eradicate the Selk'nam population. Most of the massacres took place under the orders of explorer [[Julius Popper]]. Many of the victims were raped and mutilated and others were captured to be sold to concentration camps and [[Human Zoo|human zoos]]. The extermination policy remained in place until the last full-blooded Selk'nam, Angela Loji, died in 1974.

Many wars were fought against Native American tribes in the United States of America, first by colonial powers and then by the United States government. These wars left thousands, if not millions, of Natives dead and are generally viewed as [[Xenophobia|xenophobic]] and genocidal, often leading to colonists adopting policies of outright extermination against the natives if they started winning (notable examples of this tactic being seen in the Pequot War, King Philip’s War the French and Indian War and the First Seminole War among others).  

Once all the Moravian Indians had gathered, the militia confiscated their guns and axes (which they used for hunting), tied them up and announced that they had been found guilty of false charges of [[murder]] and espionage. The militia voted in favour of killing them (with the exception of eighteen who refused to take part in the massacre) before taking them to “killing houses” on 8 March where they were beaten, [[Scalping|scalped]] and hacked to death while singing hymns and praying. Many native women were [[Gang Rape|gang-raped]] by the militia before being killed. Overall, 96 Moravian Indian men, women and children were killed. The militia planned to commit another massacre at a nearby Moravian Indian settlement but the inhabitants were alerted to the events at Gnadenhutten and fled before the militia arrived.  

On 28 May 1830, President [[Andrew Jackson]] signed into law the [[Indian Removal Act]], which authorized the US government to confiscate Native American land. The Act was strongly enforced under Jackson’s presidency and that of his successor [[Martin Van Buren]].  

Under the Indian Removal Act, the government had a mandate to remove 50, 000 Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole and Chickasaw people from their homeland and seize it for themselves. No means of transportation were provided after the Natives were removed, meaning they were forced to walk 2, 200 miles to Indian reservations. 4,000 deaths were reported on one march alone, and estimates of the total death toll range from 5,000 to 25, 000. Others Natives were herded into [[concentration camp]]s until new land was found for then to settle on, but this was generally used as a last resort.  

Following the American conquest of California, the American government decided to remove the native population of approximately 150, 000 in order to make room for white settlers. This started with the first meeting of the California State Legislature in 1846, when it was decided that white settlers had the right to forcibly adopt native children against their will and instituted enslavement as the punishment for any crimes committed by natives, up to and including minor crimes such as loitering and drunkenness.  

Three years later, Colorado governor John Evans declared that any native should move to a fort to be granted protection by the U.S. Government, otherwise they will be declared hostile. A peaceful Cheyenne tribe led by the chiefs who signed the Fort Wise treaty set out to move to the fort to be granted protection and decided to camp at Sand Creek. On May 16th, the 3rd Colorado Cavalry under [[John Chivington]] began attacking the camp, despite the chiefs signifying that they were peaceful. Under Chivington's orders, the soldiers opened fire and attacked the camp, where they killed and mutilated over one hundred women and children. Chiefs White Antelope and Lean Bear were killed during the massacre, while Black Kettle managed to escape the camp.

In 1864, after a Navajo tribe led by Chief Manuelito were defeated by the U.S. Army with the help of a Ute tribe, they were forced to walk 300 miles from their ancestral homelands in Arizona to eastern New Mexico. The U.S. soldiers were complicit in the suffering of the Navajo during the Long Walk. One account based on oral history states that a pregnant Navajo woman was killed by the soldiers after they denied her family's request to hold up and let her give birth, stating that she wouldn't survive anyway. The Navajo were also subjected to slavery after being captured by New Mexican and Ute raiders. It is estimated that about 200 Navajo died on the Long Walk.

Based on the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, the U.S. government was able to convince the Lakota tribe to move to the Great Sioux Reservation in return for less inhumane treatment. At around this time the Sioux took up the "Ghost Dance" religion, which taught that loving each other, working hard and not stealing or fighting would lead to the reunion of the living and the dead and the sweeping away of evil. White authorities, alarmed by this new religion, began arresting Lakota leaders, leading to many Lakota attempting to flee the reservation.

On December 19, 1890, the Seventh Cavalry Unit, lead by [[James W. Forsyth]] and acting on orders from President [[Benjamin Harrison]], intercepted a group led by Chief Spotted Elk as they were fleeing the reservation. Forsyth announced that they were to surrender all their weapons, but one deaf-mute man, Black Coyote, did not understand what was going on and failed to put down his rifle. The soldiers attempted to take the rifle from him, causing it to go off. This panicked the soldiers, who opened fire on the unarmed Lakota. Women and children fled and took cover in a nearby ravine but were killed when Forsyth ordered light artillery positioned on the hill to fire on their position. It is estimated that around 300 Lakota were killed in the massacre.