How Columbus Invented Cannibals 

Hi Mark. So I saw your comment on facebook but will also respond here: I'm looking into this although it may be a larger issue than the video. Multiple sources I used to research this video all list innocent Iv, including Bill schutts book (see works cited on original video) and the article he drew from (www.persee.fr/doc/jsa_0037-9174_1984_num_70_1_2239). If you follow the link you see that citation on page 72. So I'm going to be digging into this further since I'm wondering why multiple sources list this detail as pope innocent Iv in 1510. It could be a misprint or a mistake that was never addressed. It could be that there's something in the original document that was cited in an odd way (e.g. it was a decree by pope innocent Iv that was later taken up again in 1510 to justify actions in the Americas.) Either way I'm going to keep looking and will post the update here.

Mark: So it turns out that this was a conflation of a few different things in many citations, but the true answer does involve Pope Innocent IV and 1510-1513. After Columbus encountered the Caribbean in 1492, Spain was given a grant from the Pope to delineate which lands they had control over. That grant was given by Pope Alexander VI in 1493. It was noted in this papal bull that the peoples encountered be made Christians and that Christianity should be spread. In 1501 Isabella and Ferdinand sent a new governor to Hispaniola, Nicolas de Ovando. Although the crown was initially interested in switching away from the encomienda system (established so that groups of natives would be “gifted” to and enslaved by groups of Spanish colonists) they ultimately kept this method of enslavement in place, noting the 1493 grant of title from Pope Alexander VI. These legal battles were brought to a head with the arrival of the Franciscans in 1510, some of whom questioned the Spanish crown’s approach. The Spanish crown continued to use the argument that Catholic law relating to infidels had been established by Pope Innocent IV at the First Council of Lyons and the Council of Constance centuries earlier. Both councils stated that infidel dominium (or the rights of non-Christians) could only be suspended by the Church only if they violated Christian law/ heavily Eurocentric “natural law.” And this included having war waged against them. Using this as precedent alongside claims from the 1493 papal bull, in 1513, Spain’s King Ferdinand, with the assistance of legal scholars and theologians, issued the “Requerimiento.” The Requerimiento was an edict read to Indian populations during conquest and that declared if they continued to resist Spanish rule which was authorized by the 1493 papal bull, they would be enslaved. (Important to note that this document was not translated for indigenous populations when it was read.) This also drew on Pope Innocent IV’s findings on infidel dominium essentially by claiming that native populations were resisting the Crown and the orders of the Pope. So it seems that many citations tie together Pope Innocent IV’s influence on church doctrine relating to the treatment of infidels, with 1510 and the eventual release of the Requerimiento in 1513. But it was Pope Innocent’s influence on church doctrine that was used in Spain’s continued support for enslavement. I’ll add a note in the description of the video to clarify. American Indian in Western Legal Thought: The Discourses of Conquest (Robert A. Williams) www.telegraph.co.uk/.../day-1493-papal-bull.../ www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum13.htm (Council of Lyons and Pope Innocent IV) www.persee.fr/doc/jsa_0037-9174_1984_num_70_1_2239 (original citation that Bill Schutt drew on in his book Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History. Both state Pope Innocent IV in 1510.)

Wow! So yes, I see it was rather complicated and too long for your short video. But very glad you took the time to answer my question. Hope you are too. Look forward to watching your other videos. Thanks again. Oh - I posted both places because was very difficult to find where to post via the PBS website. I did not think to post to RU-vid until later.

Mark Bennett +

@@markbennett8256 I like how respectful and thorough you both are! Very nice to see especially on RU-vid

Eric Vilas +

Eric Vilas I read cannibal was a corruption of cariban

Their similarity is coincidental, cannibal refers to the enemy tribe Carib, canine come from Latin for dog like. Interesting historical pun though.

Tek: I had heard that they both come from the word for the thribe "Caribs." Exept that I am not sure they if ever called themselves that, or if the name was put on them by others. Either way, the terms seem to be realted, but which came first I'm not sure.

Can you share source of where they were dog faced? I thought carib meant cannibal. Nothing to do with canines, or dog faced.

Thought I was the only one

LMAO

Interesting comment. So why not share what anthropologists found in the caves of western Europe with regard to juvenile bones? Infant bones were also found. All with clear butchering marks on the bones.

LIBERIA...that's the country I was trying to remember. Couldn't remember if it was Liberia or Ivory Coast

Arturo Gonzalez-Barrios If anything, I think it was under-exaggerated by the Spanish. Archeologists have estimated that the Aztecs sacrificed about 250,000 people each year, so there was lots of blood for the temple steps, lots of ritual dances with skin, and Cannibalism. I do not blame the neighboring tribes that joined forces with the Spanish to fight off the Aztecs. They must have been horrified of being kidnapped for an Aztec sacrifice.

Have you seen the recent discoveries of sacrificed corpses???

Not Well Planned What do those discoveries say?

This is prolly god created white folks lol god said y’all think ur cool killing your own just wait 🔫🎅🏻⛵️⚓️

That would only feed u for a day or so

I don't think she will say that in the video. She wants Europeans to look bad so much that instead of telling the truth (which was enough) she prefers to lie

Nido: The Yanamano cremate the dead and put the ashes in Banana soup which they eat as part of a funeral ritual. This is a classic case of "ritual cannibalism" but is not dietary cannibalism.

Nido Hime If you think they were exaggerated, you should probably read about the Aztec temple steps that were covered in cascading human blood constantly and the ritualistic dances that the priests would immediately do after while wearing the victim’s skin, often followed by the victim’s body being eaten. The hearts weren’t typically eaten, though, those were either burned or left on the temples. Conquistadors wrote about it, but archeologists have only confirmed that they were correct, if not less horrible than the truth was. This is also why neighboring tribes feared the Aztecs and even joined the Spanish to defeat the cannibalistic and human sacrificing Aztecs. Also, their religion was common in a lot of South America, so similar rituals and practices were in many parts of South America. So, Columbus may not have been lying about the cannibal islands...

This and the above response: A) Were already touched on, if not explicitly mentioned in the video. B) does not refute anything said thereafter, especially in the case of the "Carib" .... I've never come across that word before, yo.

The natives taught the European to grow food bc they were horrified when they caught them eating their dead at Jamestown and didnt want them disturbing their sacred burial sites

Katina Marie Actually, Jamestown survived because Pocahontas had befriended some of their boys and would bring them food in times of famine. Her friendship would also lead to the Colonists establishing treaties for trade of goods. Other Colonists from around there learned to farm (plants that are native to America) from Squanto, until the Native tribe that he translated for found out that he was trying to overthrow their chief and executed him for treason. Colonists at least learned to farm because of him though. I don’t know about eating dead bodies, though. When exactly did that take place?

cannibalism was practiced around the world and still is. Congo and Libera still have a big problem with it. We know Azteca involved it in many of these rituals The stories of cannibals were overblown they where not invented by Columbus to make money of slavery.

im not white, but its obviously existed way before colonizer arrived.. as much as i hate colonization... i hate cannibalism more lol...

@@FilipCordas it was true, at least in México, but surely he took profits from that. The Aztecs were sadistic war lords, that's the reason some prehispanic cultures side with Spanish people to end Aztec empire.

@@tiarezavaleta8850 The historian consensus is that Aztecs did eat people they are unsure if it was something that was part of the diet or just a religious practice. Most of the 'no cannibalism' claims come from 'The Man-Eating Myth: Anthropology and Anthropophagy' and that book is not that good. I find strange that people say there was no cannibalism in Africa when there is still cannibalism in Africa.

@@FilipCordas I think the exact word Carib, as the natives that werent Caribs told Columbus that was what they were called, to classify them as people that ate others, and also denounced Catholicism. Thus was a form of imperial propoganda that made legal the subjugation of peoples that had sought after riches. (www.persee.fr/doc/jsa_0037-9174_1984_num_70_1_2239) . Again 'Imperial Propoganda'. These descendants of the Kalinagu /kalinga, Garifuna..etc still inhabit the Carribean, of which was named that by Columbus.(The original names of Caribbean/West Indian regions  CountryOriginal nameInterpretationOriginAntiguaWadadli?? BarbudaWa`amoni?? CubaCubanacan TainoDominicaWai`tukubuliTall Is Her BodyCaribsGuadeloupeKarukera/KalaouceraIsland of Beautiful Waters Haiti + Dominican Rep.HaitiHigh MountainTaino "Kiskeya (sp. Quisqueya)Earth-mountain placeTaino "BohioRound home/Homeland "HispaniolaNew SpainColumbusJamaicaHamaicaLand of wood and waterTainoMartiniqueMadininaFlower Island MontserratAlliouaganaLand of the Prickly Pear? NevisOualie?? Puerto RicoBorikenGreat land of the valient noble lordTaino "Borinquencorruption of BorikenColumbusRedonda (uninhabited; between Montserrat and NevisOcanmanru?? St. KittsLiamugua?? St. LuciaIyanola?? St. MaartenOualiche?? St. VincentHairoun??CaribTrinidadIereLand of the hummingbird "La TrinitéThe TrinityColumbus) 

me too.

That's hilarious!

Same

I read it wrong also 😅😊

Same I'm too high

Europeans engaged in Cannibalism heavily during the dark ages, while other culture may have dwelled in some form of custom the Europeans were simply feasting on each other to avoid famine

Exactly, I was confused by the title. Cannibalism is way older than Columbus.

@@anthonyharris2231 I don’t know if the Christian crusader cannibals were feasting to avoid famine…

@@NCRonrad not sure why you're singling out one subculture of Europe. But I like to learn so if they wasn't eating eachother for nutrition was it some natural mental health phenomenon?

@@anthonyharris2231 wartime cannibalism is a custom. And it’s practiced by Europeans just the same as other brutal cultures on earth. Don’t play the game of “they did it out of necessity unlike those savages”

When the germans got there!

Pneuma literal is wind but translated meaning its spirit. You were eating Christ spirit, the holly spirit.

That’s just plainly false. The Catholic Church at the time of Columbus had believed they were eating the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity since the beginning of Christianity. This phrase is from St. Cyril of Alexandria from the 300s. They had believed he was divine from the beginning as can be seen in the New Testament, and this was taught dogmatically since 325 at the First Nicene Council.

😂😂😂😂😂 Good one. 🍖🍖🍖

you must be fun at parties xD

Me too zaddy

yes and with a nice chianti

You must be fun at satanic parties 🎉

There are many things are not beneficial for people, but that are still practiced regardless.

Len is saying that if it isn't practical then it should be likely ritualistic.

Len: Ritual cannibalism has been practiced by people all over the world. However, dietary cannibalism, that is, treating human flesh as just another kind of food, has never been documented.

Len Arends You’d think that, but the most important part of Native South American religion is bloodlust. It was under the guise of appeasing the gods with human sacrifice and was taken to an extreme. Read into some of that if you dare, it’s literally the stuff of nightmares.

Then why did the natives teach European to grow food after catching them eating their dead at Jamestown? They didnt want them doing that to their people or disturbing their sacred burial sites.

Sinceramente começo a perceber como é que há gente nos Estados Unidos a destruir estátuas. Há vários relatos de canibalismo na America.... e esta gaja finge que é um mito! O ódio aos Europeus é tanto que distorcem a história e aldrabam-na completamente só para alimentar esse ódio e MENTEM descaradamente

@@lxportugal9343 no comprende. Hablan English only. Pardona me. Desculpime.

I actually made a whole video about this and other history-of-note-name stuff if you'd like to know more: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BBbhfRfQIMM.html

Its just trendy to shit on Columbus by people who want to look smart.

She didn't say he invented cannibalism but the concept of savage tribes engaging in large scale cannibalism for food, which did not exist in any lands he visited.

Me too... Lol

Same😂

I know right! 😬🤭

but most of the viewers are vegan 😂😂😂

Laura

ikr, why venerate a racist who didn't actually discover the American continents

I was hoping they would mention the Celts who took human heads as trophies, even though "head hunter" was an epithet often used to slur Native Americans.

Cannibalism does exist today in America. Little known Bistro's (one is in California) people can place special orders of human meat.

Sick but true.

Jeffrey Dahmer.

spreading the lies...... There lots of reports about cannibalism in the Americas

@@lxportugal9343reports are not facts, it's people like you spreading lies! You need to believe the Indian is cannibalistic to dehumanize them! All to make yourself feel better about what you did to them!

@@jboyd7201 *NO* it's her and others spreading lies... just to keep feeding hate against whites/Europeans/Christians Reports/historical documents/facts whatever you want do call them, you can play with rhetoric all you want... that fact is *there was cannibalism in the American continent* The cannibalism was never an excuse to colonize America... Spain 500 years ago was not USA of 2003. No one needed excuses like the lie of "weapons of mass destruction" of Bush administration, in order to persuade Spanish society to allow an invasion. This is a completely ridiculous line of though, Spain just had starting invading Canaries Islands and no one mentioned about cannibalism there so why would they lie about Caribbeans????

Europe boasts the oldest fossil evidence of cannibalism. the world’s first cannibal incident reported by multiple, independent, first-hand accounts took place during the Crusades by European soldiers. By the 16th century, cannibalism was not just part of the mental furniture of Europeans; it was a common part of everyday medicine from Spain to England. Two new books claim that Europeans saw no issue with cannibalism right into the 19th and 20th century. During the slavery/segregation era... White Americans would wear the skin of slaves, ie, shoes, belts, etc. White Americans would go as far to fight for the body parts of the slaves, such as the penis. Even went a far to create a cannibalism cook book known as the Delectable Negro.

Oh come on they haven't practiced cannibalism in Polynesia for years,....not since 1987.

TWIOCH thanks for this question! So I'll be answering this and plugging it at the end of next week's episode since this actually does have a role in the trajectory of the larger story. Stay tuned!

Mia Queiroz The used the body parts for witchcraft not food.

@@aniyunwiyahniitsitapi4738 the prevalance of cannibalism is overstated, but there's no reason to believe it's a myth. Of course, one issue that makes it nearly impossible to know if a society committed cannibalism regularly, is that it's impossible to distinguish the signs of cannibalism from the signs of ritualistic defleshing of the dead. Even char marks on remains as that was also a way to deflesh a cadaver. As to the diet of the ancient Africans, veganism is a modern development. Vegans require fortified foods to compensate for the nutrients that are hard to get from a plant based diet, such foods and supplements only existed in the early to mid 1800's.

Franklin died well before the crew likely started eating each other.

all around the world. I found this video extremely biased and a reach of SJW history

*A whitewashed exaggerated version of events.

Didn’t the Catholic Church castrate young boys to perform in choirs? Not as intimidation or punishment. Just to sing in a group?

​@@jonasadams3173 Yes, the castrati were castrated singers in Europe with high pitched voices. But castration was also common in the rest of the world, in the Ottoman empire all the male servants in the harem were castrated. And in the royal courts of Asia such as Korea or China, the eunuchs were castrated servants (they could even end up as powerful advisors to the king/emperor).

Lies. They probably did what they could to keep themselves safe from neurotic boatmen who didn't come for tea.

Want some cheese to go with your whine? And she said Europeans used the natives supposed cannibalism as an excuse to horrible jackasses.

What sub groups are you talking about.

Pure BS actually.

Oh my goodness I promise you, I didn't know you were gonna to use the word: Sharp!😮🙂 I use that word all the time, when I like something.🤭

Anna Rothschild +

Europe boasts the oldest fossil evidence of cannibalism. the world’s first cannibal incident reported by multiple, independent, first-hand accounts took place during the Crusades by European soldiers. By the 16th century, cannibalism was not just part of the mental furniture of Europeans; it was a common part of everyday medicine from Spain to England. Two new books claim that Europeans saw no issue with cannibalism right into the 19th and 20th century. During the slavery/segregation era... White Americans would wear the skin of slaves, ie, shoes, belts, etc. White Americans would go as far to fight for the body parts of the slaves, such as the penis. Even went a far to create a cannibalism cook book known as the Delectable Negro.

I agree. It’s ironic how the presenter says there is little evidence of cannibalism and then provides no evidence herself to disclaim it. In fact, she agrees that they may have practiced some religious rites of cannibalism as if that doesn’t count.

No absolutely not. He brought nothing but disease