Although ships had been exploring the New World before Columbus’s arrival in 1492, his Carribean landing was to be the beginning of a huge explosion of Western movement. These events can be observed in the first four readings of Retracing the Past. In “Imagining the Other: First Encounters” by James Axtell, we see the European’s plans for conquest grow through an exploitation of the wonderment and kindness of the Natives, as well as a clever process of learning about the Indians which would allow the explorers to more easily accomplish their goal. Next, in “Looking Out for Number One: Conflicting Cultural Values in Early Seventeenth-Century Virginia” by T. H. Breen we are able to witness the drive behind coming to the New World as well as the hardships that these first settlers encountered. Breen gives us a clear picture of the economic value tobacco that brought the settlers to this land. He also shows how the naive notions of so many people cost them their lives. The hardships however did not stop the mass movement. Virginia Dejohn Anderson’s
The events set in motion by Columbus’s landing forever changed the world and the lives of countless Europeans, not to mention that of the Natives who were eventually uprooted from the existence they had known. No other time in our history has seen such a dramatic change in the future of a people. If not for our determined ancestors, who could say things would be as they are today. The desire for wealth and freedom brought a determined people to a new land where they would stop at nothing to succeed. Altogether we see a dramatic period in the growth of our present home through the hardships and suffering endured by so many.
It is clear that the desire for economic success is the main link between these writings. From the first explorers setting the groundwork, to the massive flood of emigrants, and finally how this economic growth played part in the enslavement and consequences that came because of it. Although money is the main point, it is not the only one. We see a depiction of human nature within these four essays. The desire to grow and expand without being hindered by others. This c
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