Winfield Scott’s photos depict the impact of Spanish colonization on Mexico’s native people in the late 1800s. The photo captures a woman with three young girls sitting on the dirt picking bugs out of each other’s hair. They appear to be in extremely impoverished conditions indicated by the dirt on their faces and their clothing. This photo depicts the natives in a dramatically uncivilized and barbaric manner that allowed Spanish propaganda to defend the inhumane and disgusting treatment of the native people. By instilling a sense of subordination within the native people, the Spanish conquistadors were forcing them to internalize an animalistic and less than human identity.

 

William Simpson’s photo from the Battle of Tchernaya depicts a combat scene between European colonizers and native Indian people. This image from the battle that took place on the 16th of August in 1855 is set in an isolated rural countryside. Native people had been exploited by colonizers in order to create an army that would utilize European technology in order to spread colonial power. Both sides are depicted using the same weaponry against one another, which highlights the irony of the native people using colonial technology against their European oppressors in order to reestablish and implement the older policies of their native culture. The Europeans seem to be ruthlessly and strategically dominating the natives in this attack. While the colonial troops appear to be cohesively charging the other side, one native soldier seems to be sneaking behind their line of attack in order to surprise European soldiers from behind. Overall, this photo has a strong element of European pride and inherent right to take whatever land and resources they wanted from their conquered people.