Jake Decker

APUSH
Mr. Bernardi
September 1st
Chapter 1: New World Beginnings EQ #4
Throughout much of recorded history, cultural intolerance has been a persistent problem
in understanding cultures vastly different from ones own. Just as this is still a problem we as a
society face today, this problem was even more so present during the time of Columbus's
expeditions to the New World. Imagine being a Native American during the time of Columbus's
arrival. With no means of verbal communication due to the language barrier and a confusion of
who these new people are, it would be the equivalent for us of aliens landing their spaceship in
your backyard and then using their far more advanced technology to strip your house of every
board, knut, and bolt then claiming the site of your former home as theirs. Odd right? Well, this
was the situation the Native Americans faced at the time of European arrival.
Plagued with misconceptions about the natives, and a lack of cultural understanding of
the people whom he made contact with, Columbus had expected the indigenous people to be
cannibals and went as far as to refer to the inhabitants of Espaola as, idiots whom bartered
items of great value to the Europeans like cotton and gold for petty items such as glass and bows.
Similarly, there existed a major language barrier separating the exchange and flow of information
between groups of Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans and this language barrier often
was the main stopping power between any understanding being reached between the three
groups.