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Mystery and just plain misinformation still haunts the image of the American Indian (yes American Indian is the term most Indians prefer) in the mind of the general public. Just look at recent movies like Disney’s Pocahontas which embeds a mythical account of an actual event firmly in the minds of our children. The movie depicts John Smith as a good-natured adventurer who falls for the Indian princess, tries to convince the governor of the fact that the Indians are not the savages they are thought to be, and finally is saved by her as she insists that she must die if he does. In truth Pocahontas was taken captive by Smith’s expedition and held prisoner aboard one of his ships. She was to be taken back as a sort of prize to king James. She fell in love with John Rolfe who she eventually married, and instead was presented to the court as a princess. She was the daughter of “King Powhatton” who had allowed her to save John’s life so that he would be in debt to Powhatton and cease the exploitation of Powhatton’s people. They ploy did not work and Powhatton’s people were eventually destroyed. In essence, Disney ignored the basic facts in favor of promoting the “Romantic Savage” myth. This sort of distortion is not new in America. Alvar Nunez explored the southern portion of the Mississippi River area in 1528 and was followed by Hernando de Soto in 1539. Both expeditions left records of contact with Mississippian type cultures who left ruins like those at Cahokia Mounds. However, open a text book today and most of them will state with all authority that the temple mound cultures were gone by 1400. In fact, by 1607, the year Jamestown was founded, there was already speculation as to who had built the mounds and earthworks the settlers “discovered.” The Europeans we fondly remember as Pilgrims had forgotten their own history, including men like Sir Walter Raleigh who himself had never been to America but had sent expeditions there, and firmly believed that the Amerindians were either evil creatures spawned from Hell itself or some lost tribe who possessed “the devil’s own lands.” Israel, Carthage, Egypt and even Atlantis were candidates for explaining the Indians. Some might point out that these first colonists may not have known of the De Soto expedition. The fact is, colonists were recruited and the wonders of the Americas discovered by men like De Soto, Raleigh were widely publicized. This was in fact basic history and these men were recent heroes for these people. Others might point out that a religious mind-set could account for the attitudes of the colonists. This is of course a major portion of the equation, but is it a valid excuse? Would Hitler be excused because he justified the treatment of the Jews with belief? This writer realizes that history is lopsided and in all fairness I should point out that one of Israel’s greatest heroes was a man named Joshua who practiced genocide, like Hitler, but was considered “The hand of God” by his people much as the colonists thought of themselves when they began the systematic extermination of America’s first peoples. To this day a statue of one of the men who was instrumental in exterminating the very Indians that are credited with Thanksgiving, Miles Standish, overlooks a town square. Religious beliefs were part of the problem, but were no excuse. The myths had began early too. In fact, early in the days of first explorations of the Americas England and Spain entered frequent legal disputes over the lands. England cited a legend of a Welsh prince named Maddoc who supposedly had settled in America with a small colony sometime in the early 13th century. Why America was forgotten for 300 years is never explained. John Thorowgood who was a contemporary of these first colonies knew of these legends and others. One account Thorowgood knew very well was of an alleged expedition by a Dominican friar, one Diego Duran of Jewish descent, who, in an attempt to acquire funding to search for gold, had reported finding Jewish patriarchs in the Ecuadorian jungles. Thorowgood produced a book, Jews in America, that promoted these ideas along with another author fooled by Duran, Manasseh Ben Israel, who wrote Indians or Jews. These schools of thought were the children of an “Old Testament Movement” that had started in the Americas with Franciscan friars who had arrived hot on the heals of Cortez. The myths and religious movements marched on until, by the 19th, century the debates on Indian origins, their building of advanced civilizations and even whether or not they were actually humans had been settled and renewed several times. By Thomas Jefferson’s day people had forgotten that the Indians were ever Mound - Builders at all in spite of the fact that the colonists and other early explorers had made this point quite clear. Thomas Jefferson, although a supporter of Celtic explanations for the mounds, eventually realized he was in error. Jefferson excavated several mounds and had read accounts of Indians in his own day still pursuing the practice of mound burial. Jefferson had proven the Amerindian the builder of the civilizations in America by 1803 and had published these facts in popular magazines of the day yet by 1820 the romantic notions were once again in full swing. J. Morgan served to demonstrate this phenomenon well when he said, “could barely count their fingers and toes. To suppose that they could have built the mounds was as preposterous a notion as to claim they had built the pyramids of Egypt.” In fact there were “scientific” studies done that “proved” the Amerindian were an inferior race. During the mid 19th century Samuel Morton was one of these scientists. He wrote Crania Americana wherein he used skull measurements to prove this deficiency of the Amerindian and other peoples. Stephen Gould discusses the fallacy of this project in The Mismeasure of Man. Morton presorted his skull collection by size with total disregard of actual origin placing the larger specimens in the Anglo pile and arranging the rest accordingly with Africans at the bottom of the list and Jews and Indians right above them. This work was considered valid and was popularized in its time. The fact is, however, brain size is no indication of intelligence at all. It is the neuron count and configuration of the brain that is determinate. This information is in most good encyclopedias yet, even today, we here anthropologists mention brain size when discussing mans biological history on the earth. While America was experiencing its first symptoms of amnesia accompanied by romanticism there were groups of Mississippian cultures still active in the Americas. The Natchez, who occupied an area along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge Louisiana and Jackson Mississippi, are of prime example. They managed to hang on until 1774 when they were finally destroyed. These were classic Mississippian culture temple mound builders, yet they fact somehow completely eluded and still escapes the notice of those who support the romantic ideas. During the last decade of the 19th century Congress wanted to settle the “Indian question” once and for all. The commissioned Cyruss Thomas to accomplish this. He produced a work that is still valuable and unequaled to this day. Thomas’ Report on the Mound Builders to the Bureau of Ethnology clearly proved the Amerindians to be the builders of the mounds and also pointed out that the effort was unneeded as the proof had always been right under their noses. He pointed to The Florida of the Inca, an account of the De Soto expedition; he pointed to the fact that Indians in his own time still built mounds, he pointed to Catholic charms found in mound burials and many other proofs, yet today his work is largely unremembered. The theme of this article is more than just an exercise in academic curiosity and history. In fact if you visit the book store you will likely find works by Barry Fell who wrote America BC in 1976 and Saga America in 1983. Both works by this Harvard professor keep alive the myths of Americas forefathers and were best sellers. Even today’s Internet sports sites that side with Fell and his ilk who promote these myths. If you visit http://ancientamerican.com/ you can see the site of a magazine devoted to supporting these romantic myths. At http://israelite.net/trueweb.htm you can see that some Jews are still spellbound by 19th century romanticism. A passage from this site is quoted as follows:
Even corn is a problem for people caught in the trap. There are accounts of corn in India before Columbus. These accounts were translated by British scholars who used the term corn correctly. In true English corn is a generic term used as Americans use grain (Erman, 434). When some scholars read these accounts that speak of corn they assume it is American maize. Their lack of knowledge is made evident as they loudly cite proof of Amerindian contact with India. In fact this is a common error by historians and archaeologists who also ignore the De Soto chronicles and other works readily available. The Amerindian has given this country and this world much in spite of the effort to exterminate them. Consider just two areas where they have contributed. Over 51% of the worlds produce from plants domesticated by the Amerindian and over 2000 medicines are gifts from our Amerindian heritage. Yes, even the Irish owe some thanks to the Amerindian for the “Irish Potato.” The actual concept of minorities in the St. Louis area is evident on the local TV stations that show the “spots” for Black Heritage month or at the St. Louis Science Center where we can see the many contributions African Americans have given to the world, yet the Indian is no where mentioned. The bottom line is the Amerindian is still a fictitious figure in the minds of most. The real Amerindian remains hidden from the public view and future generations behind a mist of fantasy. For five centuries we have known yet refuse to acknowledge the rich heritage of the Amerindian. Will we ever give the credit due? |
Sources:
Erman, Adolf: "Life in Ancient Egypt" London: Macmillan and Company,
1894. Reprinted by Dover Publications, 1971.
Also see My bibliography
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