I would like to give everyone a numerical understanding of the inhabitants of the new world, or the Americas of the eighteenth century. Although the Europeans first came to the Americas in the early 1600’s, it wasn’t until the eighteenth century, or the 1700’s, that colonialists started to populate the land. During this time in the Americas the people inhabiting it included: the Native Americans, or Indians, the colonialists and African slaves brought by the colonialists.
Obviously, the Native Americans were the first of the inhabitants in the Americas, and rightly so the land belonged to them. Unfortunately, the European colonialists did not see it this way. The European colonialists did not treat the Native Americans well, even though the Indians treated them as equals. John Lawson, a British naturalist and explorer, clearly states this in his book entitled: A New Voyage to Carolina, “They are really better to us than we are to them….these Indians are the freest People in the World, and so far from being Intruders upon us, that we have abandon’d our own Native soil to drive them out and possess theirs.”
The population of the Native Americans, or Indians, when the English first began to colonize the Americas was over 100,000, this number greatly dwindled in the mid-eighteenth century to between 30,000-42,000 (The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation). These numbers greatly differ when compared to the 1.5 European colonialists living in the Americas in the mid-eighteenth century. The African slaves also outnumbered the Indians during the mid-eighteenth century with 150,000-240,000 (Hacker, 2020).
The Europeans at the time considered themselves the ‘elite’ because they were civilized and worldly compared to the Indians and the African slaves, therefore, they considered the Indians and African slaves of lower status or “subalterns”.
Works Cited
Hacker, David J. “From ’20. And odd’ to 10million: The growth of the slave population in
the United States.” Slavery & abolition, vol. 41, 4 (2020): 840-855.
doi:10.1080/0144039x.2020.1755502
Lawson, John. “A New Voyage to Carolina.” 1709.
https://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/lawson/lawson.html
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. “The American Revolution: The Native American
Population of British America.” 2021. https://ouramericanrevolution.org
Great presentation! Really nice background and transition into connecting it to class material. I really liked the quote you added by John Lawson, I think it connects the the statement you made in the last sentence very nicely. Overall, very nice presentation and information!
Amazing job on your context presentation! You definitely have a great grasp on the history behind the early times in America. Additionally, I enjoyed how you provided statistics about population because it clearly conveyed the immensity of colonization back in the day. I thought it was quite interesting that you compared slaves and Native Americans as the subaltern, which is unfortunately quite valid. Like the subaltern, their stories were largely ignored by others.
Great job on your presentation! I loved the numerical approach you took I felt like it helped to put the large number of inhabitants in America at the time and how Europeans affected indigenous peoples into an easy-to-understand way. The atrocities inflicted on indigenous peoples is atrocious and I feel that the spread of information about what has happened especially statistics that better enforce the idea that Europeans did not come here for good.
Such a great presentation! Really enjoyed your numerical opening as it really caught my attention. You proved a strong comprehension of European history and your application of the subalterns was beautiful. We discussed it so heavily in this course and I think this was a wonderful connection. I am interested in learning more about John Lawson, as that was a great use of his quote. Great job!
I thought you did a very good job on this context presentation. Good job connecting your summary to the class material were learning. you did a great job explaining European history. Awesome job!
You did an excellent job with your presentation! I liked the numerical approach you took because it helped to explain the large number of people living in America at the time and how Europeans affected indigenous peoples in an easy-to-understand way. You demonstrated a strong understanding of European history, and your use of subalterns was beautiful, given how much we discussed it in this course.
This was an excellent presentation. It was clear that you did your research on European history. The facts that you included helped potrayed the seriousness of colonization. The connection that you drew between slaves and native americans to the subalterns makes a strong connection to what we have been learning in our class.
I really enjoyed your Contextual Presentation! I liked your run down on European history and hot it relates to our novel for this week. You really show your intelligence on the subject and transition the quotes by John Lawson beautifully. The evidence you gave came from reliable sources and that is especially important when talking about a subject as sensitive as this. Great job and keep it up!
I think your presentation was very good, and I like the figures you quoted, which give us insight into the reality of the European colonization of America. I really like your quote from John Lawson, which better helps me understand the situation at the time of colonization. For those situations you describe, I think the European colonization was terrible.
Good contextual presentation. Your introduction to the development of colonialism is very detailed, which is very helpful to my understanding. The data you used in your paper is very convincing. After the British colonized America, the number of Native Americans decreased alarmingly, which was a disastrous event for the colonized Native Americans. The concept subalterns you mentioned at the end of your paper is a very good concept. Europeans do have inherent advantages to colonize other countries so that the colonized people become subalterns.
I just wanted to applaud you for writing such a well thought-out and organized post. The summary that you provided really helped me in understanding what I read and and put everything together in order to complete this weeks module. I enjoyed reading how you related the story to subalterns. Overall, great job!