Most traditional accounts of 17th century New England paint a picture of an uninhabited wilderness devoid of anything save dangerous animals and a few menacing savages.
Most traditional accounts of 17 th century New England paint a picture of an uninhabited wilderness devoid of anything save dangerous animals and a few menacing savages.
Pilgrim leader William Bradford described the land in view from the Mayflower's anchorage site in Provincetown harbor as, "a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men" and he added that it exhibited a "wild and savage hue."
Earlier 16 th century explorers colored their accounts with descriptions of the backward nature of the few native people they encountered, at the same time emphasizing their untrustworthiness.
That is the way most of us now think about the situation of North America in that time period just prior to the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620.
In fact, before European diseases devastated the native population, the area of the Cape and Islands supported a highly developed community of indigenous people with complex social and economic institutions.
At the Cotuit Library on Sept. 19, Jonathan Perry, a native Aquinnah Wampanoag historian, challenged the perception that early white settlers were taking possession of property that didn't have people already living in it.
Perry, assistant program director of Plimoth Plantation's Wampanoag Indigenous Program, spoke before the Historical Society of Santuit and Cotuit and detailed a rich and varied native culture that had existed comfortably on the Cape and Islands in harmony with nature for thousands of years.
While his main focus was on the making and widespread use of mishoons (dug out canoes) as a means of transportation between the islands and the mainland, Perry touched on other aspects of Native American life during the so-called "pre-contact" period."
For the Wampanoag people, he noted, the land was a gift from the creator. It was something to be used with respect, not wasted. There was always an eye toward establishing a balance between human impact and what the resource could sustain.
"The land was so bountiful," said Perry, "that most native people could maintain a healthy life with far less effort and time investment than we can do in today's world. The wealth and variety of food and the ready availability of materials needed for shelter allowed more time for social interaction and community life because the needs of an individual family could be so easily met."
Perry pointed out that Wampanoag people traded over long distances, initiating contact with other indigenous groups with elaborate diplomatic rituals. In some areas of the mid-west, he said, there was more trade going on among Native Americans than would have been the case in some of the contemporary European medieval centers like Paris.
Far from being an uninhabited wilderness, pre-Columbian America was, as Perry described it, a vibrant mix of cultures that could offer valuable lessons to modern society.
"Our people shared a common religion and language. Spiritual belief was never a point of conflict." he said. "What I believe doesn't naturally have to be what you believe. And while there were occasional disputes over land or maybe trade, they never rose to any sort of large-scale warfare and disagreements were just as often settled by athletic contests and negotiation. I think that's a pretty cool concept," he concluded.
As heads nodded in the audience, it was clear that few could find any reason to disagree with that.