A bit of American history


 

European Perceptions of Native Americans

Initial European perceptions of Nativeof Europe.Indians did not come to be viewed
Americans viewed them as uncivilized savagesas inherently different in regards to color
who, with time and effort, could be educateduntil the mid-eighteenth century and the
and assimilated into European culture.label "red" was not used until the
Christopher Columbus reported his opinion ofmid-nineteenth century. Some causes of the
the Indians in the following manner:Theychanging perception were an increase of
should be good servants and of quickEuropeans, bloody conflicts and atrocities,
intelligence, since I see that they very sooncodification of laws designed to control
say all that is said to them, and I believeNative peoples, and the view of Europeans
that they would easily be made Christians,began to unify as being "white."The changing
for it appears to me that they had no creed.perception of Indians also caused a change in
Our Lord willing, at the time of myhow Europeans dealt with them. In the
departure, I will bring back six of them tobeginning, Europeans intermarried with them,
your Highness, that they may learn to talkand used teachers and missionaries to convert
(Hurtado 46).This passage shows that Columbusthem to European culture and religion. Later,
believed the Indians intelligent and would beeducation ceased and Europeans moved to
easily converted to European ways, but didsubjugate the Indians through displacement on
not think them equal to Europeans. Columbusreservations and by war/genocide.The Dawes
demonstrates his ethnocentricity byAct of 1877 reverted back to assimilation of
disregarding Native American religiousthe Indians through education and the
beliefs, and by assuming that because theypractice of farming. The reservation lands
did not speak a European language they couldwere divided up into individual sections for
not "talk."Europeans viewed the Indians asprivate ownership. Also the federal
having inferior cultural practices such asgovernment came to believe that educating the
their laws, government, economics, mode ofIndian children would be the quickest and
living, religion, property ownership, andmost effective manner to destroy Indian
education/writing. However, the Europeanslifestyles. Boarding schools were established
believed that these cultural traits of thefor Indian children to teach them American
Native Americans could with little difficultyvalues and customs, while eroding their
be changed to resemble European cultures. InNative American beliefs.At first contact,
1620, the first college for Native AmericansEuropeans believed Indians could be
was established to educate Indians inassimilated into European culture. Then they
European ways, and in 1640, Harvard opened ashifted to the removal and reservation
college for Indians. This proves that thepolicy. In the late 1800s, Americans returned
main objective of the Europeans was toto assimilationist policies, and in the 20th
assimilate the Native Americans into Europeancentury Indians have struggled to resist
culture by way of education. Europeanstotal assimilation by striving to maintain
justified their conquest of the Indianstheir cultural and religious
because they believed they had a divinebeliefs.BibliographyHurtado, Albert, Peter
purpose to convert them to Christianity. AlsoIverson, and Thomas Paterson, editors. Major
Europeans believed they could "redeem theProblems in American Indian History:
savages" in much the same way the RomanDocuments and Essays. Houghton Mifflin
Empire had conquered and civilized the restCompany Collegiate Division, 2000.



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