Misrepresentation of Native Americans

Misrepresentations of Native Americans

Europeans impressions of the Native American Indians were made and cemented through printed images and illustrations . The term Indian in itself is already a misconception that originated from Christopher Columbus who thought that his expedition had arrived at a country in Asia . Other explorers like Columbus had given Europe impressions about the New World but were more enduring than the printed images

While some were accurate portrayals of Indian life and people , as shown by John Smiths ' paintings , many others were simply fabrications , borne out of romance

and dramatization of the New World 's native inhabitants Because of these images , the Indian gradually took certain characteristics in the minds of Europeans . These attributes were simply misconceptions that evolved through a combination of ignorance imagination and the need for adventure . The New World was an unknown region and what could be a better way to make the settlers appear more heroic than to depict their enemies as people who were the opposite of the civilized Europeans . Because of this , the Indians gradually came to be known and visualized as primitives , barbarians , violent , pagans , and naive

The earliest representations of Indians in European print were always of the same themes : Indians were only half-clothed or nude if they weren 't savages and barbaric , they were childlike in ways , manners and thinking . In murals and iconography materials , they were portrayed as exotic and threatening , impressions that proved enduring . In one painting shown in the Penn Library , an Indian was shown to have a turban with only a loin cloth covering his body . The Indian had a spear that he used to kill two people . In an other painting , a wild animal had the face of a human , presumably the face belongs to an Indian

The most famous of all the early illustrations were the engravings created by Theodor

de Bry and his sons beginning 1590 . de Bry had never been to the New World and his

representations were made using information taken from accounts of those who had been to the lands of the Indians . As a result , his engravings were often inaccurate

These misconceptions about Indians were not only limited to their appearance . It involves wrong notions about their cultural philosophical and spiritual practices . Some of the most enduring misconceptions include

being called Braves , Squaws or Papooses

primitive ways of living

spiritual healers

wearing of feathers

alcoholism

living in reservations

dishonesty

violence

Braves , Squaws , Papooses

Many people believe that a Native American Indian male is called Brave while a woman called a Squaw and a child is called Papoose

The term papoose is an Algonquian term for the cradle boards that carry a child . But in Europe , the term refers to an Indian offspring regardless of which tribe he came from . A squaw also comes from the Algonquian tribe that means woman . A squaw is a gracious and hospitable woman . However , the term degenerated and later became associated with prostitution . The term Brave was coined by early...