Tony Horwitz: Understanding The History Of America

1) Author Tony Horwitz discusses many topics and events that are essential to understanding the history of America. These topics and events include European exploration in the New World, the massacre of the native population and its replacement by the importation of African slaves, and how the winners ultimately write history based on their subjective views and the myths that come along with nonobjective documentation of events that occur. Each of these concepts is related to one another and are important because they contributed to America’s creation and existence today.

European exploration in the Americas started in approximately the year 1000, in which Norse people fled their homeland of Norway and Greenland and settled around modern day

Wary of Spain’s advances, the English were notably absent from the fray in the New World until the late sixteenth century. After a brief stint at Roanoke, the first permanent English settlement was at Jamestown. After reforms made under the leadership of John Smith, George Pearcy became leader of the colony and engaged in burning native households and stealing supplies. A brief hiatus in fighting that ensued following the marriage of John Rolfe and Pocahontas, fighting later occurred between the two forces. Following a native revolt in 1644, the Jamestown colony retaliated and the Powhatan tribe of forty nations lost much of its land and dwindled to eight nations by 1700. Today, the tribe’s reservation occupies just 12,000 acres of land. The French, though often the most peaceful, raided native camps when food supplies ran low. The Norse referred to the natives as Skraelings, and engaged in warfare with them at first sight, a sign of foreshadowing given the disastrous outcomes for the natives in future centuries. Many European forces engaged in the brutal treatment of the native people as a means to their

De Soto traversed much of the southern portion of the continental United States. Of the many natives De Soto took captive over the course of his expedition, one in particular youth claimed his homeland was “ruled by a woman and rich in gold.” While Cofitachequi was fertile and contained many pearls, the prize did not satisfy De Soto, and he continued toward other rumored lands with riches, such as Coosa and those held by Tascalusa. Following a disastrous battle at Mavila, as the army was severly depleted, De Soto sought resupply and to subsequently march west to search for hints of riches given by Cabeza de Vaca. While De Soto died before this could occur, it would have been a continuation of the expedition’s death spiral and failure. Vasquez de Coronado, on the other hand, followed the reports of Fray Marcos for the fabled seven cities of gold at Cibola. While Marcos reported a city “greater than that of the Aztecs,” Cibola consisted of just six pueblos. Desperate to find riches and make up for lost ground, Coronado followed the guidance of El Turco, who fibbed that his hometown of Quivira had many riches. Ultimately, despite reports from surrounding native tribes that Quivira’s riches