It always has puzzled me why Spanish imperialism, which was widespread, long lasting, and fatal to so many indigenous peoples, gets a pass -- in fact is very largely ignored or forgotten, so much so that often the Spanish language is considered to not even be European but a "native" language -- while American imperialism, which was much more limited and much less damaging to the indigenous, is excoriated as the epitome of evil.
Just one example: I recently read some political blogger who referred to American criminal imperialism on Guam, an island that I know well, while entirely ignoring the horrific crimes the Spanish committed as part of a formal extermination policy against the native Chamorros. Here's what the Spanish did in Guam:
"The complete disappearance of
Chamorro males from this contentiously interpreted period (which
supports a warfare interpretation) had long-term demographic
consequences – not only in subsequent interracial genetic make-up but
also in the continued decline of the Chamorro population even after
1742.In 1668, when the Spanish began occupying the island, they estimated there were some 40,000 Chamorros on Guam. In 1670, the Chamorros rebelled against the invading Spanish and in retaliation the Spanish began a campaign to kill every male Chamorro -- men, boys, babies. Only a handful of males, mostly infants their mothers hid, survived concealed in caves in the jungle. By 1710, a census recorded only 3,539 Chamorros, a 92 percent decline of the population in only 42 years. The Spanish then began a program of forced intermarriage of Chamorro women with Spaniards, with the result that by 1797, a census recorded only 1,111 'pure blooded indigenes,' a census category that ceased to exist after 1830, as there were no more such individuals." See When Cultures Clash: Revisiting the ‘Spanish-Chamorro Wars by Francis X. Hezel, SJ.
After the USA took over Guam from the Spanish at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1899, the population of the remaining partial-blood Guamanians doubled in the the first 30 years. We built roads, introduced schools (the Spanish had kept the Chamorros illiterate), health clinics, built infrastructure including a dam and reservoir to ensure a steady supply of fresh water, and provided jobs. Today there are some 68,000 Chamorros on Guam, more than ever in history.
Then we could talk about the horrific massacres the Japanese committed against the Guamanians in their brief occupation of the island (See Japanese Atrocities on Guam). But no! Only Americans are bad!
You may think it odd that I go on so much about Guam, but I love Guam -- I'm a Guambat! I attended DoDEA school there as a child, and have been stationed there with the Navy. I still own a beachfront condo in Tamuning within walking distance of the good old Horse and Cow. And one of my relatives won the Navy Cross posthumously during the battle for Saipan, an island north of Guam in the Marianas.
