Christopher and the Natives - the Natives Myth

Jalaya Thomas

English 1020

Comeaux

5 February 2017

                                         The Natives Myth

        For years students have been taught that Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean in 1492 and discovered America. We also learned that William Bradford was the first govenor of Plymouth. Although the stories are very fact-based there is a huge part of information not mentioned in the story told in the classroom. Why is it that the natives that were in America before Columbus and Bradford never also a big part of the stories?

        Columbus was the explorer who led his three ships the Pinta, the Nina, and the Santa Maria of the Spainish Port of Parlos. He has been credited for discovering America, but there were already people living in America at the time and those people are the Native Americans. The Natives were smart people who were skilled in algiculture, hunting,  and fishing. They adapted to this lifestyle prior to Columbus and his men. The Natives developed a decent life for themselves in America. TheNatives provided their own food, cloths, and established their own religion. They made cloths out of leaves to cover themselves, and they believed in the spirirts of nature. They believed that people should live in harmony with nature and so they treated natur withgreat respect. Columbus was biased towards the Natives when he arrived in America. Columbus considered himself better than the Natives at first glance because of  their appearences. When Columbus first met  the Natives he wrote: "They all go around as naked as their mother bore them; and also the women." Columbus was fully cloth which made his mentality towards the Natives arrogant, as a result of this he made the Natives his slaves and put them to work. At first arrival Columbus' was a hero who found America, but his ego and brutality towards the Natives turned him into a villian who used his knowledge to take advantage of innocent people. Columbus and his men took it upon themselves to enslave the Native Americans and interrupt their comfortable lifestyle. Columbus and his men enforce violence in an effort to get the Natives to look for riches. According to Time, approximately 50,000 Natives died of starvation, suicide, amputation, and war under Coumbus' control.

        Another exploror who incountered the Natives is William Bradford who was an English separatist and pilgram. Bradford was a leader of the Plymouth settlement who traveled on the mayflower to America. He served as governor for 30 years.  Like Columbus and his men the first contact between the pilgrims and the Native Americans caused conflict. There was a miniture war between the pilgrams ad the natives. Th pilgrams were victorious and their victory had much to do with their  equipment. The pilgrams had guns and protective clothing, and the Natives did not. Unlike Columbus, Bradford and the Natives both signed a peace treaty. Afterwards Bradford learned from the Native Americans. Bradford had a distasetful view of the Indians because of things he'd heard about them from other explorers. Bradford's view of the Natives changed after his own personal encouter with them. The Native Americans taught him farming techniques and how to survive in the colony. After the war and the peace treaty the Pilgrams had much to be thankful for, but at the first Thanksgiving only 53 pilgrims were alive to celebrate do to disease caused by weather conditions.