The colonization of North America was a process that was influenced by many people and organizations. Countries offered incentives for citizens to relocate to the New World, while explorers charmed potential settlers with promises of wealth, joy, and freedom through literary works. Many British citizens read these accounts and left for the continent, believing that the newly discovered world was a modern-day Promised Land. John Smith was one explorer who influenced British settlement of North America through his inspiring works The General History of Virginia and A Description of New England. While John Smith attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of North America in his writings, Smith inaccurately describes the continent.
Through the use of amplification, John Smith misrepresents the physical resources of North America. Smith embellishments are found in his descriptions of the various wildlife and resources to be found in America. For example, when Smith describes the quality of soil in New England, he notes that, “The ground is so fertile that questionless it is capable of producing any grain, fruits, or seeds you will sow or plant…” (Smith 58). Smith’s assertion that the land is capable of growing any plant is by no means accurate, due to the variation of soils found along the Atlantic coast and inland. Despite his faulty account, Smith’s embellishment appealed to the masses of poor farmers that lived in 17th century Britain who struggled to produce a mediocre crop yield. Using this promise of wealth and other amplifications made by John Smith in regards to New England, literary critic Marc J. Garcia-Martinez surmises that A Description of New England, “Through word and image presents itself as nothing furthe...
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...hout the course of North American settlement and the expansion of the United States, contributing to the build up of resentment harbored by Native Americans with government systems that did not compliment the processes of Western governments. Overall, John Smith’s word choice in describing the people of North America is inaccurate.
In conclusion, John Smith wrongfully describes North America in his writings. Through his use of embellishment, Smith provides a faulty description of America’s resources. In addition, John Smith’s rhetoric poorly describes the availability of land in the continent, while his word choice misrepresents Native American tribal structure. While exploration and settlement are not always harmful, John Smith’s writings contributed to the conflict and hardships endured by settlers who believed his dream-like description of North America.
To many of the English colonists, any land that was granted to them in a charter by the English Crown was theirs’, with no consideration for the natives that had already owned the land. This belittlement of Indians caused great problems for the English later on, for the natives did not care about what the Crown granted the colonists for it was not theirs’ to grant in the first place. The theory of European superiority over the Native Americans caused for any differences in the way the cultures interacted, as well as amazing social unrest between the two cultures.
Because of his restlessness in England, Smith became actively involved with plans to colonize Virginia, which had been granted a charter from King James I. After setting sail, this famous expedition finally reached Virginia in April, after enduring a lengthy voyage of over four months in three tiny ships. John Smith was one of the seven chosen to govern and start the colony. He took a...
Turner fails to realize the extent to which Native Americans existed in the ‘Wilderness’ of the Americas before the frontier began to advance. Turner’s thesis relies on the idea that “easterners … in moving to the wild unsettled lands of the frontier, shed the trappings of civilization … and by reinfused themselves with a vigor, an independence, and a creativity that the source of American democracy and national character.” (Cronon) While this idea seems like a satisfying theory of why Americans are unique, it relies on the notion that the Frontier was “an area of free land,” which is not the case, undermining the the...
There are many ways in which we can view the history of the American West. One view is the popular story of Cowboys and Indians. It is a grand story filled with adventure, excitement and gold. Another perspective is one of the Native Plains Indians and the rich histories that spanned thousands of years before white discovery and settlement. Elliot West’s book, Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers and the Rush to Colorado, offers a view into both of these worlds. West shows how the histories of both nations intertwine, relate and clash all while dealing with complex geological and environmental challenges. West argues that an understanding of the settling of the Great Plains must come from a deeper understanding, a more thorough knowledge of what came before the white settlers; “I came to believe that the dramatic, amusing, appalling, wondrous, despicable and heroic years of the mid-nineteenth century have to be seen to some degree in the context of the 120 centuries before them” .
Explores in the new world came across many perils and have to overcome difficulties to survive and thrive. Explores from all different time periods have defined human civilization and society. From Christopher Columbus to Hernan Cortes, explores from all over the world have set their foot in the Americas. These are the people who defined out America would be shaped and the spheres of influence in America. These adventurers have shown up in a lot of literature for over hundreds of years and are still studied today. Two names in particular who shaped America and can be found in literature are John Smith and William Bradford. These two adventures are some of the original explorers in America and can be credited for defining American life as people
The colonists of the eighteenth century were caught between two cultures: the culture of their mother country (England), and a developing culture that would soon be labeled “American.” During the eighteenth century, the population of the Britain’s mainland colonies grew at unprecedented rates. However, few Americans chose to live in the cities. Despite the limited urban population, cities still profoundly influenced colonial culture. In cities, Americans were exposed to the latest English ideas. Wealthy colonists began to emulate the culture of the mother country, and women and men
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.
Axtell, James. “Native Reactions to the Invasion of North America.” Beyond 1492: Encounters in Colonial North America. New York: Oxford UP, 1992. 97-121. Print.
John Smith explains the hardships of the voyage in the “General History of Virginia” he and others endured. While finally landing on land and discovering the head of the Chickahamania River, The colony endured Disease, severe weather, Native American attacks, and starvation all threatened to destroy the colony. Smith talks about his accomplishments of being a “good leader” and how he helped in many ways. John Smith was captured by the Native Americans and brought back to the camp. Within an hour, the Native Americans prepared to shoot him, but the Native Americans done as Chief Powhatan ordered and brought stones to beat Smiths brains out. John Smith gave an ivory double compass to the Chief of Powhatan. The Native Americans marveled at the parts of the compass. After the Native Americans admired the compass for an hour Chief Powhatan held...
The great westward expansion of European American pioneers is one of the most celebrated periods in our country’s history. We idealize its ruggedness, its characters, and the many sure dichotomies of the frontier: good versus evil, civilizations versus savagery, man versus the wilderness. The pioneers set out to create a new world, to push the boundaries of home, morality, and familiarity. In the process they irreversibly affected the established ecosystems and Native American dwellers. The challenges and harshness of the environment had their own effects upon the settlers, effects that have engrained themselves into our national consciousness. We celebrate “rugged individualism” while at the same time ignoring the price we pay for that stubbornness and strength of character. Westward expansion resulted in the extinction or endangerment of hundreds of native species of flora and fauna, altered entire ecosystems, such as the Great Plains, and impacted aquifers and watersheds across the entire nation.
Throughout the comparatively recent history of the United States, there have been many obstacles that the relatively young nation has had to overcome. Even before the nation had obtained its independence from Britain, there were conflicts with the Natives of the new land. Then wars were fought for other countries benefit, on their own soil. Then, of course, there was the Revolutionary War, fought in the late 1770’s, in which British colonists rose up against their British fathers in order to gain economic, religious and political freedom. After the acquirement of their independence as a nation, there were still many conflicts that the fledgling country had to worry about. The continent of North America was still controlled by other European superpowers, not to mention the multitudes of Native Indians that populated the lands west of the Appalachians. In order to combat other world powers as well as increase their own wealth, trade, and influence, the Americans adopted an attitude of ‘Manifest Destiny’, in which westward expansion was priority and their right. This however, led to more troubles and conflicts with the Natives of the land. The Indians west of the Appalachian m...
When the shape of America first started to grow from just land to the 13 colonies to the westward expansion of our country in less than a century, it sure feels like hopes and dreams came true. Though it might have seemed like an easier task, it took luck, labor, and intense warfare. The long process of American territorial expansion was justified by a mid-century ideology known as Manifest Destiny (pg 1). The one people we seem to forget about when we discuss the growing settlement of our country are the Native Americans. They had inhabited the country long before Columbus had discovered America, and still play an important part in today’s society. Manifest Destiny justified the displacement and domestication of Native Americans all while
The prevailing opinion is that European explorers came to the America’s to peacefully colonize and gradually begin mutually beneficial relationships with the native people. However, Howard Zinn proves that the majority of explorers could not coexist with the native tribes, as the conquerors slowly stole their land, and did not return the initial hospitality most of the natives had showed to them. Therefore, the European colonizers blatantly ignored the rights of the Native Americans and acted with violence towards them. In order to conquer the natives, the colonizers “set fire to the wigwams of the village” and “ [destroyed] their crops” (Zinn).
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
In “ A Description of New England ”, Smith starts by describing the pleasure and content that risking your life for getting your own piece of land brings to men. On the other hand, Bradford reminds us how harsh and difficult the trip to the New World was for the p...