Synthesis Presentation

memorize

Slide 1

Hi everyone! My name is Anjana Ramanujam, and my presentation is on miscommunication or intent, exploring the early relationship between native americans and europeans.

Slide 2

My 1st source is the Arrival of the Whites, which is a primary source. 

This source is written from the perspective of the Lenape Tribe in Delaware, and it details the arrival of the Dutch. 

My 2nd source is the Europeans New World, which is a secondary source. This source holistically details the history of colonization, and characterizes the time period marked by curiosity that challenged the beliefs of Christianity . 

My 3rd and final source is an image of the Purchase of the Manhattan Island, which took place between the Dutch and the Lenape Native Americans. The actual purchase took place in 1626.

Slide 3

With that being said, Native American and European relationships have been typically characterized as one fueled by greed and exploitation. 

Could misconceptions, on both sides, have contributed to the harm caused to Native Americans?

My thesis in response to the question I posed is that Early Native American and European relationships were marked by unfamiliarity and miscommunication, which contributed to the ease with which Europeans could exploit Native Americans.

Slide 4

The first part of my presentation will focus on the Native Americans Confusions towards the Europeans. 

This is seen primarily through the  Arrival of the Whites source.

In this source, the Native Americans detail something moving towards the entrance of a river or bay, and they assumed it to be a remarkably large house in which the Mannitto was present. 

The Mannitto is the supreme being or deity for native americans, and the Native Americans act as if the Europeans were the Mannitto, and “pressed by others to stay, in order not to give offence to their visitor” so they act as if a deity was present.

The quotation at the end highlights an insight from the perspective of a native american, stating with certainty that the dutch are mannito but still being confused as to why they are white

Slide 5

This misunderstanding continues through the real, day to day interactions between the two groups. 

The Native Americans asked for “ only for so much ground for a garden spot as, they said, the hide of a bullock would cover or encompass, which hide was spread before them.”, 

And The Indians readily granted this apparently reasonable request; but the whites then took a knife, and beginnning at one end of the hide, cut it up to a long rope, and this encompassed a large piece of ground.

This misunderstanding about the Europeans being the mannitto allowed the onset of exploitation to occur,  as shown through the story of the hide.

Slide 6

Now, miscommunication is not one sided. European’s confusions are seen in The Europeans New World.

As the first quote shows, Europeans were confused by the unfamiliar environment — the people, the animals, and even the landscape. This shock pushed them to start questioning their traditional worldview, which had been tightly controlled by the Church.

The second quote shows how European confusion also extended to cultural and moral perceptions. When they saw the Native Americans nudity,, they didn’t really understand it, instead interpreted it through their own ideas about innocence versus savagery.

Appleby points out that explorers like Columbus and Cabral didn’t even land where they thought they were going, as both were intending to land in the indies. Now, this geographical confusion could have deepened their misunderstandings and fed into assumptions about Native people.

Slide 7

The result of these confusions was exploitation on the part of native americans.

As the first quote from Arrival of the White shows us, “The white and red men lived contentedly together for a long time, though the former from time to time asked for more land” 

This is an example of how giving the Natives were, likely due to them mistaking Europeans for deities as I mentioned earlier about the story of the mannitto. 

Exploitation is also shown through the Europeans giving Columbus a bit of gold for future voyages.

And in the last quote, “the europeans extracted promises from them to receive 10 percent of all the goods found in the lands” this showcases that the resources they gained far exceeded their expectations, this could be because miscommunications made it easy to take resources and exploit not only the land, but the fact that the natives didn’t understand them,

and the Europeans used that to their advantage. 

Slide 8

Comparing the two sources, The primary source shows the Native American side of the cultural misinterpretation, and the secondary source helps contextualize this by explaining how easy it was for Europeans to exploit this confusion, especially when they didn’t understand Native customs and had their own preconceived notions.

Slide 9

And here is s visual representation of the final result, the manhattan island deal.

Slide 10

The image is a direct result of the misunderstandings that occured between the Native Americans and Europeans. 

The Purchase of Manhattan Island demonstrates the ease at which Europeans could encroach on Native American lands/

From the image on the left here, we see two native americans sitting down, and looking confused. The one of the left seems to have a look of “what have we just done”, while the one of the right seems to be starting off into the distance, unsure about the deal.
The second image shows two europeans offerings goods, and they seem to be appearing confident and persuasive. Manhattan island was actually sold for only $24

The third images shows the dutch movin in from a distance moving onto the land, while the deal has not finished yet, which symbolizes future exploitation that is going to come

Slide 11

Now, for the overlap between all 3 sources, 

Arrival of the Whites, the primary source: focuses on the initial reception of the Dutch in Delaware from the Native Americans perspective. 

Europeans’ New World emphasizes confusion on the side of Europeans, as a result of encountering Native Americans.

The Manhattan Island Purchase is a visual representation of the Europeans’ exploitation of both land and exploitation the fact that the native americans did not completely understand them.

Slide 12

Conclusively, miscommunication has existed since the start of American history. 

As shown through the eradication of native american tribes either through things like forced displacement and disease, miscommunication can lead to violence and injustice. 

In our increasingly pluralistic and diverse society, the potential for miscommunication is immense. 

In order to combat the effects of miscommunication we must remain open minded and actively work to understand one another.