HIST 2112 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Northwest Passage, Megafaunal Wolf, Nudity
Document Summary
Looking for northwest passage-> water route to china. Wanted china because it was technologically advanced. Described land as "land god gave cain" Landscape that is the same way it was when it was created. Natives weird and scary (naked, speaking different language, performing strange rituals) Natives responded to change ore was a north america. How cartier et al were wrong - four points about the native world: never lived in an "untouched wildver time just like anyone else would. Played a role in destroying the megafauna: great diversity among indians, complex cultures: religions, ideas of property, and gender roles. Land has to be used in certain ways to be valuable (if not it was taken away: indians weren"t "timeless, unchanging savages," noble or otherwise. + Good indian: wanted to be christian, nudity was innocent, gentle (child-like, brave, needed instruction (like kids needs instructions from parents)
