Resendez, Andres. “Massacare in Florida.”

Andres Resendez’ piece on the French employment and Spanish conquer of Florida works to highlight the efforts of outside countries in furthering their empire regardless of the violence necessary. Though, often times, that violence falls on the shoulders of the native peoples, in this instance it also fell on the heads of the French who had already “made their mark”, for lack of a better term. Resendez’ entire piece acts as a retelling of the historical narrative which has happened throughout history, one country conquers a piece of land and its people and another countries comes in and conquers the first country’s peoples, the rest of the natives (if any) and takes the land for their own. Though his piece lays true to the norm, “Massacre in Florida” grants the audience insight into the numbers of force which were put upon the native land in order to wash away any misconceptions that individuals like Columbus or de Colingy went in one against however many Native Americans.

An example he exercises as support is the 500 or so men that invaded the already established French colony, Fort Caroline, and thus massacred any men over fifteen. Women, children and men under the age of fifteen were spared, but this does not delegitimize the hundreds of thousands of individuals killed at the hands of the Spanish, or even of the French who conquered Florida beforehand. Perhaps the most interesting piece of theory that Resendez explores is that of a French Florida. Towards the end of his piece he grants a hypothetical situation of a world where the Spanish failed, at least at conquering Florida, and instead of the United States as it is there is a “sizeable French-speaking area such as Quebec” existing where Florida sits now.⁸ “Massacre in Florida” echoes of tales where the dominant character is the explorer, the conqueror – it seems no different from the teachings of history books. Though filled with, seemingly, strictly factual information the piece seems biased to create a sense of empathy for the conquerors.