Colonists Living Among Natives in the New World Essay -- American Amer

Colonists Living Among Natives in the New World When the Europeans invaded the New World in 1492 they brought along their culture and way of life. The Europeans were not prepared to encounter a previously developed culture, which was home to the Indians. The negative stereotype of the Indians as viscous savages and barbarians was immediately formed by the Europeans beginning as early as Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. These negative stereotypes made Europeans believe that Indians were hardly human and "believed that no civilized person would choose to become an Indian" (Axtell, Invasion 302). When in fact the opposite became true. Despite the European view of Indians as savages, there were many English and French colonists who actually chose to live among the Indians. The colonists lived among the Indians when they discovered that the Indians had a more desirable way of life and a very moral society. The colonists also joined the Indian society to escape the corruption of the colonial society and to gain personal freedom with the Indians. This paper focuses primarily on the English and French colonists experiences with Indians of the Northeastern United States. But the Spanish, who were the first to arrive at the New World, did spend time living with the Indians as well. One of the most important examples of a Spanish person who lived with the Indians was the discoverer of America, Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci actually spent some time living and observing the Indian way of life (Washburn 6). He wanted to share in their lives so he shared their experiences, or as Gerbi world say, "he becomes a savage to understand the savages" (41). During the time that Vespucci stayed with the Indians, he found the Indian... ...ife and the rejection of the corrupt colonial society led to the number of colonists who voluntarily spent their lives with the Indians to be quite large and could have been even larger. "Had [the captives] not been compelled to return to colonial society by militarily enforced peace treaties, the ranks of the white Indians would have been greatly enlarged" (306). WORKS CITED Axtell, James. The European and the Indian. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981. Axtell, James. The Invasion Within: The Contest of Cultures in Colonial North America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. Gerbi, Antonello. Nature in the New World. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh Press, 1975. Rosenstiel, Annette. Red & White: Indian Views of the White Man. New York: Universe Books, 1983. Washburn, Wilcomb E., ed. The Indian and the White Man. New York: Anchor Books, 1964.