European arrogance and technology determined the future of Native Americans in the New World. American history paints a picture of the bravery of pioneers crossing the Atlantic Ocean, exploring foreign lands, and taming “barbaric peoples”. Somewhere in the midst of it all, we briefly acknowledge that we decimated and displaced these people. A couple of pages in the beginning of every American history textbook are dedicated to those fleeting facts so as to say, “we know it happened but we won’t talk about it for too long.” Russell Shorto’s The Island at the Center of the World briefly illustrates the injustices that Native American tribes suffered at the hands of Willem Kieft. What surprised me most about this passage was not that the treatment of the Native people, rather the colonist’s lack of desire to hurt them.
The Dutch colonists were accepting of the Native Americans? Now that is something frequently overlooked in history. Coming from a country that hailed tolerance, the colonists knew better than to ostracize the native people. In fact it seemed as though the Dutch, for the most part, saw them as normal human beings. An excerpt from Van der Donck’s writings implies that he appreciated the beauty of native women.
Unfortunately, power is concentrated in the hands of an elite minority. That minority, in this case Kieft, determined the fate of the relationship between the colonists and New Amsterdam’s original inhabitants. He went so far as blaming the native people for stealing hogs to provoke conflict. His goal was to drive them away. The council of twelve men he created with the purpose of declaring war on the Indians proved yet again that the colonists did not want conflict. They knew that the survival of Dutch fur trade depended on strong relations with the natives.
Textbooks make it seem as though the decimation of the native people was a collectively agreed upon measure taken by European colonies. Reading this chapter I was surprised that such reluctance existed, and simultaneously disappointed that it was not strong enough to stop the injustice while it was possible. Not even the allure of maintaining profitable trade conditions was motivational enough to stop Kieft while it was possible.
The Dutch colonists were responsible for bringing the liberal, tolerant practices that helped shape New York into the multiethnic city it is today. But that doesn’t justify the fact that they also contributed to the decimation and displacement of hundreds of people. Intolerance and disrespect for human life surprises me as much as the bystander effect that takes over the human consciousness when they see something happening that is not fair but do nothing to stop it.
