An Analysis Of James Merrell's Essay 'The Indians New World'

European explorers came to North America in the 1500s as they claim as the “New World.” The Europeans thought it was an entirely new land but this “New World” for Europeans was indeed a very old world for the diverse people they met in North America known as Native Americans. There was a mix of positive and negative interactions between The Europeans and Native Americans. Native Americans would originally consider the settlers to be partners or associates, than as time passed, they engaged in wars with them in an attempt, struggle for control of the land which they had no concept of land ownership. The relationship was peaceful at first between them until it ultimately became brutal due to consistent wars and disagreements. This included

the Powhatan Uprising in 1622, a surprise but planned attack killing 347 colonists. Before the massacre, they came unarmed into the colonists houses without any weapons but with animals and furs and other items to sell and trade with and acted like it was just an ordinary day. The plan executed on the morning of March 22 when they savagely killed men, women, and children of all ages. “They also killed many of [the] people at their workplace and in the fields, outside their houses, planting corn and tobacco, gardening, making bricks, building, sawing, and other kinds of husbandry” (Foner). Unfortunately for the Native Americans, the plan failed to destroy the Jamestown colony and instead, made the english more aggressive and aggravated.
In the essay The author James Merrell and I have similar conclusions after reading both primary and secondary sources.

In the essay, “The Indians’ New World,” Merrell argues that “the experience of natives was more closely akin to that of immigrants and slaves, and the idea of a encounter between words can—indeed, must—include the aboriginal inhabitants of America” (Merrell). Merrell is pointing out that The Europeans always left out The Natives when it came to telling the others about the finding of the North America and this is because of their failure to fit into the imaginary story of the New World. The so called “New World” that The Europeans found was not new but very old. Often, Europeans believed that they were preferable and beyond to the “New World” that drove indians faith, hope, and culture out the door. Merrell also explains how the Indians owned the land first but abruptly, it was converted into a world that was unusual to them when The Europeans arrived. The world was considered new to the Indians because they were exposed, unprotected from the diseases. The author does give a thorough picture of the interactions between them. At first I was just skimming through the essay and didn’t really understand what was going on until I read it the second

time.
I think understanding history is very important and essential. We study history because it is one division of awareness and knowledge that defines our place in the universe. It is the relationship between the past, present, and future. For example, in history we learn about how and why women fought for their rights. If we weren't studying or understanding history, we would’ve not known why women have the same rights as men do now, or even the struggles women went through to get the freedom they have today. So studying history helps us better understand who we are and where we came from because we can better understand problems to face the problems in the world today by comparing present problems with similar situations of the past. It is also important to study history to learn from mistakes, and to recall different ways of approaching things, and to find out more about ourselves so that we don’t forget about ourselves.