Dbq Native Americans

To many of the Europeans during 1700’s Native Americans were thought of as savages, but in reality they were not. The Natives were only viewed this way because they were different from the Europeans, and the Europeans weren’t fond of things or people that were different from them. Using historical evidence and accounts from long ago you can see how the Natives were discriminated against for only reason that they were different from everybody else.
Many of the accounts told described the Native Americans being cruelly treated by the Europeans throughout the years to come after the Europeans arrived in America. For example when the Spanish first arrived from Spain they would consume “ in one day an amount of food that would suffice to feed three

for the sole reason that they aren’t as well educated about European life. For example in John Smith’s tale, The General History of Virginia, when he says that he gave King Pamunkee a compass and that he and his people “ marveled at the playing of the fly and needle, which they could see so plainly and yet not touch because of the glass that covered them,” but then when Smith “demonstrated by that globe-like jewel the roundness of the earth and skies, the sphere of the sun, moon ,stars, and how the sun did chase the night round about the world continually, the greatness of the land and sea, the diversity of nations, variety of complexions, and how we were to them antipodes and many other such like matters, they all stood as amazed with admiration.” This quote shows just how much the Natives didn’t really know about the sciences of the world like the Europeans did, but they were fascinated by it and wanted to learn. Another example is in The Narrative Of his journey, by Alvar Núñez Cabeza De Vaca, when he recalls that he helped the Native Americans “to understand by signs that our boat had sunk and three of our number had been drowned... The Indians, at site of what had befallen us, and our state of suffering and melancholy destitution, sat down among us, and from the sorrow and pity they felt, they all began to lament so earnestly that they might have been heard at a distance" This shows