Misconceptions On America Before Columbus

In writing A Voyage Long and Strange, Tony Horwitz’s goal is clear, to educate others on early America and debunk ignorant myths. Horwitz’s reason for wanting to achieve this goal is because of his own ignorance that he sees while at Plymouth Rock. “Expensively educated at a private school and university- a history major, no less!-I’d matriculated to middle age with a third grader’s grasp of early America.” Horwitz is disappointed in his own lack of knowledge of his home country, especially with his background history and decides not only to research America’s true beginnings, but to also follow the path of those who originally yearned to discover America.

The Indians and Europeans are divided but together in terms of how Europeans viewed Indians. In New World for All and in Dawnland Encounters, Calloway uses European writer Hector St John De Crevecoeur, to describe how Europeans thought of the Indians. De Crevecoeur said the Indians society had a “imperceptible charm for Europeans and offered qualities lacking in European society” (Calloway. 155). In other words, the Indians offered a new take on life for the Europeans as well as give them a new insight to a clear majority of things in the Indian society. In contrast to how Europeans viewed Indians, when a European “went native” they were looked at as a traitor and would receive cruel and unusual punishment for that crime they committed. Davis

In the Non-fiction book, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus, Charles Mann aims to debunk an array of beliefs about Native Americans that most scholars once insisted were true. Mann’s research suggests that the native people of the Americas are more intelligent and sophisticated than previously predicted, live in higher numbers and greatly impact the natural landscape. The book is split into three parts: Numbers from Nowhere, Very Old Bones, and Landscapes with Figures. These parts focus on the population, culture, origins and the environment. Mann builds his arguments by reassessing a myriad of pre-existing views about the Americas prior to 1492. He then uses his new findings to prove his theories. This informative read provides

Upon the first colonial establishments, the Europeans viewed Native Americans as uncultured, unintelligent, and uncivilized. The first colonizers found themselves ultimately superior to the perceived rudimentary cultural and societal customs that were observed. Native Americans viewed Europeans as a strictly one sided cultural mass enforcement foreign establishment, stopping at nothing to enforce their perceived superiority in all forms of cultural and societal aspects. Differences in land use, gender roles, and societal history added to the wedging and hostility between the Native Americans and European people.

On October 12, 1492 three months into his journey to find India, Christopher Columbus traveled upon an already discovered land in the caribbean. Three Spanish ships with 87 men aboard landed in a place they referred to as "The New World." This was just the beginning of how America became the country it is today. Along with this new land came new discoveries, such as exotic plants and animals that were shipped back to Spain. Unlike Europe, this "New World" domesticated corn, chili, pumpkins, tomatoes, and potatoes. In the 17th century a new wave of people headed to the Americas in search of opportunity, and in some cases, religious freedom. Among the nations that wanted to lay claim upon the New World, England settled and claimed what is today

Upon the uncovering of the of the America’s by the European super powers, most of the native American tribes were quickly captured. The question arises as to why the Europeans conquered the Americans and not the other way around. Europe was able to prosper and grow while the indigenous groups of the Americas stayed in the past. European success over American tribes was attributed to the fact that the Europeans possessed more advanced technologies and skills that could be used against natives, Europeans were literate and could record knowledge and events easily, and the European diseases brought over were devastating to the unprepared indian populations.

Two scholars, Erikson and William Balée believe that almost all aspects of Native American life have been perceived wrong. Although some refuse to believe this, it has been proven to be the truth. Throughout Charles C. Mann’s article from The Atlantic, “1491”, he discusses three main points: how many things that are viewed as facts about the natives are actually not true, the dispute between the high and low counters, and the importance of the role disease played in the history of the Americas. When the term “Native American” is heard, the average person tends to often relate that to a savage hunter who tries to minimize their impact on their surrounding environment. For the most part, this is not the case. In reality,

In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. We all know this catchy tune right? But what we don’t know, is what Columbus thought when he arrived in the North America or what he though of the Native Americans he met. In fact, we don’t know much about all the explorers after Columbus and what they thought. Each explore had their own view of the Native Americans, and three great examples are Columbus, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda and Bartolomé de Las Casas

Many Europeans believed that they were superior to other cultures. They had a mindset that they were more deserving and more civilized than other peoples. This caused problems between the Europeans and other cultures. When the Europeans arrived in America, there was no hostility between the groups, but as time went on this European mentality caused many conflicts between the different cultures in the New World.

Both Columbus and Smith present very different descriptions of the New World 's landscape. This was most likely due to the fact that they were describing two completely different sections of the Western Hemisphere. For Columbus, this section was not only the tropical based Island of Hispaniola, but also the Islands that surround it. According to his description this location was a paradises of rivers, mountains, “large tracts of cultivatable land", trees and birds "of a thousand kinds" including nightingales and "there is honey" (Columbus, “Letter to Luis” 33). However, there are a number of problems with

Throughout the late 1400’s and the 1500’s, the world experienced many changes due to the discoveries of new lands and peoples that had been never been visited before. The new-found lands of the Americas and exploration of Africa by the Europeans led to new colonies and discoveries in both areas. It also brought different societies and cultures together that had never before communicated, causing conflict in many of these places. While the Europeans treated both the Native Americans and West Africans as inferior people, the early effects they had on the Native Americans were much worse.

Historians differ on what they think about the net result of the European arrival in the New World. Considering that the Columbian Exchange, which refers to “exchange of plants, animals, people, disease, and culture between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas after Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492,” led to possibly tens of millions of deaths on the side of the American Indians, but also enabled agricultural and technological trade (Henretta et al. 42), I cannot help but reflect on whether the effects should be addressed as a historical or a moral question. The impact that European contact had on the indigenous populations of North America should be understood as a moral question because first, treating it as a historical question is difficult due to lack of reliable historical evidence; second, the meaning of compelling historical claims is contestable as the academic historian perspective tends to view the American Indian oral history as invalid; and finally, what happened to the native Indians is morally repulsive and must be discussed as such.

The British North American colonies developed marvelously in self government, religious, economic and social ways of life from 1607 to 1763, and in doing so they laid the foundations for our world today. They weren’t always correct in their actions. As Sumner Redstone said ‘Success is not built on success. It 's built on failure. It 's built on frustration. Sometimes it’s built on catastrophe.” When the colonies failed to recognize women, slaves, natives, and landless people as people who could vote, when the Northern colonies couldn’t farm in their soil, and when the New York and Stono Rebellions happened, it strengthened the colonies. They built themselves from that, into the USA we have today.

Evidence: “When resistance mounted a to the Spaniards’ violence, Columbus sent an armed force to ‘spread terror among the Indians to show them how strong and powerful the Christians were,’ according to the Spanish priest Bartolome de las Casas” (Huffington Post).

The Europeans who have long since been referred to as “explorers” were conquerors. Although conquering may not have been what the Europeans had in mind when they set off, they did take over new lands and people. They took lands that they did not own, and had no real right to take, essentially stealing them. They went as merchants, but decided to stay because they could make profits off the new land. Europeans wanted the glory of discovering and claiming a place not already claimed or known to the other European countries, not just for themselves, but for their country. Claiming and owning meant the most glory for the Europeans. They also thought that the Native peoples would be easy to convert to Christianity and would do as they were told.