Sunday, July 6, 2025
Athebeane Nequen
Wednesday, July 2, 2025
Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs
Friday, June 27, 2025
Columbus JRPG
Although we will likely never play this game, Gnosis on Youtube had an interesting video about it. Released for the NES in Japan, this game about Christopher Columbus seems to have been part of the broader fervor around the 500 year anniversary of the 1492 Voyage. According to Gnosis, the game actually features very little of Columbus's voyages in the Americas, and Native Americans only appear briefly. Nonetheless, it is intriguing to think that the complex legacy of Columbus even impacted the world of Japanese video games at the time.
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Echagoian and Indios of Hispaniola (c.1568)
Whilst perusing old sources from the 1500s on Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Cuba, we came across the 1568 Relación de la Isla Española by Echagoian. In addition to providing its readers with an overview of conditions on the island of Hispaniola in the 1560s, the document also mentioned areas with pockets of Indian, or indigenous, residents. According to Echagoian, besides the island of Mona (between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico) with its 50 indios, there were Indians living near La Yaguana and La Vega (but not in pueblos). The former, which also included some large sugar plantations at this time, is interesting. The African slaves subsisted on yuca, cultivated in the indigenous manner in mounds, suggesting the Amerindian ways were foundational to the dietary evolution of all people on the island. Anyway, it's interesting to see mention of indios living apart in western Hispaniola during this time. Earlier, in 1563, indios were suspected of living apart by Cabo San Nicolas as well as Cabo Tiburon.
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Guao and Early Skin Whitening in Colonial Hispaniola
Whilst rereading Oviedo and Las Casas on the indigenous people of Hispaniola and the Antilles, we came across the root or plant, guao. According to Las Casas, guao was a tree in the eastern part of Hispaniola used to make a poison for arrows. Oviedo, who came to Hispaniola later than Las Casas, described in more detail how guao was a skin irritant, but did not know if it was used as a poison by the Indians. However, unlike Las Casas, he described one disturbing use of guao by Indian woman of the island. Oviedo noted that Indian woman were using guao as the base for a skin whitening paste or cream, mixing it with other ingredients so it would be less harmful to their skin. Supposedly, Indian woman of the island were "jealous" of white Spanish women and, in a desire to meet the beauty standards of the colonial society, used this guao cream to whiten their skin. Since Oviedo was already biased against indigenous peoples of the island, one wonders if he may have misunderstood something or wanted his readers to believe some Indian women would believe their natural skin color inferior to that of whites. Either way, it is quite revealing about the role of skin color and the early history of skin whitening in the Caribbean.