Sukhyun Mun History 127

Essay 1.1

The Indians of New Mexico (1599)

The author of this document used this text to describe and write about the Indians of the New Mexico. The purpose of this document was to keep track of their daily lives, but to recognize the goods the tribes had. The Indians of the New Mexico had vast amounts of different type of animals which meant that they ate well and the environment also contained enough amount of food for the animals to survive of. The author was very impressed with the tribes culture and resources that were disposed to them; and makes it clear that these people were ahead of time compared to the other tribes. The authors attention was captivated by the resources that were available for the Indians of New Mexico. In the second paragraph he makes it clear of all of the things that were of interest to him and wants to send samples of the goods. Through this, I can see a sense pride for his country for with these goods it can better his nation; also I felt a bit of nationalism, in the sense that he wanted to share the resources he attained with the Indians to his native country. This is interesting to me because I immigrated to USA at the age of seven, and I too wanted to share the knowledge and resources of America to my friends and family back in Korea. Although, things may seem different because of the time region and he was probably sent to learn about the culture, I can see the similarity that binds us. In addition, he continues to talk about their culture which he praises the Indians of New Mexico for being such well-mannered and clean. The author favors and likes the New Mexico Indians. I too felt this way when I first came here because in Korea, there is no such thing as excuse me or pardon me. Instead people just either brush it off or speaks up about it. The level of manner people had for each other was something that surprised me and was something I told to my friends back in Korea. While reading this document, I was able to understand the authors point of view through the similar experiences I had coming to a new foreign land. Although, as I mentioned above the connection may seem a little bit unorthodox; I think the profound excitement for discovering something new was what we had in common which allowed me to draw my conclusions. One interesting moment I had while reading the document was when the author talks about Pueblos which is basically a hut that the Indians lived in. The reason why it caught my attention was because in Korea because we are divided from the North; the people in the South have to make the best out

of the land they have. Therefore, in Korea unless you are extremely wealthy you have to live in an apartment. While reading about the Pueblos, I thought of Koreas apartments and how they stack it up high to preserve space for other things. In conclusion, the authors fascination for the New Mexico Indians brought enthusiasm for me and also helped me bring back memories for me when I first came over to America. The connection I found while reading an old document to my prior experiences I had as a child made me appreciate history in the sense that history ties into majority of our lives. The author had high remarks about the Indians of New Mexico and I found the same for Americans. And now, I am glad that I was able to get an education here, but also present myself as a Korea-American. Empathy was easily found through my experiences as a child over here.