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    or er ee 'Alan Tay pt verything we thought we new shoot early America| ina rcrehing international comet All ver the out. eachers wll tbe throwing out stl lecture noes Stadents wl be siting up atten ‘ely. Here isa history that responds to the skeptical quesbons we ask inthe eweny- fs centy” Tanda K. Kerb, author of No Cattcoal Right Be Ladi Wien andthe Oban of Ciizenbip, [A] superb overview f colonial America. Alan ‘por. draws upon tn exaordinary ary of recent scolarhip to present much more rnprchensive and complex story. In the proces he punctures ay hs and masperceptions. Taylor silly integrates social history int his atatve. His gocouns of gender roles any ify and elie ious beliefs hep laminate the polities and economie processes that Shape America’ role within the international community. Perhaps Tiylors greatest contribution to our understanding of early American hiory contextual He sone of the few colonial hstorans ro devote 2 hole chapter to the settlement of the West Indian ands and their foie inthe development of South Carolina, and perhaps the only one terinclde developments onthe Great Plains and in Califor, Alaska lind Hayat before the Revolution. He also Inoadens eur unvderstand- ing ofthe multinational spect of early American Ksory. American CCatones provides the move comprehensive and textured acount ofthe fivere stands tht formed the fabric of erly American history. Ki tdsined to become the sandard work ts Bch" re Chron dene Manito mune fl of fscinating material uncovered by historians archae ‘lossy and anthropologist nthe past hal cent.” Newey “Alan Tylor has ranged widely ore the best new scholarship in eth ‘history, environmental, pera, Adan, Pacific and Borderlands history sing not sip co fon but to transform the narrative of arly North Amneicn, Compelling, readable, and fesh, Ameren’ Coles perhaps the mont brane piece of synthesis in recent American historical writing” Philip}: Deloria, Awociae Profesor History and American Cltore, University of Michigan and author of Paying Indio “Even the serous sunt of history wil ind a gest deal of previous. ly olwcre information. The book offers a balanced understanding of the diverse peoples and force that converged om his continent and Influcned the couse of American hia Pulses Welly (stared review) AMERICAN COLONIES ALAN TAYLOR Hen A The Penguin History of the United States Eric Foner, Editor ® PENGUIN HOOKS “Tepe ad sabi of thes of the oan, 1752, by Alene de Iain he oer Sis Valley the ery eget etary, rab nes fond sexe of he Mision efi cepted rat darted ep ee ee | to. wsED T0-THINK of Native Americ cles rebel ts, inching or enue until encountered al overbeled bythe Ei open inva afer 192. The scar sured tha the dexrpons of Inn cures by ery explrers oul be en backward to iagine thei Press es yn hh ip of ac acl a Tnvhropology, we ean nom se thatthe explores encountered a compl a fay of dives peoples in the mis of profound change Far fom being a4 immutable prone the Indians ha compat and ymamic Boy a ‘Ameri long etre 182 sins ontroversnl sot ative origin and 0 may Ino, all ofthe saterent in this chopra Ties speculate and the dats sre approximations Te arcacolgel ev tne & amenary and mie, sogening mul pons In pen fra, T have fvoed the more cation imerpesions advanced by the ‘tang schcologs And we should bear nin hac may comtempo- ‘aye peoples enily ret the chal exlanations fr tr rigs felering sted ther own tao hat they emenged inthe Amctes ao tral blog och Weltng aboot pre-Columbian America is ko fught with controversy es oe le eee oo ‘oun eco and environmental pon Ts highlight the wi notes fl inset oe bet es rete ee {hs pre 100 Rec be welled vce ee beg a pet mony with our ater eed ord tet oes To oe eis re Cove riled geben on erey cis feat ioc lee oscil yeeearloa gs Py pecs og eceeiieaee plese commer frre heey of he Eoepae Seta at Tadane wee war sree wi rime ete deere congue tod conor, Ofte the dbase eos ie» epetin oer wc wes nay we the Tc othe Enropene da seem ba a teak (end pale) to maketh ese tec the Indiana the Ero ats ofthe ety ander cra were by eaire o xis tore alent end met” than the thee Warland the rol tou and eceuton of conics vere cosinonplce in ath mathe Ameren and erly moder Europe Without penging Earopeans ae inasly more crucl and vile, we shonld ovata spetor power enc ry By 1492 they had d= ‘eloped a pte ichclogil end rpanitionl cpachy to coo po longed wart fr fom home, They ake pomcecd inperal ars d rhpiow eologisthar drove tho ourwerd arom the weekly oceans in Seach of new lands and peoples to congue. Superior means enabled ac ieclogealimperaives obliged, Europea to cre the Alana iva Not Ameri fer 1492 Inthe roc the newer waited the washed nthe Amero evel precedent in the aie Ps 4a © Natives, 13,000 6.8.0, 1492 *s [And although Indian lacked the perecion of environment saints they Ai possess a cltre that demanded Tes oftheir nature chan di the Furor pens ofthe early moder ers Almost ll ely explorers and colonizers mar- Seled a the natural abundance they found in the Americas, biodiversity at tuk wth the deforestation and exinedons that the Furopeans fd already terought in most oftheir own continent. Colonization transformed the North American envionment, which had iready experienced more modest changes inte bythe naive occupation MIGRATION With the exception of frozen and isolated Antarctica, North and South America were the las continents occupied by’ people All ofthe human foals found in the Americas are almost certainly Tes than ffieen thowand year ‘ld belong othe bilegeally modem form, Dental genetic and linguis- ticanalysis reveals that mos contemporary Native Americans are remarkably omogencous and probably dexend fom 2 fow hundred ancestors who ‘ame to North America within fren thocuand years ofthe presen (with the ‘ception ofthe btenarrving Athabasca, Inuit, and Aleut peoples). ‘Mose scholars belive thatthe free Americane migrated from Siberia in sowheast Asia. Genetic and skeletal (pecially dental evidence suggest po ‘al afintics berween Native Arserican and the peoples of Siberia And the provimity of Siberia to Alla offers the radio passage between the Old tnd the New Woel, indeed che only pracicable route for peoples without themarine technology to waverse the Adantic or Pacific Ocean, Aout fifteen thousand years ago the iahabitant of Siberia ved in many all bands that ranged far and wide ia pars ofthe roaming and grazing herds of large and meaty (but dangerous) mammal, especially marmot, snusk oxen, and wooly thinoceroses. fe was shar cold, nd generally shor fein which hunger alternated withthe episod binges of big il. Becaone the people ad to remain on the move (om foot) sm pari of the herds they could not develop permanent villages and did aot accumulate heayy poessons Tn their pursuit ofthe hers, some hunting bands passed into what now [North America. Today the oceanic Bering Strait separates Siberia fom Als, Bur berween about twenty-five thousand and ewelve thousand yeas ago, a ‘older global cimate—an Ice Age—locked up mor ofthe worlds water in po- lar cecaps, which spread southward as immense glaciers, covering the norh- ‘cm third of North America. The enlarged icecaps lowered the ocean levels ly ‘such a 360 fet, cresting aland bridge been Siberia and Asa, Of course, the fis people who trekked into Alaska had no notion that they were discovering and colonizing a new continent, nor that they’ were crosing 4 land bridge thit wonld subsequently vanish beneath the eng AMERICAN CoLoNtes ee _ ee es Paciie Osean when the global climate warmed. The newcomers naturally eee Care pen eee eat atest gente spy ne x tle oftheir bee ne eae eee eter eal were cae ye Pep sncrcocan g ee egret Areres ere tn ol aes wet ; . eee le cece res y Pe ee a ener ener eee ae AS El ang Ge Wi wae By trae niece year ogn tn pa aes ice ad rested to ppromtely present ims ine arian he cl aay Nien mina os fil Balled let te inca cnifarson: Ad Be Ch iceap receded over the cour, the mimes ful car to end t Southard and esorard neo Nerth Amer and beyond. Rema s c 3 iar archeologists of human exeampmcns suddenly bese common shout reve fest oe hosed yes goa aan pac ome Cl : eee eetree cette : As the land bridge submerged, migration from Siberia became more | % 4 ff . 700 and 1200, mize, bean, and Sth became fundamental ao the ave det in the American southwest IMidwex,and southeast and the more temperate portions ofthe northeast. Tn Meco andthe American southwes, where maize clvation sas ‘most advance Indian men reduced thei hunting a became the primary Caltatos In those relate arid eegions, maize elds required the abort ‘us construction and maintenance of extensive erigation pond, dams, and Sirches Ta the more humid artes of central and eastern North Ameri ize clietion are relatrely late and required. les labo. Conse ‘query, there the native peoples regarded horccltre as an extension of {Eherng, which was female esponstuty,wble che men mained preoe Exped wih hunting nd ishing Horcalture never spread unixerslly among the Indias. Some lived were the growing stun was eo short nthe vs acc and sabre re tons of Alaska and Canada or inthe high clevatons ofthe Rockies and Sierra Neva Or they welled where there wa tole water: inthe west em Great Pin and in most ofthe Gret Basin between the Rocis and Seri Nea. Wher ithe the growing seon was to short oF water too pew ‘Aunicax Goronies scan, the inhabitants continued to live in small, motile, highly dispersed, and relatively egaltarkn groups. Rather than oriculure, the most sini fant development for these people was ther adoption ofthe how and arrow sfier about AD. SOD. Natives also did not develop horicultre in the temperate and humid cnistal zone of California and the Pace northwest, despite is sufficient rowing seasons and abundant water. Along the Pacific cas, the hunting fthering-fching complex was so productive thatthe native peoples didnot feel the pressure tat elsewhere led to horicalture. In California an abun- dance of acoens and other edible wild plants supported an especially Inge population. Similars in the mild and rainy Pacic northwest, the people lived plentifallyon ish (especialy salmoa) and sea mammals. adowed with 4 bountifl diet and leisure time, the Indians ofthe northwestern rincoast ‘ould develop and sstain elaborate ritual, at, and stars hierarchies wich- ‘ou developing hortcatar. HOHOKAM AND ANASAZI Berwcen about 1.0. 300 an 1100 ewe especialy complex and populous cul tures emerged in the American southwert: the Hohokam and the Anaad ‘The names ae scholarly conventions, for we do not know wht thow poo ples called themselves. “Hoholasm™ and “Anata” signify broad cultura timilarities rather than linguistic and polices unig: Nether consid & ‘ation state, to say nothing of an empire. Instead, both culres consisted of several linguistic groups and many politically independent villages or town (ate called publ by the Spanish). Nether the Anasazi nor the Hohoka had beasts of burden (other than dogs), developed ayatem of writing, orem loyed the whecl. Nonetheless, both bul substantial seone and adobe tows ‘irected ty 1 socal hierarchy headed by men who combined the roles of ‘chief and priest ‘The Anasi and Hohokam annually conducted public uals meant susuin the harmony anil productivity of their worl. Far from taking har- ‘mony and abundance for granted, they regarded constant ritual exertions ‘sential to prevent natures collapse int chaos. Thr arid land of limited ‘resoures al competing viliges forded good cause for dir exitental Both the Anasazi and the Hohokam manifested, co varying degres, the influence of central Mexico, the preeminent cultural hearth ofthe cont ‘nent In rad with central Mexico, they exchanged turquoise snes for put rs, copper bell, and mize seed, In ation to transmiting their food ‘ops, Mesoamerica taught the Hobolam and Anaszi how to cultivate cot- ‘on and wo weave cloth, The largest Hohokam ilies constructed all courts tnd plavorm temple mounds resembling those of ental Mexican cis. 13,000 m.co-a.0, 1492 cat In the arid southwes, horsiculeure required elaborate systems of dans, reservoirs and ditches «> catch, retain, and channel water to ierzate the pnts. Inthe Gila River and Sale River valleys of southern Arizona the Ho: hokam buile and maintained over five hundred miles of irvgation canals to water thousands of acres devote to maize, Beans, and suash. To the north, ‘the Anasi oxupied upland canyons that captured more moisture in winter ‘than did the low desert. The Anasazi irrgation system eaught and rerined ‘winter rainwater onthe mesa tops for spring and summer release via diver ‘Son channels to low-Wing fies beside the intermittent streambed, where the people cultivated thei crops. The rigation works demanded extensive, coonlnated labor to build and ‘maintain, while the abandane crops enabled many people olive clustered o- gether. The preeminent Hoholatn pueblo, known ss Snaketown, had about 3 ‘thousand resident ving in adobe row houses, some of them two and dee stories tall: The Anasazi constructed even larger, recangular pueblos of rmortared sandstone blocks roofed with rafters and adobe tile. The largest pueblo, at Chaco Canyon, required thirty thousand tons of sandstone Hacks, ‘to four stories tl and contained atleast 650 rooms ‘Daring the twelh and early chineenth centuries, beth the Hoholam and the Anastz experienced severe rises that began in environmental der Gavion associated with local everpopulation and an excesive ‘maize. Although highly productive, corn rapidly depletes the soil of mut cents, especially nitrogen: Repeated crops in the same fel led to din Ishing Yields. In the southwest, between 1130 and 1190, an especialy prolonged period of drought years exacerbated the subsistence erst sting ff chain reetion of ro flare, malnutrition, and violent feuds. ‘The Hoholam apparently concladed that dei leader could mo longer win fivor from the spirits ofthe plants and the rin. The bard work of sup porting ther chiefs and press and maintaining the ierigationsyters or the ‘artworks came to seem fate. Daring the thresh century, most ofthe Hiohokam abandoned their towns and dispersed into the where they revered to 4 mobile strategy of hunting and gathering that shifted with che seasons. They harvest hella, yes, sguar fei, pricy pear, and mesquite pods, and they hunted for rabbit, der, and pronghorn antelope. Sigeenth-century Spanish explorers found the probable deen ddants ofthe Hoholam divided into many small wlages, The elle then selves some variant of *O‘odham,” which simply mean “the people,” ut the Spanish named them the Pina and the Papago. Some liv beside the rivers ‘nd maintained smaller-scale versions of the ancient iigation system, but ‘most ved inthe il, ‘Becween 1150 and 1250, che Ansa responded to thei rowing violence lay shifting their pueblos to more defensible locations stop mess, which they fond. Skeletons from this period reveal a surge in violent death, mut ‘on, and pethaps ritual cannibalism. Ae dhe end of the thirteenth century, ee Aaemican Covowres ‘mostofthe Anastri abandoned their homeland and fled south and est, seck- ing locales with a more certain source of water and with soils not yet ex hausted by com. Some regrouped in western New Mexico and easter ‘Avizona to bail the Acoma, Hopi, and Zani puebos. Founded in 1300, ‘Acoma is probably the longest continual inhited community within the United States. Other Anna traveled il farther east ost long the op- pet Rio Grande, which ofered sficene year-round water to sustain iriga- tion even in droughe years. Later cllecvely called the Pueblo Indians by the Spanish, the Rio’ Grande peoples in fet belonged to docens of av tonomous villages, and they spoke atlas seven cferent langage. Instead ‘of “collapsing.” the Anasazi culure med, shifing into impresive new pueblos to che south and east of is former homeland. The orl tations of the Pueblo, Zum, Hop, and Acoma agree that thei ancestors were uprooted from oli homes by a combination of drought, fine, dieae, and violence MOUND BUILDERS. In contrast the ar American southwest the Misissppi watershed enjoys «humid and temperate climate. The great rive collects the waters of wie ranging tbucaris, including the Tennesee, Cumberland, Ohio, Missouri, Arkansas, and Rel iver, to rsin an area of nearly 1.25 milion square miles Unlike the Hohokam and Anasa, the Mississippi people didnot need gation systems to sustain horticulture. Indeed che mild and moist conditions Drobably delayed the advest of horiculre by sustaining the inhabitants With an abundance of wild plants and animale Beginning sbout 2000 8c, Mississippi Vlley firmer esperimented withthe culation of marsh elder, goosefoot, sunflowers, and gourds Bu they contined to depend vpon hua Ing fishing, and gathering for most oftheir det until about. #00, when they adopted dhe tnity of maize beans, and squash. The broad floodplains ofthe Missipp Vlley proved ieal forthe new horticulture: well-watered well-drained so easily led with tane hoes and replenished with fre it by annual spring Hoods. ‘The highly prodcive new horiculsre permitted the population to quadruple, asthe Misisippi Valley became the mort densely seted region north of central Meso. Drang upon Mesoamerican precedents, che Misisppian peoples built substan towns around central plazas chat feared earthen pyramids topped by wooden temples that doubled as the residence of chiefs. Like the people of cera Mesico, the Mistisippians regarded the sun as ther princi al diy responsible forthe crops that sustained their survival; they consid ‘red thee chief as quas-saered beings related w the sun; and they practiced hhuman sacrifice. When a chief died, his wives and servants wee killed for burial beside hm, a companions for the afterlife Paying esbute in Ibo and produce, common people erected the eath- Natives, 13,000 s.c-A.b. 1492 ‘works bile the towns, and sustained Loa chit In turn, the local chief "ually pa tribe toa paramount chief, who celled on top of the largest Dramid inthe ren largest en “The great valley vasa wibrane and divese landsape of paramount and local ehieKdoms, of rising and falling power. never stable and ever ante "There wae a “cyeling” proces by which certain towns emerged fora centary ‘or e010 dominate thet region only to decline in favor of atl chien “The chiefloms conducted chronic warfare, Burials reveal skeletons scared with bute wounds; many towns were fortifed with wooden plies, and ‘her at fen celabraed victorious wartors plying the tall Seale, ad ‘corpse oftheir vietins. Ofeoure, none of hi rendered them more wale ‘han their contemporaries clewhere inthe world, European graves, cis, ful art ofthe sume period Cthe Middle Ages") slo displayed the prom ‘ence of warand the honors bestowed upon victors The largest, wealthiest, and mos complex ofthe politcal and ceremonial canters was aa place now called Cah, located near the Missisipp River in Tlinois jst ett of Se Louis. Cahokia aowe inthe mist of « broad and ferile floodplain, extending over about 350 square ile In adit to host ing cornfields the Roodplain featured dozens of oxhow lakes and marshes rich in fh and waterfowl, Located nea the anetars of the Missouri, Te nese, and Ohio rivers with the Misissipp, Cahokia could also dominate both norh-south and east-west tide in precons shell and stones Developed between 3. 900 and 1100, Caokia a it immediate sub urbe covered about six square miles and had a population of atleast ten thou. sand Gome estimates ran as high es forty thousand. Fven a¢ the salle Calculation, Cahokia ranked as the greatest Indan community: north of Mexico. At ity peak, Cahokia contained about one hundred earthen temple and burial mounds aswell a hundreds of thatched houses (or commoners The city was surrounded by a stockade, a wal of large poss two miles in ct ‘umference with a watchtower every seventy feet. Outside the pllsade std 410 feet in damier, entaring frty- Europeu dey morgue ied toslernative environmental states ‘Natives could and did damage thir local environments, but they cet= tainly idles ending harm than the colonizers who displaced them. By al accounts, the nature found by European explorers was fr more diverse ad usdant sv plants and animals than the nature they had lee hind in heir ‘Old World: Having depleted the forests and wildlife of Europe, the clon ers came to do the same in their New Word ‘When the Esropesns ineaded, the native North Americans punfly ds covered their profound techrologkal and epidemiological disadvantages “They lake the ste] weapons and armor and the gunpowder that endowed the invaders with military advantage. Native peoples also could not match the wind of water mills that facitated the procesing of wood and gral Lacking horses and oxen, mative North Americans knew the whee cay in Mesoamerica aba toy. For matitime navigation, the natives posesed only large eanoes and rafts incapable of eressing an open ocean in safety. helt lone domesticated mammal was the dog, which provided fa less protein and less motive power than the eat and horses of the Europeans. Only the lites in parts of Mesoamerica possess the systems of writing that fai {ated long-ditance communication and recort-beeping. Consequently. in the North America of 1492, only the Asseesof Mexico constituted an impe- Sil pomer capable of governing multiple ces and their peoples by com: nt, Tn addition, no Native Americans possessed an ideology tha impelled them far beyond thee known world in teach of new lands and peoples to ‘onauer and co teaneform, Final, compared with Europeans, the matives of ‘Ameria caried« more limited and lew deadly array of pathogenic microbes ‘iy contrast, the Europeans of 1492 were the heirs to an older and more amples anay of domesticated plants aad animals developed about nine ‘hove yeas ago a the exstern end of the Mediterranean. The European tore of agriculture fstred domesticated mammals—sheep, pigs cal, and horste-endowing ther owners with more fertilizer, mobility, motive power, hima pre, and shared disease microbes, Building on 2 long head start nd the power of domesticated mammals, the Europeans had over the cen Ture, developed expansionist ambitions, gntoms of written records and ‘Communication, the maritime and military technology that permite global ‘exploration and conquest, and (aavritingl) « deadly array of diseases co ‘hey enjoyed partial immunities, Lacking thove peculiar ambitions Technologic, disease and domestcans the Indiane did aot expand across the Atlantic to dncover and conquer Earope. The technological differences reflected contrasting spiritual commit: ‘ments. Compared with Europeans, Indias pomened a more complex under Standing of the incerdependene relationship between the natural and Supernatural, Where Europeans believed that humanity had divine dey Sind an unchecked power to dominate nature, North American Indians be Tove that they lived within a contentious world of spiritual power tha sometimes demanded human restraint anda cher moments offered oppor tunities for exploitation, "North American natives subscribed t “animism” a eonvetion thatthe superniural was a complex and diverse web of power wowen into every par ‘ofthe natural world Indeed, Indians made no distinction between the mai ‘al and the supernatural Inthe minds, spintal power was neither singular ‘or transendent, but diverse and ubiuitous. Their word was filed with an slot infinite variety of leings, each possessing some varying measure of power. Al ving thing belonged wo a complex matrix that was simultane ‘ously spiritual and material Indeed, spiie power could be found in every plant, snimal, rock wind, cloud, an body of water—but in greater concen tration in some than others. This poster plsated, ebbing and flowing from interaction with every other being-inclading the ritual magi practiced by humans bent on exploiting their naar properly approached and Aatered (or tricked), the sprit “keepers” of animals or plants could help people in, catch, and kill what they needed. Beense of their animistic convictions, Indians lived very diferenly Natives 13,000 8-Av. 492 *D within dee mature than Europeans il within tein. Natives tlived hat Trane ed ine eater than apart fom, thet wh ofthe ntral a opernaira. They conc of ther cone with al oherthan-hunan be inp an euendly cel, inv crestor more lie than nike them- sche Indeed in hie myths nd dreams people and the oer ten-human Could metamorphore imo ane aother Arnall specs of tative Me, he fiedureneal pnp in harvesting aarre wa the pur of reipracy Poope cred chiming a share inthe her if around then bt chllgaed vo pie by paying inal honor and by ing ware Tecan undeesood hat humane coal He only by Kling Beh sod ani smal ad hy ceacing tees for Gilda tty had wo proceed extol. Ni thes unaly showed rent, not beac they were celogicaly mind in the brenseth-conmiy sec, bur heezse sity who coal harm people idm she animal lant ely ar fhe ps ited ow te Indians da with other fo of Miles hy reap some speratral co tcratack Offend spn might Rie sway teal or the fy aie he teen cop, or chars up a demsating windsor. Any soc in bento, {Eling cr clGrag iad bs gece wh ili, secant the es eae ee peered pme teeter cee ee firipbrseis ep ietpbnw raved minsepaars cond of ate burn Fe ae pte ect er olocls wl SOI EE ane dane el so ces ear eel te ‘onc kod eke eeni/snd ope eeassall Eogaged inp ney CP Lepenensny nie ey ation ar narra ‘he pintand when they shoud soothe and mol them Sometimes oop Could tale fh or Ll gue with enberance; mare ofen they had ln thelr. The logo rear wa aint ahr than cclogeal—bucthat retuned pcre a nature ha ssaned mst mate comes ‘rer many genet. ‘Deus and ison abled nave peopl to commanicat with te spi= ‘socal thelr ad in hunting, ethcring cukaing, and war Nasr ted the nocturnal deamord as fndamentaly more real and powerfal {han ther waking hour. They ao provoked vison by prolonged fing nd bolton ometiner idl by ingesting ppchoropt plans). The most AMept dreamers and sonar bce shana, who ated as nerds teeween peopl andthe oer an-huan being, Shamans conducted ite ai to promote the hunt scure the crops and protect their waron Samat ou elo inf nesy and con pred, ra sometimes nag aly influence, the frre, But even the most led shaman often len ‘the complex contests to influence, lull, and propitiate spirit beings. Only onstaneffr and aying tacts onl peste the reacties bexwcen rope ad thie. Th animist perpacvediscoaraged the sor of mechanic development raaiced by Europeans Lacking domesicted anal and metal tol a 28 “AMERICAN Couontes ‘weapons, the Inians seemed primitive penple to the Europeans. The na- ties, however, regarded themselves a more neligent and rsoicefl thas the Europeans, Animism both dried from and encouraged the distinctive forms of perception and ingenuity demanded by hunting and gathering— pcticesesental to almostall native peoples even those who alo cultivated {omesticated plants. Native peoples keenly observed the diverse forme of sible or healing life in the forest ad waters, and they mastered the best times and echniques for finding and harvesting wild plans andl animal. Be ‘une European lacked thes ils and that iowledge hey struck the I ‘nas clumsy babes nthe woods. From the native perspective, isecmed that the colonirers had exhaased their inteligence in mang their metal and loth goods. Preoceupied with dead mate, they appeared insensitive to i ing natre ‘few colonizers recogeized that native inelligence and creativity ran in diferent channels. Willa Woed conclude thatthe natives were “by na fore admirably ingenious." Another seventeenth-century New Englander, Thomas Morton, decided, “The Salages have the sence of secing so frre ‘beyond any of our Nation, ehat one would almost belive they had! ineli- sence ofthe Devil” Even a relatively sympathetic observer like Morton could not accep ma tive lit on cheir own terms send, Europeans forced animism in their polaiy between the divine and the diabolical. They generally regurded the Indians’ beliefs a dictated by the devil and considered thie shamans to be witches, possessed ofan evil power inet harm on other Indian but not ‘on European Christians Tn contrast othe animism ofthe natives, the Europeans ad begun com ceptlly to segregate the natural and the spiritual. Chrisanty fundamen tally invest supernatural power ina single God located away in heaven above and heyond the earth, Even the evil power ofthe devi and his ions ‘wie subordinate 0 God llowed in the short term bur limately doomed to

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