Red, White, and Black

The novel depicts the historical events beginning from the pre-Columbus era to the end of the 18th century. Before Columbus had arrived in America, there were a total of twelve linguistic stocks, and two thousand languages spoken by the natives – a greater diversity than in any other part of the world. According to the author, an agricultural revolution began, and reshaped the cultural outlines of native societies. This revolution contributed to increase of population and goods for the Native Americans. The Aztecs and the Iroquois are two native cultures discussed by the author. Nash explains in detail the diversity of the different cultures, helping the reader understand why certain customs exist in today’s society.
The historical interactions between Native Americans and European Americans constitute nearly half of the novel. One of the European-Native American interactions that interested me was between the Puritans and Indians. When the two cultures met, a large number of diseases were transmitted. Smallpox, scarlet fever, yellow fever and others had infected thousands of Indians who had no immunities when the Europeans first arrived. Indians were unkindly treated while in company of the Puritans. For example, all Puritans were to be trained in the use of firearms, and Indians were prohibited from entering the Puritan towns (79). In addition, if a man was caught selling firearms to an Indian, he would be deported to England where they would be severely punished. I believe the assumptions the Puritans held against the Indians negatively affected the relationship between the two cultures.