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The Spanish conquest of the Americas is known to have changed world history, marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modern times. It allowed the encounter of two worlds separated for millennia. However, like almost any imperial and colonial project, it was accompanied by violence, exploitation, and oppression. Spains true role in this context has been contested by many, some denouncing horrors committed while others defend against this supposedly exaggerated history that served propagandistic purposes. The truth of the Black Legend may fall somewhere in the middle.The Birth and Development of the Black LegendFlemish illustration of the Duke of Alva killing the innocent inhabitants of the Netherlands by N.A. 1572. Source: Rijksmuseum, AmsterdamThe Black Legend encompasses a collection of accusations against the Spanish Empire and its people, particularly regarding its colonial activities in the Americas. Its historical origins are in Spains wars against the Dutch and the English during the 16th and 17th centuries. During this time, Protestant propaganda used events denounced during the Spanish colonization of the Americas to demonize the empire and the Catholic Church. These accusations often, as argued from the Spanish perspective, exaggerated the allegedly violent and horrific interactions between the conquistadors and Indigenous communities.The starting point of this propaganda is widely agreed to be the work of Spanish Dominican friar Bartolom de las Casas, who in 1552 published A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies, where he reported the violence being carried out. De las Casas father had participated in Christopher Columbus trips, and in 1502 he himself arrived in the Antilles. He visited several enclaves of Spanish expansion and denounced the abuses being committed against the Indians. His account reached the emperor Charles V, who, after reading it, promulgated additional laws designed to protect native peoples, 1542s New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Preservation of Indians.Cover of Brevsima relacin de la destruccin de las Indias (A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies) by Bartolom de las Casas, 1552. Source: Wikimedia CommonsOne of the most important contributions of this new legal framework was the prohibition of enslavement by instituting the encomienda system. This system consisted of Indigenous peoples exchanging labor for protection from Spanish colonizers. Although intended to give Spanish imperialism a more humane veneer, the change caused discomfort among Spanish colonists, as some saw it as a threat to the profit they were acquiring from Indigenous labor. Other colonists, such as Spanish jurist Juan Gins de Seplveda, argued that Indians were servants by nature.Although it is difficult to confirm that de las Casas account was accurate, his denouncements were indeed used as Protestant propaganda against Catholicism and the Spanish Empire, which led to a change in the perception of Spain in Europe. By the 18th century, Italian Illustration used Spain as an example of despotic imperialism and abusive religious practices. By the 19th century, American nations had become independent from colonial European powers, and the previous years were seen as periods of oppression, particularly under the Spanish political system of viceroyalties.Cover of La Leyenda Negra. Estudios Acerca del Concepto de Espaa en el Extranjero (The Black Legend: Studies of Spains Perception Abroad) by Julin de Juderas, 1943. Source: Biblioteca Digital HispnicaThe Black Legend gained more popularity in the late 19th century, when Spain lost Cuba and the Philippines to the United States. It was especially popularized by one of its most relevant critics and detractors, the conservative Spanish Crown official, historian, and sociologist Julin de Juderas, who claimed that the history of Spain in foreign countries had been perceived through the lenses of exaggeration and manipulation, specifically the horrors committed during the Spanish Inquisition and the Spanish Conquest of America.A book comprising this work called La Leyenda Negra y la verdad histrica (The Black Legend and Historical Truth), published in 1914 and re-edited several times, gave way to numerous critiques of Spanish history and intense responses from Latin American historians, sociologists, and anthropologists. The latters response has been, in part, because Spanish academics have long used pro-Spain rhetoric to deny the oppression and violence the Empire committed in Indigenous Latin American lands during the colonial period.The Debate Gains MomentumMural depicting the exploitation exercised by Spanish conquistadors. Diego Rivera, c 1952. Source: Archivos de la historiaSpains colonial influence in the Americas between the 16th and 18th centuries has become a hot topic in recent years, becoming a contentious political issue between Latin American countries and Spain. More specifically, in 2019, Mexicos then-president, Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador (popularly called AMLO), asked the Spanish state to apologize and recognize publicly the horrors and abuses committed during colonial times against the native Indigenous communities of Mexico. This demand led to an ongoing diplomatic crisis between the two countries; the king of Spain, Felipe VI, who never responded to AMLOs formal request, was not invited to the 2024 presidential inauguration of Mexicos first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum. Consequently, neither the king nor the president of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, attended the event.Apologies offered by ex-colonial powers to colonized countries are not new or rare: Germany apologized to Tanzania for colonial violence carried out in 1907; Belgium to the Republic of Congo for the exploitation, domination, and inequality that marked its colonization; The Netherlands to the former colonies impacted by slavery; Portugal for its role in the transatlantic slave trade; and the United Kingdom to the Kenyan Mau Mau people. The question remains, then: why has it been so difficult for contemporary Spain to acknowledge its colonial past and the negative impact it had on other countries that in many ways, still suffer from the echoes of the 16th and 17th centuries?The Consequences of Spains Expansion in the AmericasPage 53v of Book 12 of the Florentine Codex, describing the conquest of Mexico and depicting Indigenous Nahua people getting sick with smallpox. Compiled by Fray Bernardino de Sahagn, c. 1585. Source: Digital Florentine CodexAlthough the Black Legends use for propaganda is well documented, it does not twist historical realities too much. Because of Spanish expansion in the Americas, most of the Indigenous population was extinguished, up to 90%. People vanished rapidly, not only because of the harsh treatment Spain employed while imposing its foreign social and economic systems and religion, involving executions, mutilations, and violations (Elcofidencial, 2013), but also because of the diseases the Spanish brought with them, such as smallpox, chicken pox, bubonic plague, malaria, and typhus. The disappearance of Indigenous groups was described in detail by Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, a Franciscan missionary who arrived in Mexico in 1529 and wrote an encyclopedic work about central Mexico called The Florentine Codex, also known as the History of the Things of New Spain.Detractors of the Black Legend argue that no empire cared more for the protection of Indigenous communities who were being colonized than Spain. However, although historical legal evidence may support this argument, including the aforementioned New Laws, the Spanish crown inarguably sought expansion. To achieve this goal, Spain established settlements through land dispossession, prohibited any expression of Indigenous cultures, and created a market trade based on the extraction and exploitation of natural resources. These events had long-lasting negative consequences that shaped Latin American societies through to the present.Photo of Parque Coln (Columbus Park) in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic by Mario Roberto Durn. 2017. Source: Wikimedia CommonsSpains colonial expansion initiated the erasure of not only Indigenous people but their beliefs and world views. Crosses were planted on native sites of worship and offerings. Catholicism became the dominant religion that prohibited and punished any expression of Indigenous belief, as it was seen as an expression of barbarism or demon worship. As a result, Indigenous communities lost their capacity to sustain their societies at the deepest level of faith and belief, which made them vulnerable and easily co-opted by Spains foreign societal structures.Spains establishment of a social structure based on race and caste in the Americas produced deep divisions between communities. While Indigenous groups were disappearing, it is estimated that almost 2 million Spaniards settled in the Americas. At the same time, 1.5 million African slaves were introduced to replace the Indigenous people dying of disease and maltreatment. During the colonial period, different ethnicities would mix, producing diverse ethnic combinations. The system of castes had as its primary objective the classification of these racial variations, stratifying people in a hierarchical social system, where white Spanish would be at the top and Indigenous and Black communities at the bottom.This system, although it has received some recent skepticism as a historical fact, reflects a discriminatory society that shaped still-present racial divisions in different American countries, where many more privileged sectors of society still discriminate against Black and Indigenous communities.A caste portrait depicts the social system of racial division the Spanish implemented in the Americas. Unknown artist, 18th century. Source: Lugares INAHIn economic terms, the relationship between American lands and the Spanish crown was one based on labor and land exploitation. Through the encomienda, Spain was able to dominate Indigenous territory, forcing Indigenous people to become its workforce. Although the encomienda was distinct from outright slavery, it worked comparably: Indigenous people were tasked with the most demanding work and were also traded among merchants and travelers to provide transportation.Alongside this system, trade between Spain and the American settlements incorporated many forms of looting and exploitation of precious minerals and natural resources that many impoverished merchants saw as an opportunity to gain more social and economic power. This led in many cases to dispossession of native lands and resources.The Debate Continues (But Reality Remains)Book cover La Leyenda Negra, Historia del Odio a Espaa (The Black Legend, A History of Hating Spain) by Alberto G. Ibez, 2023. Source: Almuzara LibrosReturning to an earlier point of contention, after the Mexican government asked Spain to apologize for the abuses committed during Spains colonial period, many Spanish academics retaliated intensely, offering aggressive counterarguments that sometimes mix moralist opinions with historical revisions. These range from arguing that Spain cannot apologize to Mexico because it did not exist as a state in the 16th century, to arguing that the phenomenon of war and dispossession was common at that time. Perhaps one of the most painful arguments is that, if Latin American people are to ask anyone to apologize, it is their own ancestors, as they are the descendants of the colonizers who arrived in the Americas and committed the alleged crimes.Many of these academics refuse to acknowledge that, regardless of any historical minutia supporting an alleged altruist attitude from the Spanish crown, its uninvited presence on the American continent broke apart pre-Columbian societies, cultures, and belief systems. This reality is easier to perceive from inside countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, where historians and anthropologists have proven that unequal modern societies are the result of centuries of racial and economic divisions and exploitation that originated in the 16th century. Moreover, in terms of modern geopolitics, historical and anthropological research has shown that ex-colonial powers owe their current economic wealth and power to, precisely, the colonized lands they exploited for resources and labor. As an act of historical reparation and accountability, and in line with its neighboring countries who have already done so, an apology from Spain would be appropriate.

For centuries, malaria, a mosquito-borne illness, has relentlessly sickened populations around the globe, causing millions of deaths. However, it was not until the 17th century that a cure was discovered in the Andes. The bark of a flowering tree contained a powerful substance that could defeat the disease. The news about the miraculous cure was spread across Europe, becoming a powerful tool for imperial expansion as colonizers were now better equipped to take up residence in tropical areas where the disease-carrying mosquitoes bred.Overview of CinchonaIllustration of Cinchona calisaya by Franz Eugen Khler, 19th century. Source: Wikimedia CommonsCinchona, or sometimes chinchona, also known as quina tree or fever tree, is a flowering tree typical of the Andean forests in South America. It is the national tree of Ecuador, locally called El rbol de la Vida (The Tree of Life). The plant is well known for containing medicinal alkaloids such as quinine, which is effective against a mosquito-transmitted disease called malaria. Quinine can be found in the plants bark, which is also known as Jesuits Bark or Peruvian Bark.During the age of European colonialism, in the 17th century, Europeans found that the plant could cure malaria, a disease that even today kills more than 600,000 people annually, as estimated by the World Health Organization in 2022.Treating MalariaIllustration of malaria mosquito Anopheles maculipennis by E. Wilson, undated. Source: Wellcome CollectionThe origins of malaria can be traced back to Neolithic dwellers, Vedic India, and the early Chinese and Greeks. The disease arrived in Europe through the Romans in the first century CE. In the 20th century, it took the lives of at least 160 million people worldwide.Malaria is a life-threatening disease primarily found in tropical regions. Its name comes from medieval Italian mal aria (bad air), as it was originally believed that the disease was transmitted by contaminated air from swamps. Malaria is caused by a protozoa parasite, carried by females of some species of mosquitoes, that grows in stagnant waters. The parasite targets the red blood cells it uses to replicate. Malaria symptoms can range from fevers and headaches to seizures and breathing difficulties.Quinine is an effective drug for curing malaria because it can interfere with the reproduction of malaria parasites in red blood cells. However, the alkaloid itself cannot attack the parasites living in other cell types. Because of this, many cured patients have new episodes of malaria weeks after taking the antidote. However, during World War II, medical research developed more effective antimalarial drugs that replaced quinine, such as chloroquine or primaquine. However, the parasites developed a resistance to the new drugs but remained sensitive to quinine, which led to the usage of quinine again despite its strong side effects.Original historical poster MalariaHow Long Will This War Last? 1944. Source: Poster GroupToday, malaria is preventable and curable. However, of the five parasite species that cause malaria, two of them are primarily found on the African continent, where the disease still causes the highest number of deaths in the world, accounting for 94% of cases, 78% of which are in children under five years of age, as estimated by the World Health Organization.Discovering QuinaMonument to Francisca Enrquez de Rivera, countess of Chinchn, unknown artist. Source: Wikimedia CommonsIt is believed that the name cinchona has its origins in a historical event of dubious authenticity wherein the wife of the Spanish Viceroy of Peru, Countess of Chinchn Francisca Henrquez de Rivera, contracted a fever while visiting Peru in 1630. The local Jesuit priests cured her with a beverage made of the bark of the plant. After being miraculously cured, the countess spread the news locally and distributed the bark powder among the poor. Because of her actions, the life-saving cinchona powder was also known as the countesss powders.Though the discovery of cinchona is attributed to the countess, the medicinal properties of the plant were already known by the Quechuas and other Indigenous communities of the Andes long before the arrival of Spanish colonizers. The plant was known as yarachuccu or ccarachucchu, referencing what comes from the bark (ccara) and the curing of chills and fever (chucchu). However, it is believed that prior to the arrival of Spanish conquistadors, Indigenous communities did not use the bark to treat malaria, as it was the Europeans and the Africans they enslaved who brought the deadliest form of the disease to the Americas.Cinchona as a Tool of ColonialismEngraving: Peru offers a branch of cinchona to science, unknown artist, 17th century. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe Jesuits spread the news about the plant in Europe and took the opportunity to include it along the trade routes used to exchange different crops and goods during the 1640s, a historical process also known as the Columbian Exchange. Because of the priests, the powder was also known as los polvos jesuticos (the Jesuit powders) or los polvos de los padres (the priests powders).The plant became tremendously popular in Europe, becoming part of the medicinal beverages enjoyed by King Louis XIV in Versailles, reaching the Vatican and the Pope, and becoming an official medicine in England in 1677.The spread of scientific knowledge on the plant significantly increased international interest in it, and the frenzy for the plant pushed hired extractors to travel to the Andes, collect it, and ship it back to Europe. Biologist Carl Linnaeus gave the plant its scientific name, honoring the story about the Countess of Chinchn.Other important naturalists, such as La Condamine, Jos Celestino Mutis, and Francisco Jos de Caldas, also contributed to the spread of scientific information about cinchona. However, the tree almost disappeared after the Andes were declared The Pharmacy of the World and intensive extraction was forced on Indigenous lands.Portrait of Carl Linnaeus by Alexander Roslin, 1775. Source: National Museum, SwedenThroughout the 19th century, the malaria cure became an important tool for British, Dutch, and French colonial expansion projects, as it allowed troops to fight the disease, which commonly caused deaths among soldiers. However, after realizing the trees were disappearing, the British smuggled seeds from the Andes and established cinchona plantations in India during the 19th century. It is also known that the British would mix the cinchona extract with gin to improve its taste, resulting in todays popular gin and tonic.In 1852, cinchona seeds were taken to Java and later spread to India and Sri Lanka, where a new variety with higher amounts of quinine was developed. This led the local plantations to become the worlds main supplier until the beginning of World War II. It was at that point that, due to Japanese invasions of the plantations coupled with the considerable demand for malaria medicine during the war, efforts to extract the plant were redirected to the Andes once again.In 1820, French chemists Pierre-Joseph Pelletier and Joseph-Bienaim Caventou discovered quinine, the active component found in cinchona bark that is responsible for curing malaria. This discovery ultimately led to ground cinchona bark being replaced by synthesized quinine to cure malaria. It wasnt until decades later, in 1883, that US doctor Albert Freeman Africanus King finally determined that it was mosquitoes that transmitted malaria. Years later, British doctor Ronald Ross tested and confirmed this theory by injecting the disease into his body and using quinine as a cure.The Social and Ecological Impacts of Cinchona ExploitationEngraving Gathering and drying chinchona bark in a Peruvian forest by Charles Laplante, 1867. Source: National Library of MedicineThe abrupt demand for the cinchona plant set an important precedent for the history of extractivism in the Andes and the neighboring Amazon rainforest because of their international recognition as sources of important materials for industry and medicine in Europe and the US. While fevers were being cured and new tires were developed in Europe and the US, extracting cinchona and later rubber had a severe negative impact on local areas, especially for local Indigenous communities in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia. On the one hand, global economic interests were stealing their lands. On the other, the people themselves were used, and often forced, to extract these natural resources. Moreover, some harvesters would eventually die of malaria while collecting the bark that would cure people elsewhere.Since the initial extraction periods for cinchona and rubber in the 19th century, the exploitation of lands in the Americas has continued through more systematized exploitation of natural resources, such as oil, wood, soya, and animal skins. The legacy of cinchona demonstrates precisely how extracting natural resources often benefits faraway places while leaving profound negative marks on the local lands where extraction occurs.These fevers for the extraction of natural resources and the imposition of global market logic on Indigenous lands and communities initiated social and ecological transformations that are still present. Many multinational companies still own contested lands and often displace communities through deforestation and mining.

Another season of The Game Awards has come and gone, and just like previous years, games in the horror category are overlooked and underappreciated. This year, Clair Obsur: Expedition 33absolutely swept the awards, taking the trophy in nearly every category. It was a sw33p, if you will.

There are multiple choices that you will make when you start up Octopath Traveler 0. You get to choose from things like your starting belongings, what skill you have, and what your character looks like.