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> for the most part they didn't leave a written record of what things were like before Europeans and Native Americans interacted. They observed each other. The

> for the most part they didn't leave a written record of what things were like before Europeans and Native Americans interacted. They observed each other. They talked to each other. For quite some time. Kondiaronk [0] was a highly respected chief, statesman, and political philosophizer. Louis Armand de Lom d’Arce spent time in North America and wrote a book based on his dialogs with Kondiaronk [1]. This book was famous for a while. It contrasted the freedom and justice Indians had for themselves with the injustice of Christianity, subjugation to lords, and the problems associated with money and other facets of the European way of life. The book precipitated a lot of philosophical soul searching, an off-shoot of which was the idea of the "noble savage", which was used to eventually discount any ideas these primitives had as irrelevant to civilized modern people. I'm not sure if I understand your comment. Are you saying that Kondiaronk would not have known how Indians lived? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kondiaronk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kondiaronk [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Voyages_to_North_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Voyages_to_North_America

bluGill 5y ago
I'm saying he wouldn't have known how they lived 100 years before he was born, and there were major changes to culture then, caused by disease.
- mikem170 5y ago
  He was commenting based on the culture he lived in at the time and based on their known history, and how different it was than European culture. He made a point that it was much better in many ways. I wouldn't think that the spread of smallpox invalidates what he said, just because things may have been different in the past, maybe for his tribe, maybe not so much. I'm sure that he would have known if a disease drastically changed his culture a hundred years prior. Even before smallpox there was quite a variety of native cultures, Kondiaronk being Huron, who were quite different than the Inca and Aztec, for example. He probably would have criticized them, also.
  - bluGill 5y ago
    I'm not saying there is nothing to learn from him. I'm saying be careful as we are limited to his viewpoint. (history is about trying to find a truth from limited information and biases sources)
    - mikem170 5y ago
      Agreed. I'd say that we've tended to be more biased against and dismissive of his viewpoint, though. Primitive. Noble savage. Convert. Re-educate. Exterminate. etc.

bluGill 5y ago

I'm saying he wouldn't have known how they lived 100 years before he was born, and there were major changes to culture then, caused by disease.

mikem170 5y ago
He was commenting based on the culture he lived in at the time and based on their known history, and how different it was than European culture. He made a point that it was much better in many ways. I wouldn't think that the spread of smallpox invalidates what he said, just because things may have been different in the past, maybe for his tribe, maybe not so much. I'm sure that he would have known if a disease drastically changed his culture a hundred years prior. Even before smallpox there was quite a variety of native cultures, Kondiaronk being Huron, who were quite different than the Inca and Aztec, for example. He probably would have criticized them, also.
- bluGill 5y ago
  I'm not saying there is nothing to learn from him. I'm saying be careful as we are limited to his viewpoint. (history is about trying to find a truth from limited information and biases sources)
  - mikem170 5y ago
    Agreed. I'd say that we've tended to be more biased against and dismissive of his viewpoint, though. Primitive. Noble savage. Convert. Re-educate. Exterminate. etc.