How did the eastern woodland indians differ from mesoamerican indians

VISIONS of AMERICA A History of the United States

People in Motion The Atlantic World to 1590

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To the people who had lived in the Americas for millennia, the idea that theirs was a "New World" would have seemed strange. Scientists continue to debate when the first people arrived in the Americas from Asia, but estimates range from between 40,000 and 14,000 years ago. In the millennia that followed, the peoples of the Americas fanned out and established a range of societies.

Yet to the Europeans who arrived in the Americas toward the end of the fifteenth century, America was indeed a "brave new world," as William Shakespeare wrote, inhabited by exotic plants, animals, and peoples. In images and words Europeans portrayed this extraordinary land in the most fantastic terms. Some accounts spoke of America as an Eden-like earthly paradise inhabited by good-natured, but primitive, peoples. Others emphasized themes like those featured in this engrav¬ ing, Amerigo Vespucci Awakens a Sleeping America. Vespucci, an Italian- Spanish navigator from whose first name the New World came to be called the Americas, gazes upon a naked native woman rising from her hammock. Her nudity symbolizes the wild sexuality Europeans believed characterized the native inhabitants of the Americas. The can¬

nibals behind her, devouring human flesh, represent savagery, a second prominent element of the European vision of the New World. Neither vision of the Americas was accurate, but both would greatly complicate Europeans' understanding of the American civilizations they encoun¬ tered, leading to a legacy of violence, exploitation, and conquest.

The European arrival in the Americas was part of a process of exploration and colonization pursued primarily by Portugal, Spain, France, and England. This impulse was driven both by a hunger for riches as well as by profound changes in European society, reli¬ gion, economics, and politics brought on by the Renaissance and Reformation. Africa was eventually drawn into this vast trading network encompassing the entire Atlantic world. Colonization almost always involved the severe exploitation of native peoples, including dispossession of land and coerced labor. Eventually Europeans turned to the international slave trade and the labor of enslaved Africans to

5 European Colonization draw the wealth from the mines and fields of the New World. of the Atlantic World p. 24

CONTENTS

1.1 The First Americans P-4

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1,2 European Civilization in Turmoil p. 10

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4 CHAPTER 1 PEOPLE IN MOTION: THE ATLANTIC WORLD TO 1590

The First Americans1.1 (

HU In one sense America was the New World—or at least a newer one in terms of human habitation. The oldest traces of human life have been found in Africa, where the earliest human fossil remains unearthed date to somewhere between 190,000 and 160,000 years ago. In contrast the oldest human fossils found in North America are roughly 14,000 years old,

far more recent than those found in Europe, Asia, or Australia. The ancient inhabitants of America, Paleo-Indians, were an Ice Age people who survived largely by hunting big game and to a lesser extent by fishing and collecting edible plants. Within a few thousand years of their arrival in America from Asia, they had fanned out across the Americas.

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1.1 Migration from Asia to America

Most scholars believe the first

inhabitants of America migrated from Asia across the Bering Strait by way of the land

bridge that once connected Asia and

North America.

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Migration,Settlement, and the Rise of Agriculture

Temperatures slowly warmed as the Ice Age passed, causing the great glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise. The

Most scholars agree that humans first migrated to North America from Asia across a land bridge that formed during the Ice Age (1.1) about 20,000 years ago. This land bridge lasted from about

SOUTH

AMERICA rising waters covered the

Bering Strait land bridge, cutting off migration from28,000 to 10,000 BCE before melting glacial waters

submerged it below rising sea levels. An alternative Asia. But the recession of theory holds that humans may have traveled to the the glaciers also opened the New World by boat even earlier; this has attracted way for human migration

southward and eastward into what is now Canada and the

/some support, but most scholars favor the land bridge theory. With much of the world's oceans frozen in massive glaciers, ocean levels during the United States. Over time this Ice Age were almost 360 feet lower than present- migration reached the very tip day levels, resulting in dry land where the Bering of South America. Strait is now. Nomadic hunters simply crossed what to them appeared an endless 600-mile wide with flint, a hard, dark stone, tundra in pursuit of migratory big game animals Paleo-Indians roamed in search of big like the woolly mammoths—huge, long-tusked game. These spearheads, called Clovis points, members of the elephant family that provided furs named after the New Mexico town in which

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1.1 THE FIRST AMERICANS 5 MU

accompanied them, most notably dogs and possibly rats. Whatever the cause of the mass extinctions, the decline in large game eventually led Paleo-Indians to search for new food sources and develop new modes of providing food and other necessities.

Approximately 9,000 years ago, a period known as the Archaic Era began. Lasting approximately 6,000 years, it ushered in significant social changes that began with increased efforts by native peoples to shape the environment to enhance food production. At first these efforts were primitive. Archaic Era Indians, for example, burned forest underbrush to provide better habitats for smaller mammals such as deer, which they hunted. They also relied increasingly on gathering nuts and berries and, in some cases, on harvesting shellfish from lakes, streams, or coastal waters. The gendered division of labor found in Stone Age societies persisted into the Archaic Era: women cared for children and did much of the gathering and preparing of food while men hunted and fished.

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1.2 Clovis Point

The range of tools available to Paleo-Indians was limited, but included stone tools, such as arrowheads, axes, scrapers, bone needles, and harpoons. Clovis point arrowheads, such as these shown here, were attached to spears for hunting.

Stone Age tools used by the ancient inhabitants of America. Clovis point arrowheads (like those shown in 1.2) were lashed to poles to make simple spears. Paleo-Indians also used other simple stone ':ools such as stone axes and scrapers for hunting and preparing meat, a variety of bone tools such as antler harpoons for fishing, and bone needles for sewing hides. These ancient peoples generally hunted in small bands of perhaps 20 to 30 people in cooperative kin groups. Hunting parties pursued a wide range of prey, including primitive horses and the oversized ancestors of many modern species, such as beaver, bison, caribou, and forerunners of

the camel. Hunting, gathering, and other activities among Stone Age peoples were probably divided along gender lines. Men hunted and fished, while women reared children, gathered nuts and berries, and made clothing.

Many of the mammals that Paleo-Indians hunted, including horses and camels, eventually became extinct (the Spanish reintroduced modern horses from Europe thousands of years later). Three competing scientific theories attempt to explain the mass extinctions of large mammals in the Americas. Some scientists believe overhunting led to the demise of the large mammals. Others argue that dramatic climate change—the rising temperatures that accompanied the passing of the Ice Age—killed off animals that were unable to adapt to the new warmer environments. The most recent explanation focuses on diseases that may have been brought to the New World by humans and the animals that

Some Archaic Era Indians even took the first

steps toward agriculture. At first they encouraged the growth of edible plants, such as sunflowers and wild onions, by simply weeding out inedible plants around them. Over time Archaic Era Indians learned how to collect and plant seeds and developed basic ideas about irrigation. These

primitive cultivation techniques led to increased food supplies and diminished reliance on hunting.

By about 5000 BCE fixed agricultural settlements appeared in what is now Mexico. There native people learned how to grow maize (corn), squash, and beans, leading to the development of food surpluses and consequently large increases in population. Planting, tending, and defending crops necessitated the creation of larger permanent settlements, leading to urbanization, the creation of towns and cities. Increased food surpluses allowed the ancient peoples of the Americas to devote more resources to a variety of cultural, artistic, and engineering projects. The combination of agriculture, urbanism, and increasing social

complexity set the foundation for the emergence of the first great civilizations of the southern region of North America, an area stretching from modem Mexico to Nicaragua known as Mesoamerica.

The most advanced societies in Mesoamerica included the Olmecs (1150 BCE to about 800 BCE), Maya (peaked in 300 BCE-900 CE), and Toltecs (900 CE-1200 CE). These complex societies developed written languages, systems of

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American Civilizations Civilizations in the

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extremely stratified. At the top of the social pyramid sat a powerful emperor. Below the

emperor were a class of nobles, a priestly class, a warrior class, and an administrative class that

collected taxes and tributes. The foundation of this

these societies, the Aztec (1300 CE to 1521 CE), created a powerful empire in what is now Mexico (1.3).

What theories have been proposed to account for the migration of Paleo-lndians to North America? vast pyramid comprised merchants, artisans, and

farmers. At the very bottom were slaves. Some were Aztec-born and became slaves temporarily as

punishment for crime. Prisoners of war also added to the slave population, and human chattel was

Confederacy transformed Mesoamerica. By the time provided as part of tax debts owed to the Aztec the Spanish arrived in the early sixteenth century, the Aztecs controlled a vast empire of between 10 and 20 million people. The Aztec Empire's capital, the great city of Tenochtitlan, was built on an island in Lake Texcoco in 1325 on the site of today's Mexico City. Causeways connected the city to the mainland. An elaborate system of dams controlled the water level of the lake, while aqueducts carried fresh water to the city. A sophisticated system of

1.1.2 The Aztec The rise of the immensely powerful Aztec

Empire by its many conquered peoples. Gender roles were sharply defined among the

Aztec. Women helped men tend the fields but were primarily responsible for child rearing, cooking, weaving cloth, and shopping in the markets.

Although the priests were invariably men, Aztec

religion accorded women an important role in the

family, including making religious offerings to

the gods.

1.1 THE FIRST AMERICANS 7

building projects. At its height about 700-1,000 years ago, Cahokia's population ranged between 20,000 and 40,000. The city was protected by a huge wooden palisade and featured at its center a massive terraced earthwork

mound that covered 16 acres and rose over 100 feet above the ground.

Capping this mound was a wooden temple that would have been among the tallest human-made structures in the Americas, exceeded only by the pyramids of Mesoamerica. Other Mississippian communities developed in present-day Alabama, Georgia, and Oklahoma.

In the American Southwest, the Anasazi

peoples created another complex civilization marked by a sophisticated urban culture that included a series of towns interconnected by roads (1.3). To survive in the arid climate of the Southwest, the Anasazi developed impressive engineering skills to build their cities and construct complex irrigation systems to supply water for drinking and agriculture. Using adobe (clay) bricks, they built large dwellings later known by their Spanish name, pueblos. At Chaco Canyon in what is now northwest New Mexico, the Anasazi built Pueblo Bonito. This dwelling contained hundreds of rooms including dozens of kivas, or circular rooms intended for religious ceremonies. Until the development of modern apartment buildings in the late nineteenth century, this was the largest human dwelling in history.

The Anasazi also developed skills in making pottery and textiles, some of which they used in a vast trade network that stretched hundreds of miles to the south. The most valuable commodity they traded was turquoise, a bright blue-green stone used to make jewelry. In exchange for it, the Anasazi acquired prized luxuries such as sea shells from as far away as the Gulf of California to the west and carved images and feathers from Mesoamerica.

Trade and

"Begin with the dealers in gold, silver, precious stones, feathers,

mantles, and embroidered goods----But why waste so manywords in recounting what they sellin their great market? If I describe

everything in detail I shall never be finished."

BERNAL DIAZ DEL CASTILLO, Spanish historian of the conquest of

Mexico,1568

commerce were crucial to the Aztec economy. In the smaller towns daily markets provided a wide array of goods, but these markets were

miniscule compared to the great open-air market in Tenochtitlan. Countless foods, textiles, ceramics,

and other goods were available for trade, illustrating the richness and complexity of the Aztec economy.

The Aztecs were a warlike society. Conquered peoples were forced to pay tribute in the form of textiles, agricultural products, precious stones, and ceramics, and even provide slaves for human sacrifices. For the Aztecs human sacrifice was a central religious ritual necessary to appease the gods, especially the gods of rain and war.

What role did commerce play in Aztec culture?

1.1.3 Mound Builders and Pueblo Dwellers

Urban settlements also appeared in other regions of North America (1.3). One group, the mound¬ building societies, created monumental earthen burial mounds as part of their religious practices. Some 2,000 years ago, the Adena of what is now southern Ohio built the Great Serpent Mound. Still visible, it resembles a giant snake. Excavations of this and other mounds have

unearthed a host of artifacts used for religious purposes and personal adornment. We can also conclude that these inland people acquired the conch shells and shark teeth found at their sites from other cultures, as part of a trade network that extended to the Atlantic coast.

The most complex mound-building society, the Mississippian, developed in the Mississippi Valley (1.3). The central city of this civilization, Cahokia,

arose in what is now southern Illinois near St. Louis. Cahokia developed a stratified society with a chief at the top, followed by an elite class and a lower class that provided labor for agriculture and

What role did trade play in ancient American societies?

8 CHAPTER 1 PEOPLE IN MOTION: THE ATLANTIC WORLD TO 1590

spoke a dialect of one of two major Indian languages, Iroquois and Algonquian.

Instead of living in urban settlements, Eastern Woodlands Indians moved with the seasons to take advantage of different food sources, tracking animals in forest regions or fishing in lakes, streams, and rivers. Consequently, as this image, one of the earliest European views of an actual Indian village (1.4), shows, their villages were composed of wood and bark structures that were easily disassembled and reassembled to make seasonal movement possible. Dwelling in small villages rather than settled urban areas, Eastern Woodlands Indians avoided many of the sanitation problems and diseases that periodically afflicted ancient cities such as Tenochtitlan and Cahokia.

The complex religious life of Eastern Woodlands Indians embraced the concept of a supreme being, the great Manitou, but also included animism, or the belief that everything in nature possessed a spirit that had to be respected. Rather than seeking to own land and subdue the world around them in the manner of European societies, Eastern Woodlands Indians sought to inhabit the land and to live in dynamic relationship with it. These beliefs, however, did not keep them from actively altering or managing their environments to their advantage. Indians adopted strategies such as controlled burning of brush, a technique that

encouraged the growth of habitats for the deer they hunted. This type of strategy contrasted with European agriculture, which used clear cutting to make land available for farming.

The tribal societies of the Eastern seaboard had a relatively egalitarian political and social structure. Apart from the chief and a religious figure known as a shaman, most members of a tribe enjoyed a rough equality. While many indigenous societies in the Americas, particularly the more hierarchical ones of Mesoamerica, were patrilineal, with inheritance and decision making residing in

the male line, some Eastern Woodlands societies

were matrilineal, tracing descent and determining inheritance from ancestors on the female side. In

some tribes women enjoyed significant roles in

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1.1.4 Eastern Woodlands Indian Societies

A different type of society developed in a region encompassing what is now the Eastern United States and Canada. In contrast to the native societies of the Southwest and Mesoamerica,

Eastern Woodlands societies were neither highly urban nor stratified. Organized into tribes, these Eastern Woodlands Indian peoples lived as hunters and gatherers as well as agriculturalists. Most

1.1 THE FIRST AMERICANS 9

American Societies on the Eve of European Contact

tribal governance. When captives were taken in war, for example, women often decided whether to adopt or execute them. Nonetheless, Woodlands

Indians divided labor along gender lines, with women consigned to the fields, planting beans, corn, and squash, while men tracked and hunted animals for food, hides, and pelts.

American Indian societies were socially and culturally diverse, ranging from the highly stratified and urban Aztec in Mesoamerica to the relatively egalitarian hunter-farmer Iroquois in the Northeast. The peoples of the Americas spoke a host of different languages, developed"They are not delighted in t. .. . tdistinctive religious traditions, and created

baubles, but in useful things.... different political models to govern themselves. I have observed that they will

not be troubled with superfluous commodities."

These societies shared many characteristics among themselves and with peoples in other parts of the world. Like their Asian and European contemporaries, the societies of the Americas were premodern, with limited scientific knowledge and widespread belief in magic. Most people worked the land, struggling to provide the basics needed to support life. Except for the privileged few, life was hard, sometimes brutal, and short.

In the Andes Mountains of South America,

THOMAS MORTON, English lawyer,1637

Eastern Woodlands Indians were more communal than individualistic in outlook.

Although trade was important and individuals might own some goods, accumulating material wealth was not an important goal, as it was in the more stratified Mesoamerican societies. Individual

alpaca and llamas were domesticated, providing wool or food and, in the case of the llama, serving as a pack animal. But in contrast to Africa, Asia, or Europe, in North America and Mesoamericatribes controlled territory, but the notion of

owning land as private property was alien to most there were no large domesticated animals, such of these tribal societies. as horses (extinct after the Paleo-Indian period),

cattle, or camels. Without such animals theWarfare among many Eastern Woodlands tribes was intermittent but common. They often people of these regions lacked the mobility and

power that horses afforded Europeans, Africans, and Asians and that camels provided for North Africans and Asians.

American societies on the eve of contact

fought over control of tribal territory or hunting rights. Warfare typically consisted of skirmishes between rival war parties, a style of combat that

usually kept casualties low. Casualties suffered in war, however, might trigger further military actions, or "mourning wars," intended to replenish While African and Asian societies had developed the population reduced by fighting. In such a war some prisoners taken captive might be tortured and killed, while others deemed suitable could be

with Europeans were distinctive in another way.

considerable trade with Europe, the peoples of the Americas had remained largely cut off from contact with other parts of the world for thousands of years. This isolation had prevented their exposure to a host of diseases. By the time of the first contact between Europe and America in the late 1400s,

many of the inhabitants of Asia, Africa, and Europe, long exposed to a common pool of diseases because of their extensive trade contacts, had developed immunity to many virulent pathogens. In their relative isolation, however, the indigenous societies of the Americas were highly susceptible to the microbial invaders introduced by Europeans.

adopted by the tribe. The persistent warfare among tribes led to

the creation of the powerful Iroquois League of Five Nations, an organization that sought to reduce conflict among its members: the Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Oneida nations. Women played a significant role in the governance of the league. Female elders from each of the individual nations selected the men who formed the league's Great Council, a body that met to discuss matters of common concern,

especially war and peace. What were some of the distinctive characteristics shared by pre-modern societies, including those of the Americas?What is the central belief of animism?

10 CHAPTER 1 PEOPLE IN MOTION: THE ATLANTIC WORLD TO 1590

European Civilization in Turmoil1.2 JftikfWAM AS the Aztec Empire was reaching the height of its power at the close of

I fifteenth century, European society was in the midst of a profound HHHHMII transformation. This period of cultural, intellectual, scientific, and

| commercial flourishing is known as the Renaissance. The revival of ITLAW interest in ancient Greek and Latin not only led to renewed interest in the

civilizations of Greece and Rome but also caused Renaissance thinkers to re-examine the early history of the church and its teachings. Reformers drawing on these traditions and reacting to the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church challenged the authority of the church. The rise of a new strain of Christian thought, Protestantism, led to creation of a host of new Christian sects. Amid this tumult powerful monarchs across Europe forged new nation-states out of the relatively weak decentralized governments of Europe. Modern nations such as England, France, and Spain were born in this era. State building required money, and the monarchs of these nations were eager to increase their wealth and power, a desire that ultimately led to the colonization and exploration of Africa and the Americas.

1.2,1 The Allure of the East and the Challenge of Islam

Ottoman Empire, whose power eventually spread across the Eastern Mediterranean and Balkans.

What trade goods from Asia were most sought after by Europeans?The leading European powers' decision to

explore, conquer, and exploit lands in the Atlantic world was facilitated by a host of economic, technological, and cultural changes. Contact with Asia led to major changes in taste and patterns of consumption during the early modern period, from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries. Europeans looked beyond their borders, particularly to China and the Far East, for spices to enrich their bland foods and for luxury goods, especially exotic textiles such as silk and cotton, to enliven their fashions. These commodities, not native to Europe, had to be obtained from Asia.

The overland trade routes to the East were controlled by Muslims, adherents of Islam, a monotheistic faith shaped by the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. Since its emergence in the seventh century Middle East, Muslim influence spread, stretching from Europe to parts of Africa and Asia. Europeans resented the economic power of Muslim rulers who controlled the lucrative trade routes to the East.

European antagonism toward the Muslim world also sprang from an intense religious animosity. For almost 300 years, Christian Europe had waged a holy war against Islam, launching Crusades to regain control of Jerusalem, a city sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Islam's

influence in Europe was most pronounced in the

1.2.2 Trade, Commerce, and Urbanization

Among the important changes in Europe during this period was the dramatic growth of the economy. The Black Death, a pandemic that spread to Europe between 1347 and 1352, wiped out about half of Europe's population. In the centuries following the Black Death, Europe's population began to expand again, eventually becoming larger than it had been before the epidemic. The economies of Europe also recovered. By 1400, the Italian city-states, especially Venice, dominated trade and finance, particularly trade with the East. In part, Venice's dominance resulted from its proximity to the lucrative eastern trade routes.

Italy also dominated textile production, and Florence became Europe's leading producer of woolen cloth. Slowly the economic center of Europe shifted west and north. By about 1500, the city of Antwerp in what is today Belgium had become the leading commercial center of Europe but was eventually surpassed by the Dutch port of Amsterdam.

As trade and commerce expanded, innovative financial practices and services facilitated continued economic growth. New accounting methods

1 .2 EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION IN TURMOIL 11

helped merchants keep track of inventories and

profits and losses. Marine insurance reduced the risks of maritime trade. A more elaborate banking

system also helped finance trade. The growth of deposit banking, a system in which merchants could deposit funds with bankers and then draw on written checks instead of presenting gold or silver coins for payment of goods, greatly bolstered trade and commerce. All these developments made economic ventures more secure and encouraged investment, some of which was directed toward overseas trade and exploration. Together the new commercial and financial practices were key elements in the growth of capitalism. Simply put, capitalism is an economic system in which a market economy, geared toward the maximization of profit, determines the prices of goods and services. This new, profit-driven capitalist ethos slowly transformed European life beginning in the fifteenth century.

Capitalism also transformed rural Europe. European culture had always viewed nature as something to be tamed and exploited (see

Competing Visions: European and Huron Views of Nature, page 12). Rather than simply produce food for themselves, the new capitalist ethos led some farmers to seek the maximum yield from their land and plant crops that would fetch a higher price at market. In other cases landowners evicted farmers from their lands, so that they could graze sheep on the land and produce wool that would be How did printing affect European society? turned into cloth. This latter

change in agriculture forced many to leave the countryside and seek employment in towns and cities.

Migration from the countryside and commercial development led to greater urbanization in Europe. In

the two centuries after the Black Death, the population of London increased from 50,000 to more than 200,000. Outside of London, England's changes were less dramatic, but no less significant. Populations mushroomed in ports such as Bristol, regional market towns

- such as Cambridge, and the new textile centers such as Norwich.

Technological improvements and new inventions also spurred economic growth. The printing press transformed the way knowledge was produced and disseminated. While a scribe hand¬

copying a book onto parchment might turn out two or three books a year, the typical print run of a book produced on paper by a printing press was between 100 and 1,000. Printed books not only made it easier to preserve knowledge but also encouraged advances in science and in geographic exploration by making it easier to collect, organize, and analyze information. Printed texts and engraved images also whet the appetites of Europeans for exploration by making accounts of exotic places such as India and China more accessible. Marco Polo's (12547-1324) influential text about his adventures in China, The Travels of Marco Polo, circulated widely in manuscript form for more than a century before a printed edition appeared in 1477.

Printing created an entire new industry for the production, dissemination, and sale of books. The new technology also transformed visual culture, making it possible to create cheap images. The new technique of engraving (1.5) was a multistep process. On the right a skilled craftsman gouges out an image The many steps on a copper plate. In the center the plates are inked and then wiped clean. On the left the final stages in the engraving process are demonstrated, including the giant press used to create the final image.

1.5 Copper Engraving

used to make an engraving, from the artist's hand to the final drying of the printed page, are illustrated in this early image.

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12 CHAPTER 1 PEOPLE IN MOTION: THE ATLANTIC WORLD TO 1590

Competing Visions EUROPEAN AND HURON VIEWS OF NATURE European capitalism was built on deeply rooted beliefs, including the notion of private property and the belief that nature existed as a resource for humans to tame and exploit. European and Eastern Woodlands Indian cultures had starkly different attitudes toward the natural world. Following a mandate laid down in the biblical Book of Genesis, Europeans believed that they had a God-given right to rule over nature. The Huron, an Eastern Woodlands Indian tribe from Canada, approached nature in a radically different way that reflected their animist belief that all living things had spiritual power. What ecological consequences flowed from the Huron view of nature? How might this view have shaped the European impression of Indians? What ecological consequences follow from the Western view?

In Genesis God gave humans complete control over nature.

According to this view humanity was not simply enjoined to

"subdue nature" but to make sure that the "fear of you and the

dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth."

One of the best sources for understanding Indian views of

nature can be found in the writings of Jesuit missionaries, a Catholic order active in the French colonization of Canada.

In this selection a Jesuit recounts his exchange with a Huron Indian about the proper treatment of animal bones, which

Hurons believed had to be treated with respect to avoid

angering the animal spirits that might take offense and make

hunting more difficult.

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue It: and have dominion

over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

King James Bible, Genesis 1:28 (1611) It is remarkable how they gather and collect these bones, and preserve them with so much care, that you would say their game would be lost if they violated their superstitions. As I was laughing

at them, and telling them that Beavers do not know what is done

with their bones, they answered me, “Thou dost not know how to

take Beavers, and thou wishest to talk about it.” Before the Beaver

was entirely dead, they told me, its soul comes to make the round of the Cabin of him who has killed it, and looks very carefully to see

what is done with its bones; if they are given to the dogs, the other

Beavers would be apprised of it and therefore they would make

themselves hard to capture. (Paul le Jeune, 1633)

The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travels and

Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France

1610-1791 (1896-1901)6:211.

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1 .2 EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION IN TURMOIL 13

1.2 Renaissance and Reformation

Luther championed the idea of the priesthood of all true believers—the notion that everyone could experience salvation directly. Priests would continue to preach the word of God and perform rituals such as baptizing infants and marriage ceremonies, but Luther would dispense with the Catholic ritual of going to a priest for confession, penance, and absolution for sins. Luther also rejected monasticism. The place for the committed Christian was in this world, not cloistered away in a monastery.

Luther also urged Christian monarchs to take up the cause of religious reform and reject the authority of the Pope. His attack on the political power of the Roman Catholic Church appealed to some European rulers eager to strengthen their power. Luther was summarily excommunicated by the Church, but his calls for reform had wide appeal, especially in what is now Germany and Scandinavia. His supporters, known as Protestants, began a movement for religious reform known as the Reformation.

Protestantism found an especially receptive home in Geneva, a French-speaking city in Switzerland. Here the French reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) articulated a new variant of Protestantism with a different theological emphasis from Luther's version. Calvin's theology stressed the doctrine of predestination, the notion that God had destined people to salvation or damnation prior to their birth no matter how righteously or wickedly they lived. He also maintained that the true church was not embodied in any official organization, including the Roman Catholic Church, but rather in a group of the "elect," or those chosen by God for salvation. According to this ideal the elect could continue to act as a

reformed church even if they had no physical place of worship or formal ministry to serve their

spiritual needs. With the Bible and personal faith, argued Calvin, Protestants could constitute a true church wherever they lived, including, eventually, a wilderness like America.

Calvinists in Switzerland and elsewhere took their critique of Catholic worship a step further than Lutherans, becoming iconoclasts, or image breakers. They took the biblical injunction in Exodus to avoid

"graven" or carved images literally: decrying them as sacrilegious and a form of idolatry, Calvinists smashed the stained glass windows and religious carvings that adorned churches. One Catholic mm described a Protestant rampage in Geneva in

A revival of interest in the cultures of Greek and Roman antiquity, arising first in Italy, spread across Europe at the end of the fifteenth century. This rebirth of classical learning, the Renaissance, transformed the way Europeans thought about art, architecture, science, and political philosophy. The most significant change was the shift from theology, the primary scholarly subject in the Middle Ages, to the study of the liberal arts, including poetry, history, and philosophy. Much like the ancient Greeks, Renaissance scholars emphasized the human

capacity for self-improvement and exalted the beauty of the human body in painting and sculpture. For these scholars, known as humanists, humans

were the masters of their world and obligated to study it. These Renaissance values, in particular the spirit of exploration, would soon inspire explorers to seek out new lands and trade routes.

In contrast to medieval Europe, with its cloistered monasteries where monks prayed and

copied texts for their own libraries, the Renaissance placed a high value on public art, architecture, and philosophical thought aimed at civilizing humanity. Civic humanism, the new philosophy of the Renaissance, encouraged artists and

philosophers to participate in public life, especially in cities, which replaced monasteries as the ideal

place to encourage learning and glorify God. The study of ancient languages fostered a new

interest in the early church and inspired some religious figures to call for reforms in the Roman Catholic Church. One church practice that drew intense criticism was the sale of indulgences. Money donated to the Church could buy forgiveness for sin in this life. In 1517 a young German monk named Martin Luther attacked the sale of indulgences and other key elements of Catholic doctrine and practice. Luther eventually developed a new theological alternative to Catholicism. Rejecting the Catholic Church's focus on good works as the key to achieving salvation, Luther argued that only faith could bring salvation. Luther also argued that

ordinary people did not need to depend on the clergy to gain access to God's word; they could and should read the Bible themselves. Luther translated the Bible from Greek and Latin to German,