The Perceptions of Europeans to Natives, And Natives to Europeans
“In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” is the sing-song line taught throughout most elementary schools in America. After the initial journey of Columbus, a mass of Europeans followed in his footsteps in order to colonize what would be dubbed as “The New World.” But in truth, the lands they found were already inhabited by millions of Native Americans, and these Natives had lived on the land for centuries. And with the arrival of these colonists, with their lust for riches, came the creation of an extremely complex relationship between European colonists and Native Americans. These relationships could be positive, negative, war-like, a mutual dependence,
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In “Unique Aspects of the [West] Indies,” Louis Nicholas gives one of the first visual perceptions of Native Americans from the French peoples. Similarly to the anonymous English illustrator, Nicholas’s drawings paint the Native Americans in a less than desirable light. They are covered from head-to-toe in strange markings, and are severely disproportionate, with huge muscles and beady eyes. In his captions, he describes the ferocity of the Natives: “[A] Portrait of a female war prisoner from whom all teeth and fingernails have been pulled out. I saw her being burned in the village of toniotogehaga for six hours during which time she was scratched by inches; she was partly eaten by the Iroquois and their dogs,” (Nicholas 8). In “FRENCH-INDIAN NEGOTIATIONS”, another document written in 1673, a Frenchman is depicting his frustration over the trade network between France and the Natives. Here, he refers to the Natives as “barbarians” and “savages” 9 times. He writes, “'Tis to be observed here that the Savages, though some are more cunning than others, are generally all addicted to their own Interests; and therefore though the Iroquois seemed to be pleased with our Proposals, they were not really so,” (4). But as mentioned earlier, the French and Indians had a sturdier relationship than other Europeans. The French knew that with their influence in North America so low, they were outnumbered by the Indians. Thus, they made love and not war with them. In fact, the French were unabashed at taking in Indian wives and blurring the “white-red color line”, something that made the English “shr[i]nk in horror at the ‘half Frenchified Indians’ and ‘half Indianized French who raided pure-blooded New England villages,” (Nash
This paper will discuss the Native American culture and briefly review their history, some beliefs and roles in society today. A short description into their culture with References will be used to show how Native Americans have been affected throughout hundreds of years. The trauma this culture endured has created many barriers, yet one often seen today is their extreme problem with the disease of Alcoholism. The Native American culture has gone through endless struggles, which has cost them to lose so much and still continues to impact them today. They are slowly moving back toward getting benefits that should have been available long ago, but in today’s world Native Americans still battle with many barriers not only in society, but in getting appropriate treatment for mental health or addiction issues.
The Muckleshoot are a Native American tribe are a part of the Coast Salish people. their territory can be found located in Washington. They are recognized as the Muckleshoot Tribe, they are composed of generations of different tribal groups who inherited Puget Sound areas and occupied river drainages from the rivers confluence in Auburn to their reservations in the Cascades.
The mosh is an awesome place in Downtown Jacksonville; where everyone can learn some interesting facts about our city, how the body works , what animals are in the ocean and etc. I visited the Timucua Indian exhibit; I learned a lot of intriguing information that I didn’t know before. I learned how the Timucua Indians first came about, how the Indians lived and survived during this time period. This exhibit also showed me how the Indians looked and the way they did things. Being able to learn about the Timucua Indians is so fascinating to me.
This book is complete with some facts, unfounded assumptions, explores Native American gifts to the World and gives that information credence which really happened yet was covered up and even lied about by Euro-centric historians who have never given the Indians credit for any great cultural achievement. From silver and money capitalism to piracy, slavery and the birth of corporations, the food revolution, agricultural technology, the culinary revolution, drugs, architecture and urban planning our debt to the indigenous peoples of America is tremendous. With indigenous populations mining the gold and silver made capitalism possible. Working in the mines and mints and in the plantations with the African slaves, they started the industrial revolution that then spread to Europe and on around the world. They supplied the cotton, rubber, dyes, and related chemicals that fed this new system of production. They domesticated and developed the hundreds of varieties of corn, potatoes, cassava, and peanuts that now feed much of the world. They discovered the curative powers of quinine, the anesthetizing ability of coca, and the potency of a thousand other drugs with made possible modern medicine and pharmacology. The drugs together with their improved agriculture made possible the population explosion of the last several centuries. They developed and refined a form of democracy that has been haphazardly and inadequately adopted in many parts of the world. They were the true colonizers of America who cut the trails through the jungles and deserts, made the roads, and built the cities upon which modern America is based.
The article, “Native Reactions to the invasion of America”, is written by a well-known historian, James Axtell to inform the readers about the tragedy that took place in the Native American history. All through the article, Axtell summarizes the life of the Native Americans after Columbus acquainted America to the world. Axtell launches his essay by pointing out how Christopher Columbus’s image changed in the eyes of the public over the past century. In 1892, Columbus’s work and admirations overshadowed the tears and sorrows of the Native Americans. However, in 1992, Columbus’s undeserved limelight shifted to the Native Americans when the society rediscovered the history’s unheard voices and became much more evident about the horrific tragedy of the Natives Indians.
The process of assimilation, as it regards to the Native Americans, into European American society took a dreaded and long nearly 300 years. Initially, when the European’s came to the hopeful and promising land of the “New World”, they had no desire or reason anything but minimal contact with the Indians. However, starting in the 1700s the European colonists population skyrocketed. The need for more resources became evident and the colonists knew they could attain these necessities by creating a relationship of mutual benefit with the Native tribes. The Indians, at first skeptical, however became growingly open to the colonists and the relationship they were looking to attain. Indian furs were traded for colonial goods and military alliances were formed.
In a lively account filled that is with personal accounts and the voices of people that were in the past left out of the historical armament, Ronald Takaki proffers us a new perspective of America’s envisioned past. Mr. Takaki confronts and disputes the Anglo-centric historical point of view. This dispute and confrontation is started in the within the seventeenth-century arrival of the colonists from England as witnessed by the Powhatan Indians of Virginia and the Wamapanoag Indians from the Massachusetts area. From there, Mr. Takaki turns our attention to several different cultures and how they had been affected by North America. The English colonists had brought the African people with force to the Atlantic coasts of America. The Irish women that sought to facilitate their need to work in factory settings and maids for our towns. The Chinese who migrated with ideas of a golden mountain and the Japanese who came and labored in the cane fields of Hawaii and on the farms of California. The Jewish people that fled from shtetls of Russia and created new urban communities here. The Latinos who crossed the border had come in search of the mythic and fabulous life El Norte.
The author starts the chapter by briefly introducing the source in which this chapter is based. He makes the introduction about the essay he wrote for the conference given in at Vanderbilt University. This essay is based about the events and problems both Native Americans and Europeans had to encounter and lived since the discovery of America.
The term sovereignty is a broad topic that has many different definitions. The most common definition is a nation or groups ability or right to govern themselves. Sovereignty is a term and idea that goes hand in hand with Native Americans throughout history. Native American tribes were once considered sovereign nation until shortly after the arrival of European settlers. Native Americans lost their sovereignty due to the forceful assimilation into white culture by European settlers. The problem with this is that Native Americans have been in North American, acting as self-governing groups, since the beginning days. What sets Native Americans apart from other “minority groups” is that they have existed as self-governing peoples and are more than a group
The European explorers and colonizers and Native Americans had varied relationships during their encounters in the New World. They both feared and misunderstood each other. This fear led to the two groups often mistreating each other. However, there were always times where they depended on each other’s kindness and treated each other with care. There are examples of both in the following narratives: In the letter by Christopher Columbus, he talks about the natives being timid and how he uses them to help him. In “from Richard Frethorne, to His Parents”, Frethorne tells about the Indians destroying crops and killing people. In the Soveraignty and Goodness of God by Mary Rowaldson, the author tells about her eleven weeks in captivity by the Indians. At times, they behaved as lawless savages. At other times, they showed her kindness and care.
The Mohegan Indians are located in the southeastern part of Connecticut near the Thames River Valley in Uncasville, with a current population of approximately 1,000 members. All of the members are of Native American decent and were once associated with the Pequot tribe. "Scientific evidence shows the Native American presence in the area for 10,000 years, but the oral history begins with the beginning, when the Great Spirit created the earth" (http://moheganindians.weebly.com/). The first group of Mohegan’s was part of the Delaware tribe which was called the Wolf Clan, that settled in upstate New York. The Native languages of the Mohegan Indians are English and they also have their own Mohegan dialect, which is called "Algonquin dialect". In this Native language the name Mohegan means "People of the wolf", which fits the tribe perfectly as they were once a heterogeneous group in which the men went to war to protect their tribes and would also go hunting to put food on their families tables while the women stayed home to take care of the children and were horticulturist as they worked in the fields farming each day. Each individual played a major part in keeping the tribe together as a one functional unit.
Savages, Injuns, and Redskins are all names that have destroyed the honorable opportunity to be called an Indian. The Algonquian people, people that belong to the North American Indian family, in the Blackfoot (Blackfeet) tribe lived in present day Minnesota, North Dakota, Michigan, and Canada. Even though in the early years they farmed, they are known for hunting buffalo mostly (Ditchfield 5). There are four closely related tribes that come together to form the whole Blackfoot tribe. There is the Northern Blackfoot (Siksika), The Bloods (Kainai), The Poorly dressed or Piegan (Pikuni), and the Blackfoot (8). The Blackfoot was a widespread tribe that dominated the Great Plains. The regions ranged (north to south) from Alberta, Canada to parts
The Navajo creation involves four worlds. In the first world the First Man and the First Woman became known. In the second world it is much like the story of the Garden of Eden in the bible. The First Man and First Woman get banished to the third world where they begin to procreate. Finally in the fourth world they decide to settle down with help of the wind God. The Navajo people are the largest recognized tribe in the Southwestern United States. This tribe consists of 300,048 enrolled tribal members as of 2011. The Navajo Indians are also known as Dine, meaning “the people”.
Native American’s place in United States history is not as simple as the story of innocent peace loving people forced off their lands by racist white Americans in a never-ending quest to quench their thirst for more land. Accordingly, attempts to simplify the indigenous experience to nothing more than victims of white aggression during the colonial period, and beyond, does an injustice to Native American history. As a result, historians hoping to shed light on the true history of native people during this period have brought new perceptive to the role Indians played in their own history. Consequently, the theme of power and whom controlled it over the course of Native American/European contact is being presented in new ways. Examining the evolving
In Thomas King’s novel, The Inconvenient Indian, the story of North America’s history is discussed from his original viewpoint and perspective. In his first chapter, “Forgetting Columbus,” he voices his opinion about how he feel towards the way white people have told America’s history and portraying it as an adventurous tale of triumph, strength and freedom. King hunts down the evidence needed to reveal more facts on the controversial relationship between the whites and natives and how it has affected the culture of Americans. Mainly untangling the confusion between the idea of Native Americans being savages and whites constantly reigning in glory. He exposes the truth about how Native Americans were treated and how their actual stories were