Is there any accounts of the first time the European powers brought Native Americans back to Europe? If so what were their exsperiences like?

by hetrosinner

I know the European powers first brought back animals and plants but I can't find records of some of the first exsperiences of bringing Native people back to Europe. I wonder what this massive culture shock would be like.

drylaw

For Spanish America unfortunately I'm not aware of any indigenous accounts (they may exist for British America but this is outside my wheelhouse). There's not that much information on the very first native Americans in Europe, and the focus tend to be much more on the first Europeans overseas. It's partly due to a focus on European authors and partly due to scarcity of sources. I've written on this here:

  • Esp. relevant is this one on probably the first people brought over: a small group of 7 TaĆ­no brought in 1493 by Columbus to Spain "as proof of his findings" (together with animals, plants etc.). We don't know their own perspective unfortunately, but know that most of them returned to the Caribbean in order to aid in Christianization there.

  • After this, large numbers of native slaves were forcibly brought to work in Spain from the early 16th c. This practice was outlawed in 1542 and eventually petered out by the 17th century. In addition, we know of some exceptional cases of native elites who went to live in Spain: incl. a descendant of the Aztec ruler Moctezuma, and a famous writer descended from the Inca (Inca Garcilaso de la Vega). In case you're interested, I've also written an answer on these later migrations.

Hope this helps!