Michel De Montaigne

Throughout history Europeans have shunned indigenous people because they believed their ways of life were far more superior. Michel de Montaigne shed light on this ignorant way of thinking. Montaigne was a European man with unprejudiced views far beyond his time. Montaigne believed that cultures considered savages by Europeans are in fact not savages because they do not share the same customs. He believed that the Europeans are the ones that need to look in the mirror and see that they also are not as civilized as they might think. Had Montaigne been aware of the Mayan ball game he would have seen it as just a Mayan way of life. To begin with, Montaigne understood that every culture is different. He also understood that most people consider foreign customs

Montaigne would have thought that the Mayan ball game was equivalent to how the English conquered lands and tortured natives in the name of the king. He knew that by accepting indigenous people this would cause less destruction in not only other countries, but in his own country “nation, ignorant how deare the knowledge of our corruptions will one day cost their repose,” (Montaigne 374). Since Montaigne was able to compare the acts of his own people with those of the natives he was able to convince some people of the similarities between the two cultures. All in all, it is possible that had Montaigne witnessed a Mayan ball game he would have explained the reasons as to why it was not as barbaric as others claimed. In conclusion, based on the open mindedness Montaigne had he would believe that even though the cultures are different it is ignorant to think of another group of people are savages because they have customs that others might not understand. More than likely if Montaigne was aware of the Mayan ball game then the ritual would have been more accepted by