On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe

Product Information

Along with these two nobles, a young Taíno—who will reappear in the next chapter—was baptised ‘Diego Colón’ after Columbus’s son, marking the beginning of a long association with the Admiral which would lead him to cross and recross the ocean. Such familial naming is a pattern which will confusingly recur in our tale; it is a form of arrogant symbolic—and sometimes literal—possession, and also shows the way in which godparentage and patronage shaped social networks and opportunities. Ugaz’s case is all too familiar in Peru, where powerful groups regularly use the courts to silence journalists by fabricating criminal allegations against them.’ A convincing history of Indigenous peoples’ deep integration into—and surprising influence on—European politics and culture. Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil. A thrilling, beautifully written and important book that changes how we look at transatlantic history, finally placing Indigenous peoples not on the side-lines but at the centre of the narrative. Highly recommended" —PETER FRANKOPAN

Magazine's History Extra podcast, Dan Snow’s History Hit and Suzannah Lipscomb’s Not Just The Tudors. And while Europeans were busy being amazed at these aliens, the Indigenous visitors were busy being horrified by European society. They saw Europe “with its rulers and beggars, opulence and starvation, supposed civility and extreme violence against its citizens – as a savage shore,” she says. They came from a cashless, sharing economy where none of that made any sense. Europeans were eager for Native Americans to tell them the location of precious metals and the source of beaver pelts. But less practical Indigenous knowledge needed either to be assimilated into the existing intellectual scheme of the world or placed outside it as a monstrous anomaly. Like the jumbled artefacts in Renaissance Wunderkammern, Indigenous travellers to Europe were made into spectacles: ethnographic specimens and sensational sideshows. Guaraní children abducted from what is now southern Brazil and Paraguay were shipped to Portugal as ‘curiosities’, just as Inuk people from modern Canada made forced journeys to European cities. In 1566, when a man from Nunatsiavut was murdered trying to defend his family, his wife became ‘raving and mad’ at the prospect of leaving behind their seven-year-old daughter. So mother and child were both taken to Antwerp to be gawped at in their sealskin clothes. An Inuk hunter was brought to London in 1576 and hastily subjected to the European gaze – painted by a Flemish artist and togged up in English apparel – before he died, possibly of pneumonia. The presence of four Mohawk and Mahican chiefs at a West End performance of Macbeth in 1710 proved so distracting to the audience that their seats were moved onstage where they could be seen clearly without commotion. A really valuable addition to Indigenous-European history. Too often this history is one-sided, very much the perspective of those Europeans encountering Indigenous people for the first time. Part of this is, of course, the difficulty of the historical record - few Europeans bothered to record Indigeneous thoughts, words or even their very presence, and little in the way of Indigenous records survived the genocide that accompanied the Colombian age, and even archecological records were intepreted, coloured and confused by European perspectives and beliefs.A recommended read for anyone interested in the establishment of America, though the author's "voice" might not appeal to all. Indigenous peoples were a vital part of the networks that created the cosmopolitan world we know today, bringing commodities like chocolate, tobacco, potatoes and tomatoes. They were translators and diplomats, representing their peoples and nations to crowns and courts. They travelled to Europe as family members, friends and servants, and their bodies and cultures were displayed for the curiosity and entertainment of Europeans, but most often, they were enslaved, kidnapped and shipped far from their homes, and forced into bondage at the heart of the empire. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. On Savage Shores is a work of historical recovery . . . few books make as compelling a case for such a reimagining" — David Olusoga , GUARDIAN, Book of the Day For them, Europe comprised savage shores, a land of riches and marvels, yet perplexing for its brutal disparities of wealth and qualityof life, and its baffling beliefs. The story of these Indigenous Americans abroad is a story of abduction, loss, cultural appropriation, and, as they saw it, of apocalypse—a story that has largely been absent from our collective imagination of the times.

Following the defeat of the Nazis in 1945, the idea took hold that Austria had been the first casualty of Hitler’s aggression when in 1938 it was incorporated into the Third Reich.’ Key terms and ideas Discover, Conquest vs. unsanctioned invasion, Historical framing, Marginalised, Uncertain, SpeculationColumbus and his huge (for the time) ship attracted a lot of attention, and people came to engage with him. Then in the middle of talking, he would grab them and drag them onboard and into slavery. In total, “Columbus himself seized and forcibly transported between 3000 and 6000 Caribbean men, women and children to Europe.” This made him one of the top traders of Native Americans in history. The pattern of kidnapping and promise breaking grew inexorably, not to mention shamefully. A groundbreaking, urgent report from the front lines of "dirty work"—the work that society considers essential but morally compromised There are seemingly endless stories, and it is often difficult to remember who is who and how they are related. Remembering what tribe they came from not only can’t be done, it barely matters for the purposes here. The facts of European behavior hold across all nations and individuals – white supremacy and no respect.

Eileen M Hunt: Feminism vs Big Brother - Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder; Julia by Sandra Newman Deftly weaves diverse and fascinating tales of the exciting adventures, complex diplomatic missions, voyages of discovery, triumphant incursions, and heartbreaking exploitations – of the many thousands of Indigenous travellers to new lands. Essential reading for anyone interested in how the events of the “Age of Exploration” shaped the modern world”— JENNIFER RAFF, author of ORIGIN He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.As well as writing articles for popular publications such as History Today and BBC History Magazine, I have also consulted on a number of fiction and children’s books, as well as blogging for History Matters. I was also invited to be a guest blogger for Scientific American on ' The 2012 Apocalypse, or Why the World Won’t End This Week'. These original visitors were treated with great kindness and courtesy, as they worked to learn the language of the old world. But it wasn't unusual for them to be made members of the King's retinue and to live as did the nobles. Later when the Conquistadors returned to Spain/Portugal the returned with the first Mettzos (children of the sailors and native woman). It wasn't very long before they became servants for the nobility. There is also a Hollywood-esque story of an English hostage. Partners from Plymouth negotiated a deal to bring the native king to England while one of them remained as a hostage pending the king’s safe return. The English visit went splendidly, but the king died onboard the return trip. After a lot of explaining and negotiation, the natives allowed the hostage to go free anyway. These kinds of stories light up the book. The circumstances in which they crossed the Atlantic were diverse. Some came voluntarily as traders, ambassadors and scouts, others as prisoners and slaves, although it’s often hard to tell whether coercion or curiosity lay behind their journeys. From the late 15th century, diplomatic missions on behalf of Indigenous nobility were received at the Court of Castile and its imperial outposts. A deputation of Mexican Totonacs, allied to Spain as enemies of the Aztecs, arrived in 1519. They were well looked after, body and soul – given velvet tunics and compulsorily baptised – and granted an audience with Charles V. Exactly who they were and what they were doing is unclear, but they were astute interlocutors and the king, soon to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor, considered good relations a means to an end. Charles exhibited the golden treasures the Totonacs brought with them in Brussels town hall, where they were seen by Dürer. ‘In all the days of my life,’ he said, ‘I have seen nothing that rejoiced my heart so much as these things.’

Don’t be too put off. The book is well worth reading for the fascinating material it contains. But just be aware that an excessive desire to help oppressed people in the past – who are, alas, beyond such assistance – can become rather a hindrance to the reader. I have just published a major trade book, On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe, telling the stories of the Indigenous Americans who ‘discovered’ Europe in the sixteenth century. The story of these Indigenous Americans abroad is a story of abduction, loss, cultural appropriation, and, as they saw it, of apocalypse - a story that has largely been absent from our collective imagination of the times. I teach on a range of early modern, Indigenous, American and colonial topics, as well as on public history and questions of decolonisation. I particularly enjoy encouraging students to engage with the relevance of history in the contemporary world. Teaching activities Undergraduate: On Savage Shores offers a welcome non-Eurocentric narrative about how the great civilisations of the Americas discovered Europe . . . an important book" ― INDEPENDENTA kaleidoscopic exploration that traverses history, literature, art, and science to reveal humans' unique and vibrant relationship with color. I greatly appreciate how careful and thoughtful the author is about her terminology and about not taking stories farther than primary sources allow. But it's really hard to get those voices. We know they were there (in Spain, in England), but what did they really think? It's hard to write a book around inferences. Throughout the book she is cautious both to not overstate her case – archival sources are sparse but far from non-existent, but also to as much as possible represent Indigenous perspectives, an important part of which is naming correctly. So there is extensive discussion of naming, of making sure that Indigenous individuals and nations are properly named in the ways they would have known. For those of us working in these fields, this is a vital aspect of recognising both the distinctiveness and integrity of Indigenous Peoples, but also of chipping away at the power of the Imperialist and colonialist sources as the only ways of knowing. Crucially, also, it is a way of enhancing the humanity and agency of those Peoples