COLOMBIA THROUGH TIME (week 12-13)

Sebastian`s life was wonderful, he had all things he wanted, but not all things he wanted. He was born in the sixteenth of August 1536, and so his parents considered him “a gift from God to celebrate victory” but he didn`t consider himself as such thing. It was August sixteenth 1544, and Sebastian was bored in his huge room, with all kinds of luxuries in his big mansion at Barcelona, thinking of the only wish he had made since he was 3: that he could go out of his fantasy world of rich and explore how the world was. But suddenly a familiar voice woke him up saying: “Sebastian we`re leaving the country”. When the young boy heard the news, he thought his dream was finally becoming true, and he got so excited that he packed his bags in almost a second. He was going to Colombia as a birthday gift from his parents, because they were aware of Sebastian`s dream, and it was the family’s first time.

When he arrived to the colony, he saw it a little different than Spain. There were people with rare clothes, making sounds with some things that he couldn`t even dream of. He was not scared, but, as many other kids, he was interested, and he asked his mother who they were, but he was amazingly surprised when she said they were nothing he should worry about, because his mother had never answered him that way before, and the mystery interested him even more. At the big house were him and his family were staying, he heard his parents talk: “Sebastian is a very special boy, but he is interested in foolish things, when we know he could become minister”…

At the next morning, after what he learned after his short presence in Colombia, he looked into some books, but they talked about how Colombia became a great place since the colonialism, but he wanted to see something different. Some minutes later, he saw how everything changed, and he felt like he was in a movie, and it skipped ahead many years. When finally everything was calm, he found himself in a plane space, with plenty of Sun, but what was happening wasn`t as good as the day. It was a battle, and he saw as the two bands killed each other, but there was one side which seemed more powerful than the other one. One had armors, and was very strong, and Sebastian immediately recognized it as the people he saw very often at home. The other side was likely to the people he saw when he first arrived to Colombia, and he saw them suffering in big amounts. The scene was the worst thing he had ever seen, with plenty of blood and deaths, so he realized that back home he was living in a fairy tale. It was all skipped ahead again, and he found himself in a better place: it was a marked, but Sebastian felt very confused, and he was in shock so he passed out. At the next day, he was in the ground of the same place that he was before he passed out. It was the same market in an afternoon, and he saw people with a different culture then he was used to, there was plenty of noise, and people selling and buying things, when he saw a newspaper saying: “Bolivar, the Saver of the Independence”. In the newspaper, it was March 5 1811, and he asked a seller: “Where am I? Who is Bolivar? Who are they? Why is it 1811? ...

The man didn`t even look at him, so he asked again, but the man still didn`t pay attention. Sebastian didn’t understand a thing about what was happening, and he knew he had to discover things on his own. Some days later, he was still in the same place, which wasn`t so strange to him after some investigation. He realized he was still in Colombia, but it changed. Now his country didn`t rule Colombia, but it was a different government. When he found out about all this, he also saw that Colombia was a little smaller than he remembered, and he knew many things had changed, he somehow knew that it was a more peaceful way, despite the battle he saw earlier, because in mysterious ways he knew that battle was worth it. Once more, he saw how everything changed, but this time it was a rewind, and he was again at Colombia in December 6th 1544, reading the same book he was reading before the craziness started, and then his mother told him: “Sebastian, honey, are you all right?” He stood still and said: “This will change”.

THE INDEPENCE (wk 11a)

As we well know, the Spanish government did things in Colombia that benefited them and their people. There was a stratocracy established in Sevilla, and it represented the King Fernando 7th, and it was the government during that time in Colombia, and it ruled very radically on every aspects. This government didn`t realize that their harsh ways of ruling could come into unexpected consequences. So during these people
ruled, others were planning a revolution and being prepared. Among other conflicts, the people who were planning a revolution didn`t realize that some more conflicts were going to be presented, and that was another reason to be prepared (all this happened in 1808, because 2 years before the independence they were already setting up a strategy for freedom).

It was a very hard work to accomplish the independence for everyone in all aspects, and now all that was left to do was to organize a new government with a better rule, and so they tried to build a more modern thing: “La Independencia constituye, entonces, un fenómeno de ruptura y transición, un esfuerzo por salir del pasado y por construir la modernidad” (Colombia, Imágenes de su Diversidad, pg. 127). But this did not result, and brought our country plenty of civil wars, politic debates, popular conflicts, etc. These conflicts brought a failure in the Republic, because of bad organization from the new government, and because of this failure, this was called by some “La patria boba”.

The independence was a very hard thing to get, and, we got it, and many things changed since the independence, but our government didn`t think well about the consequences that the new and first republic (since the colonialism) would bring if some did not agree with the new form of government , and this brought to failure into the first Republic and led to bad things. In conclusion, the independence was accomplished, but its organization and its first attempt to make a good government failed.

THE FARMS (wk 10a)

The farms were very useful businesses but they were not very studied themes, and that is going to be the theme for this week’s essay. These farms were very good systems for everyone, since they helped them in all aspects, plus it was not a hard business to handle.
The ranches produced every variety of things, such as “cacao”, banana, sugar, fruits, etc, and these things went out to the market and were sold at very good prices for the costumers and for the owners of the ranches.
The people were all satisfied with the new business, and they started to have ranches all over Colombia. These places were very big, because to be able to produce something, they needed certain space to produce good products and with more order. The farms also could last a lot of time in function, and this made a long time of life with many benefits for many generations.

As mentioned before, the farms were very good businesses and was one of the benefits during the colonialism, but these places had also many debts and neighbors often complained about them. Some ranches didn’t work and had to close because they had a bad start or because they didn’t produce enough things to pay for them later.
Some farms specified on producing a single thing, like “cacao”, because it was sold vey good and people found it easier to produce and a smarter way to handle farms.
Farms benefited natives too, because they saw it as living their own law, as we can see in the book: “Basta afirmar que fue un simbolo de libertad para indios que huian de la oppression de sus encomenderos o para marginados que huían de la justicia y deseaban vivir en su propia ley” (Colombia, Imágenes de su Divesidad, pg 101).
Farms lasted a lot of time because as the owners died, their heirs assumed control over the farms. Mostly the people with power owned a farm, so it was mostly the Spaniards who owned a ranch, and it was very rarely that the natives had a fam of their own.

In conclusion, we see that the ranches were a step up in economic situations during the colonialism, and they even benefited natives, but they also caused trouble in the government. The owners were mostly rich and powerful, plus these places sometimes were very varied and sometimes they weren´t, because the “cacao” was a very good business. Some were not successful because of different reasons.

THE SLAVES (WEEK 9)

During the colonialism, an important fact happened: the Europeans took black people and the mixture of Spaniards with natives as slaves to satisfy their needs. The slaves` ways of living, of eating, and their habits are going to be our theme for this week. Their life conditions were really tough and exhausting, but unfortunately there was nothing they could do to avoid the slavery or even soften it. The slaves weren`t only men, but the women, children, and third age people had to suffer the same conditions.

The number of slaves was amazingly high, and this fact was for the Europeans to take advantage of a lot. The Spaniards mainly used the slaves to destroy the native architectural design, and change it into more interesting designs, so the slaves were useful to help build that. They also helped to search for gold in the mines, and to help in the houses in their masters. They built their homes in ranches, in places that gave homes to plenty of slaves and families, even though those were very small places for such a big amounts of slaves, including families and couples.

Their bad situations of living exposed them to bad situations of living exposed them to diseases: “Quienes sobrevivían quedaban expuestos a múltiples enfermedades”(Colombia, imágenes de su diversidad, pg 94). Their masters were supposed to take care of them, meaning to give them food, clothes, and supply them with needed medicines and health. The masters accomplished with all these tasks, but the help was minimum, because the needed care was not taken and the slaves did not have enough money or sources to satisfy their needs. Some were so crazy that even hit their masters.

The slaves had to work a lot, but they couldn`t complain about anything, because their punishment was severe, and it was the same conditions for women, men, and children.

The responsibility of the slaves` health and care was mainly of the masters, because traditionally they were supposed to assure all the needs of the slaves in exchange for work, but this didn`t last much, especially when the slaves were powerless, and, in contrast, the masters were very powerful. Some slaves managed to escape these places, others got caught triyng to escape, and others were scared of escaping.

The slaves lived in ranches, eating whatever they could find, and that affected their chances of living longer, because they died of diseases, of cold, hunger, and fatigue. The Spaniards took the black people as slaves because they were very resistant to everything. The economic situations of the slaves were also very bad so they had to take advantage of every little thing that the Europeans provided them, even though it was a very unfair situation, because they worked more than 12 hours and their pay was a little food and clothes.

The diseases were very common among the slaves, because they didn`t eat well, plus it was very hard work, with almost no rest, and they had no vaccination to anything, so their exposure to any kinds of diseases was very high. These facts could also apply to the prices of the slaves, because they might be useless with a serious disease or a defect. The young slaves (children) weren`t bought too often because in their growth they were more exposed to infectious disease than the adults, and they were also very weak and small.

As a conclusion, the slaves had to destroy their own things, cave in mines, and serve the houses in exchange for little food clothes, and health. Besides, they had to live in little ranches for plenty of slaves and very ill in all aspects. They were so ill that the Europeans had to isolate the slaves with viruses to keep them from spreading them, because there were already very few slaves.

AGUIRRE THE WRATH OF GOD (wk 7-8)

This movie is about the trip of the Spaniards into the Amazonian jungle looking for the native leyend “El Dorado”. Their crazy leader Aguirre, who overthrows the former leader when he orders to retreat and surrender because of lack of food and fatigue. Aguirre continues the trip, in which plenty die and many natives escape.
The man who writes a diary about this, is a priest who was present in all that happened and made the fact that this story is known as reality.

In the trip, many question Aguirre’s power and are afraid the leader kills them, so they have to obey him in everything, because any mistake can be fatal and can come into an abrupt end because anyone that objects, thinks or does things differently is killed. Besides the lack of food, they also have to carry a carriage because the wife of the ex-emperor and Aguirre’s daughter decide to join him in his trip. When the wife of the former leader asks the priest for help to save her husband`s life, he responds saying: “the church is always in the side of the strong”.
The movie explains that the Europeans also suffered because there were constant native attacks, and they couldn`t see or touch the enemy, because the natives knew the jungle more than anyone, but, in contrast, the Europeans didn`t know anything about it. They were very lost, and most of them died of hunger, cold, or tiredness. Besides, in that time the estimation of life was very short period of time, caused by viruses, heart attacks, etc.

The director of the movie is Werner Herzog, and after this movie he became very famous and one of the best directors in his country. This successful movie, with very deep and detailed investigations, plus good actors and based in a real story, was made in December 29 1972. This movie also explains that the Europeans also suffered in their trip to Colombia a lot. It was a success because it was very original and shoed things from a different perspective.
The director was also a producer, actor ,and opera director. He has been married three times (Martje Grohman 1967-1987, Christine Marie Edenberg 1987-1994, and Lena Herzog 1999-present). Herzog was born in 1962, in Munich, but his full name is Werner Herzog Scitepic, and he is also famous for other movies, participating as director, producer, and actor.

In my personal opinion, I see that this movie is very useful for learning, so I like it because of that, but in general the movie is a little slow, but very original because it is seen differently.
I recommend the movie to people who want to learn from a different point of view about the colonialism, but in other circumstances, I would suggest something else.
My least favorite parts of the movie are when they show the same image for too long, because it can bore the public. My favorite parts are when they say interesting things and show all the hard work they put on the successful movie.
This movie is very related to history because it is based on real facts, and, as we can see, the European trip to America did happen, but it was never showed like that.

FROM PROTECTED SHELTERS TO TOWNS (wk 6a)

In this chapter we will make a deeper investigation about in which aspects, who participated, and how Colombia changed when the spanishmen arrived. Even though, as spoken before, the spanishmen changed many things for bad, there were some things that improved Colombia very much. Colombia was also opened to new things and different worlds: “…La gran explosion que siguió a 1492 dejó una y permanente constucción de mundos”. Book Colombia, imágenes de su diversidad (1492 a hoy) pg 77. We could also see things from the spanish point of view, and discover new stuff.

During the spanish arrival to Colombia, they lost a lot of money, people, and food, but when they arrived they took the lands, the gold, part of the Colombian culture, and gave unfair jobs to workers.
These employees worked unfairly and were payed in very small amounts with very hard work and too much hours of it. The Spaniards also took the lands and gave them to different people no matter who the original owner of the land was or what they needed. They also took the better lands (with the best weather, the bigger space, and the best ) to them.

As a conclusion, we can see that the Spaniards also lost a lot of things in their trip to Colombia and in some ways changed this country for better. But it also took away our culture and our habits, so we can see that these changes were hard to make for the spanishmen and hard to take for the natives.

THE CITIES (wk 5a)

Like the natural facts, the inhabitants of the cities and their ways of living, are also important for the Colombian history, like the natural facts, the inhabitants of the cities and their ways of living, etc, and that is going to be the theme for this essay. When the colonialism started, new habits and points of view were established, but these points of view were not unique, because they were already established by the Spanishmen, but this is something that we will see later. So we will mostly learn about how the cities and its inhabitants worked during the Spanish colonialism.

The cities had most power than many other places, because they were the center of the State and what defines from which part of Colombia you are from and also defines the important parts of our country, and how it is divided. But the capital city has even more power, because it is the “heart” of the country, and the place were everything in the country is handled. The inhabitants of the cities are sometimes complicated, and and use the city for a different purpose. The white people arrived to Colombia and took the black people as slaves, and thought they were keeping shipping of contraband in their houses.

We can say that this is true because Hermes Tovar talks about this subject: “…Hizo presumir a las autoridades que los esclavos escondían en sus casas mercancías de contrabando” (Colombia, imágenes de su diversidad, pg 66). We can conclude that the cities had plenty of power, but its inhabitants used it for another purpose, and that there is a lot of history unseen about them.