Our Perspective from Early Europeans' Journals

State Names is a recent artwork painted by Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, a female Native American contemporary artist. The painting represents a map of the United States of America but the artist chooses to leave out several of the east and west coast states’ names. Smith explains her artwork as stories about stolen lands including their heritage, culture, world views and beings (State Names). There is a sense of anger expressed in this painting that she describes as a representation of the loss of humanity. However, almost all of the Europeans did not consider their actions immoral. Early colonists believed that the assimilation of Native Americans into European, Christian culture was an act of salvation. In fact, culture was the most significant cause for the mass genocide of Native Americans in colonial America.

Christopher Columbus, who is seen as the first person to discover America, was financially backed by the Spanish government. Spain hoped that Columbus’ travels would lead to the foundation of a new trade route to Asia and the spread of Christianity. Instead of finding Asia, Columbus stumbled upon a new world and named the Native Americans Indians. Through Columbus’ journeys, Europeans heard stories of the the territorial possibilities that the New World possessed and many became interested in taking part. Similar to Columbus, Cabeza de Vaca explored the Americas but with a different aspect, in which he questioned the Europeans’ treatment of the Native Americans and believed they should be treated with more respect. Unfortunately, he was unable to affect change due to the stubborn European government whose goal was to profit off of the colonies.

There were significant differences between the native and European cultures. Culture is a way of life; there is no tradition in a culture because it changes but slowly. Culture consists of five major components: values, norms, languages, symbols and material goods. People within a culture practice these components in unique ways. For instance, profit, piety and power were Europe’s values and goals in the exploration of the New World. Queen Elizabeth funded Columbus, who was not Spanish, solely based on the belief that his travels would bring England wealth. In addition, Europeans thought piety, or the spread of Christianity, would help them gain access to the world and enlarge their power. However, these groups of humble and hospitality people in America had no interest in sustaining their economy. They believed property and gold should be used by humans and owned by nature.

Norms in these two cultures were also extremely different. Christopher Columbus wrote in his journal that male and female are equal. The natives believed that a person can choose multiple husbands and wives throughout their life. It was considered an informal norm in the Native Americans culture. This norm shocked Columbus because there were many laws and rules for marriage in Europe. Moreover, the natives were more peaceful and generous; they believed all people were similar to them. Columbus further noted in his journal that the Native Americans brought goods to exchange when the colonists first arrived and welcomed them. They were not afraid of the Europeans and did not imagine that the Europeans would ever become a threat to their lives. However, the Europeans wanted to turn these innocent people into slaves. The difference in how the two people groups dressed is an example of another informal norm. Due to the fact that the natives lacked technology, they did not use fabric. Therefore, their clothing was made out of leaves. On the contrary, the Europeans had numerous types of fabric for clothing. The Europeans’ wealth was determined by the quality of fabric that their clothes were made of. While there was some creativity in European clothing, all of the Native Americans dressed the same. The fact that all natives dressed the same seems to indicate that there was no social class system. The Native Americans were only divided by male and female; each gender had different tasks for living purposes. Undeniably, cultural norms have a significant effect on those living within the culture and can shape individuals tremendously.

Language was also a barrier throughout both Christopher