This negative view grew as he discovered that their religion was against the teachings of his own. The belief of polytheism was against the doctrine of Hariot’s own Christian upbringing. “Some religion they have already, which although it be far from the truth, yet being as it is, there is hope it may be the easier and sooner reformed.” (Norton, 904) Hariot believes that the religion in which the Algonquin Indians believed in was silly and they should be converted to his religion in order to correct their misuse of religion. Hariot in comparing his own lifestyle to the Indians has a biased opinion because the common teaching he had been taught was not the same in comparison to the inhabitants. Although he did attempt to understand their religion, he viewed the Algonquin’s as people of a lesser stature. His attempt to educate them was only natural to Hariot because he felt he needed to teach the truth, or what he believed to be the truth, to them in order to better their lives. This is seen throughout history, in respect to the exploration of new territories, and thus the explorers encountering the indigenous people felt the need to teach their common religion in order to convince the natives that they were wrong. This clash of religions caused problems with the tribes when death became common to the towns that Hariot and his men had visited.

In researching other texts other explorers such as, the conquistador Hernan Cortez’s, gave the same treatment of the Aztecs in Mexico as did Hariot did with the Algonkins on Roanoke Island in Virginia in the 16th century. “Cortez and Hariot maintained that their acceptance by the native peoples was due to their technical superiority and ability to improvise, when in actuality it was other factors, such as the diseases they brought and native generosity that allowed them to manipulate and dominate the host cultures.” (Hamlin, 420)This again shows the ethnocentric view of the European travelers as being judgmental, especially in the cases of Hernan Cortez and Captain James Cook. There has been much controversy regarding whether, early European explorers, were looked at by the native people as being divine or heroic beings. Yet Western conceits concerning cross-cultural encounters often coexist with other ideological structures in modern travel narratives. The model of the glorified foreigner appears in the 16th-century travel accounts of Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh, whom were friends with Hariot.

Some topics in this essay:
Natives Lesser, Algonquin Indians, Land Virginia, Ockman’s Razor, Island Virginia, James Cook, Christianity Britain, Hariot Particularly, Hariot White, Richard Hakluyts, algonquin people, negative view, indigenous people, urban environment, european travelers, observations material religion, based observations, houses natives, irrational thinking, observations material, religion finally, based observations material, view indigenous people, material religion finally,