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Primary Source Readings- European Views of Native Americans

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12 questions
Primary Source Reading #1: De Soto’s Visit to Cofitachequi, 1540
On May 1, 1540, Hernando de Soto reached the Wateree River in South Carolina, near the present-day site of Camden. Across the river was the capital city of Cofitachequi. The following account of his visit was written later by a member of de Soto’s expedition known only as “the gentleman of Elvas.” Elvas is a town in Portugal.
After a little time the Cacica [queen or head woman] came out of the town, seated in a chair, which some principal men having borne to the bank, she entered a canoe. Over the stern was
spread an awning, and in the bottom lay extended a mat where there were two cushions, one above the other, upon which she sat; and she was accompanied by her chief men, in other canoes, with Indians. She approached the spot where the Governor [de Soto] was, and, being arrived, thus addressed him:
Excellent Lord: Be this your coming to these shores most happy. My ability can in no way equal my wishes, nor my services become the merits of so great a prince; nevertheless, good wishes are to be valued more than all the treasures of the earth without them. With sincerest and purest good-will I tender you my person, my lands, my people, and make you these small gifts.
The Cacica presented much clothing of the country, from the shawls and skins that came in the other boats; and drawing from over her head a large string of pearls, she threw them about his neck, exchanging with him many gracious words of friendship and courtesy. She directed that canoes should come to the spot, whence the Governor and his people passed to the opposite side of the river. Soon as he was lodged in the town, a great many turkeys were sent to him. The country was delightful and fertile, having good interval lands upon the streams; the forest was open, with abundance of walnut and mulberry trees. The sea was stated to be two days’ travel. ...
The Cacica, observing that the Christians valued the pearls, told the Governor, that, if he should order some sepulchres [or tombs] to be searched, he would find many. ... They examined those in the town, and found 350 pounds’ weight of pearls, and figures of babies and birds made of them . . . In the town were found a dirk [knife] and [rosary] beads that had belonged to Christians, who, the Indians said, had many years before been in the port, distant two days’ journey. He that had been there was the Governor-licentiate Ayllon ….
“The Narrative of the Expedition of Hernando de Soto by the Gentleman of Elvas,” in
Spanish Explorers in the Southern United States, 1528-1543
(New York, 1907), pp. 173-74.
1

How did the queen greet the Spanish?

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What were the Spanish most interested in?

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What traces of earlier Spanish Settlements did de Soto find?

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What did the Queen think of de Soto?

Primary Source Reading #2: John Lawson
“They are really better to us than we are to them.” John Lawson, North Carolina, 17095 A British naturalist and explorer, Lawson visited many Indian settlements in the Carolinas and later settled in North Carolina. Just before the outbreak of the Tuscarora War, he was captured and killed by Tuscarora Indians.
They are really better to us than we are to them. They always give us Victuals at their Quarters, and take care we are arm’d against Hunger and Thirst. We do not so by them (generally speaking) but let them walk by our Doors Hungry, and do not often relieve them. We look upon them with Scorn and Disdain, and think them little better than Beasts in Human Shape; though, if well examined, we shall find that for all our Religion and Education we possess more Moral Deformities and Evils than these Savages do, or are acquainted withal. We reckon them Slaves in Comparison to us, and Intruders, as oft as they enter our Houses, or hunt near our Dwellings. But if we will admit Reason to be our Guide, she will inform us that these Indians are the freest People in the World, and so far from being Intruders upon us, that we have abandon’d our own Native Soil to drive them out and possess theirs. Neither have we any true Balance in Judging of these poor Heathens, because we neither give Allowance for their Natural Disposition, nor the Sylvian Education and strange Customs (uncouth to us) they lie under and have ever been train’d up to. . . We trade with them, it’s true, but to what End? Not to show them the Steps of Virtue and the Golden Rule, to do as we would be done by. No, we have furnished them with the Vice of Drunkenness, which is the open Road to all others, and daily cheat them in everything we sell, and esteem it a Gift of Christianity not to sell to them so cheap as we do to the Christians, as we call ourselves. Pray let me know where is there to be found one Sacred Command or Precept of our Master that counsels us to such Behaviour? Besides, I believe it will not appear, but that all the Wars which we have had with the Savages were occasion’d by the unjust Dealings of the Christians towards them.
1

Describe Lawson’s view of the Natives.

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How does he feel that the Europeans compare to the Natives?

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How are the Natives treated?

Primary Source Reading #3 Reverend John Callender
“Monuments of the Anger of a righteous God” Rev. John Callender, Rhode Island, 1739 Callender was a prominent Baptist clergyman.
The Indians in this Part of America appear to have been some of the least improved of the human Species, without any Learning or Knowledge in any of the politer Arts of Life, even without Iron and the Improvements which depend on that. The strange Destruction of this People, now since the Wars ceased, and within Memory, is very remarkable. Their insuperable Aversion to the English industry and Way of Life, the Alteration from the Indian Method of living, their Laziness, and their universal Love of Strong Drink, have swept them away in a wonderful Manner. So that there are now above twenty English to one Indian in the Colony. Their few miserable Remainders are left, as Monuments of the Anger of a righteous God, . . .
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How does the Reverend describe the Natives?

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How does his description differ from John Lawson’s?

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What does the Reverend indicate caused the destruction of the Natives?

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Which article shows the greatest bias?

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Why do you think the European views of the Natives were so different?