Many of us have highly stereotypical assumptions regarding the indigenous peoples of early America. When you think of the indigenous people as a whole you may think of teepees, corn, buffalo hunting, body and war paint, elaborate head dresses, and of course, the word savage. According to articles such as A Cultivated World and Juan Gines de Sepulveda Belittles the Indians, you are correct to believe these things. However, Bartolome de Las Casas defends the natives in an excerpt from Thirty Very Judicial Propositions where he defends the indigenous people and their culture.
A Cultivated World and Juan Gines de Sepulveda Belittles the Indians lead the reader to believe that the indigenous people were very much barbaric. While they were given a difficult time by the colonists, they weren't completely innocent. A Cultivated World doesn’t say that they mistreated the earth, but the article contradicts the text book, The American Pageant. The textbook states that the “footprint of the indigenous people was non-existent. A Cultivated World says that they burned forests and overcrowded the land planting berries and hunting deer. Juan Gines de Sepulveda Belittles the Indians calls the natives “half-men” and states that they eat human flesh. It is also said that they have no human cleverness and are inhuman. In an excerpt from Thirty Very Judicial Propositions, Bartolome de Las Casas defends the indigenous people. He defended them and said that the treatment they were receiving was unfair and inhumane and calls the indians his brothers and that Christ gave his life for them. He says that is the reason why they don't deserve to be treated with such savagery and that they've done nothing to deserve it.
My list of preconceived is more comparable to the textbook than anything. I said of them what I knew. Much of my list is a stereotype, but isn't not “belittling”. My list also isn't defensive of the indigenous people, which is why it is most like the textbook.