New Mexico footprints are oldest sign of humans in Americas, research shows

[Doc Sportello]

5. 1491 is one of the best histories of the Americas ever

I read it back when it was published, so some memories may be flawed. But for me the biggest takeaway was upending the traditional view of the Spanish colonization. Using texts from Spanish missionaires that were only discovered in the 70s I believe, he related how they told of the subjugation of the Taino people using brutal methods, including gallows, to enforce their will. The natives were expected to work as slaves. The original take by the missionaries that the Taino were quiet and submssive began to change as the natives began to resist the Spanish, and they began describing them in ways that justified the persecution of them.