Why were the Native American and African people thought of as ‘savage’ by some Europeans?
...s in the world. Europeans found that Native Americans were politically disorganized and there was an obvious lack of interaction within the tribes. It is true that many tribes fought against each other trying to emphasise their difference. But it is important to notice that war was usually regarded as a sport activity and wars of conquers were rare. The common objectives were prestige, revenge, plunder and the defence of tribal areas . Sometimes only touching an enemy carried more powerful meaning than killing him, achieving this way prestige and respect. But those aims remained incomprehensible for people of “Old World”. Why even fight if not enlarge your estate, power and wealth? Another aspect, which probably gave place to prejudice and misjudgement was the continuous war led against witchcraft in Europe. A lot of effort was put into witch hunts, fighting witchcraft and inquisitions and it was obvious that the same activities had to be implemented among the Native Americans. The document of “Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610-1791 refers how “the Savages believe that a certain one named Atachocam had created the world, and that one named Messou had restored it” and “they pray for the Spring, or for deliverance from evils and other similar things; they express all these things in the form of desire, crying out as loudly as they can.” During these ceremonies native inhabitants decorated themselves with skins of animals, feathers, masks and body paint which greatly increased suspicion and mistrust among Europeans. Was it not the attempt to contact the Devil and wicked underworld spirits? At least it did seem to have a connection with Paganism in “civilized” people’s eyes. The numerous dances, sacrifices and other religious aspects were regarded as acts of evil and considered to be far beyond traditional ethics. Shamans and powerful medicine man who were believed to have supernational powers, only deepened the mistrust. Native inhabitants beliefs of harmony and peace were unnoticed or simply misinterpreted as those cultural traditions were foreign and beyond common sense to European settlers. First major tensions between American Indians and Europeans arose during the Puritans’ missionary activities as they thought themselves to be obliged to convert the “savages” to Christianity and bring salvation. The Indians were puzzled and bewildered by this course of events. Their resistance to accept British ideology and views only increased encounters and conflicts. For example in 1622 in Virginia, several years after tobacco culture had begun to push English settlers into Indian territory, Powhatan’s successor led a devastating attack on the English settlements. Nearly a third of the colonists were killed. The English response was bitter and all Indians, whether friendly or not, were now seen as enemies . The Native Americans were also bewildered by the English encroachment on their territories as the idea of individual ownership was unknown to them. Indians were strongly attached to their land and they rather believed that it belonged to them by tradition and the necessity to provide essential food provisions. Land was always available for someone to use it. Puritan settlers on the other hand found that land was major business opportunity to be bought and sold and any other conduct toward the land was waste of its great potential. Those two different views caused endless struggles and convinced Puritan’s more and more for Native Americans’ being savages as they thought that land was not theirs to sell. As the colonies grew, distinct social patterns emerged in various regions. Southern colonies differed remarkably from North as geographical advantages allowed them cultivate crops which could not be grown in North or Great Britain. Therefore in the southern colonies slavery soon transformed the English settlements. As South played major role in importing sugar, coffee, cotton and especially tobacco, one of the most important exports of America, it soon needed cheap labour in order to satisfy the growing demand of European market. It was hard to force a free person to remain an agricultural labourer when there was a possibility for him to become a landowner . And it turned out to be hopeless attempt to enslave Native Americans as they new their homeland and could fight back the invaders. Therefore, by 1619, the use of...