Speech Of A Mimac Elder To French Settlers

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Throughout the 16th to 17th century, European powers were scrambling to find opportunities in the New World. Three prominent European countries; the British, French, and Spanish, were exploring the Americas for their own personal agendas. They wanted to find ways to expand their empires and also to build their respective economies. However, they ran into the Native American populations that had settled in these “new lands.” As expected, conflict between the two groups emerged. Many conflicts between the Europeans and the Native Americans can be explained by misunderstanding and ignorance surrounding each other's culture. This is evident in the 1744 account of Sebastian de Sistiaga, a Spanish Jesuit priest who was stationed in what is currently …show more content…

He is ignorant of the large role that hunting and gathering mean to the Native people. He also does not know how Natives control the land, or how property works in their society. The cultural differences can be observed in the 1677 speech of a Mimac Elder to French Settlers in Northern New England, where he said, “Why risk thy life and thy property every year… Which is these two is the wisest and happiest - he who labours without ceasing and only obtains, and that with great trouble, enough to live on or he who rests in comfort and finds all that he needs in the pleasure of hunting and fishing?” (Deverell and Hyde 44). This Mimac Elder explains that the Natives get a feeling of satisfaction from hunting and fishing, they are not simply doing it because they need to. He explains that the Natives do not see property as important or meaningful as the Europeans do. This stance on property provides the true explanation of why Natives were “continually moving.” The Elder argues that the European ways of life are not as fulfilling as the Native ways of life. It is evident that both sides show that they had feelings that their culture was superior compared to the