Wen Sheng Dai

11/5/14
730

S.S.
Case Brief
In year 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Queen Isabella and

King Ferdinand sponsored Christopher Columbus to go on an expedition. The purpose of

the expedition is to go reach Asia and find riches for Spain. When Columbus arrived at
land with his 3 ships; the Nia, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, he had mistaken the land as
Asia. Columbus called the land he arrived at, the New World. As the news spread about
the finding of new land, more and more Spaniards and explorers travel and settle to the
New World. But the native people who were living in the new world before Columbus
and the settlers arrived were being mistreated by the Spaniards. However, King
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella are not guilty. The King and Queen should not be charged
of Crimes against Humanity and Aiding & Abetting Genocide. Additionally, King
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella should not receive the maximum penalty; death nor should
they receive penalty of life in prison.
There are several reasons and evidence as to why King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella should not be marked guilty. One reason is because in Exhibits A - I, there are no
appearances of a King/Queen figure. This means the King and Queen was not in the
scenes where killing and torturing happened. According to in Exhibit F, based on the title;
Drawing of Cortes entering the city and how a man on a horse is holding a spear

directed at the Aztecs direction, it shows how Hernan Cortes and his men attacked the
Aztecs. Also, according to Exhibit E, it states, ,The Spaniards hanged a chief from
Acolhuacan named Nezahualquentzin. They also murdered the king of Nauhtla,
Cohualpopcatzin by wounding him with arrows and then burning him alive. These two
exhibits show that the King and Queen were not the ones who committed the
manslaughter. Thus, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella should not be charged for
Crimes against Humanity.
The second evidence derives from Christopher Columbuss witness statement. In
his statement, he said, And from then on, my men and I started training the Indians to
workThey mined gold grew food stuffs and many were sent to serve royals back in
Europe. Columbuss statement shows how he and his men were the people who were
committing the mistreatment, slavery and torture. Adding on, Columbus said in his
witness statement Spain would not have been the great power that it became without my
voyages. If Columbus said that it was his voyages, should the King and Queen be
blamed for their charges? As for that reason, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella should
not be marked guilty.
The prosecution would argue that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella are guilty
and should face the penalty of the charges for certain reasons. The first reason is because
according to Exhibit A, the King threatened the Tainos through a letter saying, Should
you fail to comply, or delay maliciously in so doing, we assure you that with the help of
God we shall use force against you, declaring war upon you from all sides and with all
possible means, and we shall bind you to yoke of the church and of Their Highnesses; we

shall enslave your persons, wives and sons, sell you or dispose of you as the King sees
fit. This letter shows that the King is guilty of attempting to exterminate and torture the
Indians. Another reason why the prosecution would say that the King and Queen is guilty
is because they were the ones who sponsored Christopher Columbus to voyage the
expedition to find riches and land. And because Columbus did find land, other settlers
came into the new land and mistreated the Indians who were originally the first ones
living in the New Land. For example, according to Marohu (witness affidavit), he
stated, They [Spaniards] forced us [Tainos] to work, forced us to find the gold that didnt
exist. If you were put to work and you didnt find as much as they wanted, they used their
sharp blades or booming fire sticks to end your life. This shows that because the King
and Queen had sponsored Christopher Columbus into the voyage, the voyage became a
torture for the Tainos. However, if one were to be in the King and Queens position,
he/she would not expect Columbus to be a person who would do such actions. As it is
known and even stated in Columbuss statement, no country would help Columbus with
his idea of sailing west to get to Asia. Through this, anyone can infer that Columbus was
a determined man since he still kept on sticking with his idea. The King and Queen would
not have been aware that Columbus would torture the Indians in such ways. It is
unreasonable for the King and Queen to receive charges because they have misjudged the
person they were sponsoring. And regarding King Ferdinands letter, it is true that the
letter included threats to the Tainos. However, in the beginning of the letter, it stated, In
the name of King Ferdinand, ,we notify you . This statement shows that the letter
was not directly written by King Ferdinand since it says, we and In the name of King
Ferdinand. It also shows that more than one person was speaking for King Ferdinand.

Additionally, if the letter were directly from King Ferdinand, the letter would starts off
along the lines of I, King Ferdinand, King of Spain. Hence, the credibility of this
exhibit is not valid.
In summation, when Christopher Columbus and his men mistreated the Indians
after they have found the land, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were not the ones
murdering and cutting the Tainos hands off. Also, although the King and Queen were the
ones who sponsored Columbuss expedition, they wouldnt have expected Columbus to
mistreat the Indians since he seemed to have a determined personality. It is unfair that the
King and Queen receives such harsh punishments just because of a misjudgment. King
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella should not be charged of Crimes against Humanity and
Aiding and abetting genocide.