FORMATIVE: ANALYTICAL FREE
WRITE
(10 MINUTES)


In 1821, the Cherokee tribe was the
first Native American tribal group to
create its own written language.
Some historians argue that this
event was an act of survival, to keep
the tribe relevant in changing times,
while others argue that it is an act
of a group of people succumbing
(giving up) to cultural genocide.
Using your concept understandings,
choose one side and defend it.
Was Sequoya (George Gest)
committing cultural genocide
against his own people by
creating a written language, or
was it an act of survival?
THE FIRST EXPLORERS
Unit 2 – Part 2: Explorers and
Colonization Literature
Christopher Columbus’
Epistola & John Smith’s
The General History of
Virginia
LEARNING TARGETS
Students
will be able to
discuss the historical
background and
contemporary contexts of
Exploratory & Colonialism
Literature and relate them to
today’s American culture.
EXPLORERS!!!
Hey Everybody!
Let’s go to
strange new
lands and meet
strange new
people! And then
let’s enslave
them so they can
later die from
diarrhea!
HUMAN MIGRATION MAP
And with all this
human migration
across the planet, we
colonized this world
with our poop before
anything else!
THE FIRST WRITTEN RECORD OF
THE NEW WORLD
The
first written account of
Europeans in the New World is
titled THE VINLAND SAGA
THE VINLAND SAGA – THE FIRST
EUROPEAN SIGHTING OF THE NEW
WORLD.


According to this text,
an explorer by the name
of Bjarni Herjolfsson
chanced upon a long
strip of land while
sailing west out of
Norway in 986 – he
marked it on his map
and sailed the coast for
a few days.
According to the text,
Bjarni marked, “this
country seems to be
worthless” (Horwitz 12).
THE VINLAND SAGA
 Leif
Eiriksson,
a Norse explorer,
who landed on
Nova Scotia,
Canada - 400
years before
Columbus.
 Eiriksson bought
Herjolfsson’s
boat and sailed
to the New
World.
WHERE WAS LEIF?
Eriksson (24 at the
time) captained his
crew to what is now
Newfoundland,
Canada.
 He found grapes and
named the area “The
Land of Wine” –
Vinland.
 He loaded his boat
with timber and
grapes and left. He
never returned.

Christopher Columbus
Columbus
set
sail for the New
World in 1492.
Wrote an
EPISTOLARY
journal
creatively
called
Epistola.
“EPISTOLARY”
A
series of personal
letters published in
book-form as a
written account or
story.
What Were You Taught In School About
Columbus?
COLUMBUS MYTH

Columbus did not set out to prove that the world
was round; this was pretty much common
knowledge during the 15th-Century. Instead, he
was looking for a western passage to Asia.
A TRUTH

Columbus did
not “discover”
America. He
never set foot on
the United
States. Rather,
he landed in the
Caribbean on the
island he named
San Salvador,
today it is the
area called The
Bahamas.
* This is not a historical reality and should be immediately forgotten
Columbus Realities



He knew that he wasn’t
Columbus
was
a fervent
in India
when
he ate
Christian
believedget
the food!– he
Europeans
that
God haddiarrhea
chosen when
him
explosive
for athey
great
eatdestiny.
Indian food!*
When he was 14,
Columbus got his first job:
Pirate.
It’s a myth that Columbus
thought he landed in India
– but rather, he believed
he found a series of islands
in the Indian Ocean.
(SOURCE: Zinn, Howard. The People’s History of the World)
MORE


Columbus and future
explorers are blamed for
spreading disease to
natives. However,
Columbus’ own men caught
diseases from the natives –
the majority of them dying
as a result.
Some of Columbus’ ancient
ancestors were Vikings –
people who plundered and
conquered distant lands for
personal profit… makes
you think!
Columbus’ Mistakes


Thinking that he was in
the India region, the
indigenous people were
called Indians. They
named that area The
West Indies.
Columbus died thinking
he was in Indian Ocean –
he never knew he
discovered a “New World”
(Usarchives.gov).
ARAWAKS


The first indigenous people
Columbus contacted were the
ARAWAKS. They promised
Columbus gold and a water
passage that ran through the
land.
To protect his “investment,”
Columbus filled his letters with
tales of sea monsters and violent,
inhuman, cannibalistic
indigenous peoples – many of
these observations written by
Columbus continue today as
stereotypes of Native American
culture (Horwitz 64).
Horwitz, Tony. A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World. Henry Holt Publishers: New York, NY.
WHAT COLUMBUS DID…

Columbus enslaved these
people and sent many back
to Europe as gifts to Kings
and Queens (Loewen 52).

Today, Arawaks are near
extinct; most died from
smallpox (Loewen 54).
Loewen, James. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Book Got Wrong. Touchstone
Publishers: New York, NY.
And isn’t
diarrhea a
symptom of
smallpox!?!?!
Ah… crap!
COLUMBUS IMPACT ON FUTURE
COLONIALISM
 Epistola made
Columbus famous.
This fame financed
three more trips for a
total of four journeys
to the West Indies.
 The published text
was distributed
around Europe and
became the primary
source document to
stereotyping nonEuropeans.
ETHNOCENTRISM


Historians and literary
scholars declare that
Epistola, The General
History of Virginia, and
other colonial texts are
stained with the writers’
ETHNOCENTRISM.
ETHNOCENTRISM:
When a person
unknowingly or
knowingly places their
own culture and beliefs
as a societal norm, and
rejects all cultural beliefs
of different ethnic groups
or cultures.
THE TRIAL OF CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS



Columbus was the active
Governor (President) of the
West Indies until 1500
when he was arrested for
cruelty to slaves.
Twenty-Three witnesses at
his trial claimed to see
Columbus torture the
natives.
He was sent back to Europe
where he died without
property or governing
power.
COLUMBUS DISCUSSION
Despite
all of this evidence to
the contrary, American
elementary schools teach
Columbus as if he is a national
hero. Why does American
culture portray Columbus in this
manner?
END OF PART ONE - HOMEWORK
Read the excerpt from Columbus’s Epistola.
 Find textual evidence that supports both iconic
images of Columbus: the hero and the villain.
 Highlight quotes from his letter (use different
colors) that supports both viewpoints.

How about a bathroom break!
I know I have the
Green Apple Splatters!
COLONIAL LITERATURE: WRITINGS
OF THE EXPLORERS – PART II
Jamestown and Roanoke
 John Smith’s The General History of Virginia

I love this era of American
literature! Lots of death, disease,
and diarrhea! I can’t wait!
American Colonization:
 ROANOAKE
COLONY: First American
Colony set in 1585.
 Ninety men, seventeen women, and eleven
children were left behind to run the colony
when their ships returned to England for
supplies.
THE LOST COLONY OF ROANOKE
When the colonial
ships returned to
Roanoke, they
discovered that
everybody had
disappeared.
 There was no blood or
trace of remains
except three corpses
that were recently
given a Christian
burial.
 Surviving colonists
were never found.

Holy Crap, Mr. P!
That is some
seriously messed
up doo doo!
The first Europeans
in America
sdf
just vanished!!!
Well, where the
heck did they
go!?!?
Did they all die from
diarrhea?
NICE!!
!
WHAT HAPPENED TO ROANOKE?
Theory
1: Massacred by the
natives
Theory 2: Turned cannibal and
later starved to death
Theory 3: Moved north to the
island of Croaton and lived with
a local tribe.
Theory 4:
EVIDENCE

EVIDENCE OF THEORY 3:
 If the original colonists
were under attack from the
local natives, they were
supposed to carve a
crucifix into the fort wall.
This was not found.
 The word “CROATOAN”
was carved into the fort,
also “CRO” carved into a
tree with an incomplete A.
 It was believed that this
meant that colonists had
moved to a nearby island
to live with the local
natives.
 Generations later, blueeyed natives would be born
from the local tribes.
FIRST SUCCESSFUL COLONY
JAMESTOWN
COLONY:
Founded in
1607 – Second
American
Colony.
Named for
King James I
SOUND FAMILIAR?
Three
hardships faced by
Jamestown: lack of food, harsh
weather, and disease.
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT JOHN
SMITH?
“AN AMBITIOUS, UNWORTHY, AND
VAIN-GLORIOUS FELLOW.”
 Told elaborate stories of his war
against the Turkish Army – claiming to
be trained in secrets of war, claimed he
beheaded three Turkish commanders.
 Sentenced to death by Capt.
Christopher Newport while on the
voyage to the New World.
 Charged with drunkenness, theft,
lying, and “behavior unfit for the sea”
(starting fights).
D’OH!
 Upon arrival in
the New World,
secret sealed
orders of the
voyage’s financier,
The Virginia
Company, were
broken open.
 The orders named
John Smith to be
leader of the
Jamestown
Colony.
JOHN SMITH:
President of
Jamestown in 1608
and 1609.
 Wrote THE
GENERAL HISTORY
OF VIRGINIA.
 Used HYPERBOLE
to describe his
encounters with
indigenous cultures.

WHAT IS HYPERBOLE?
HYPERBOLE
– Extreme
exaggeration
in a story in
order to
emphasize a
point.
A GENERALL HISTORIE OF VIRGINIA, NEWENGLANDE, AND THE SUMMER ISLES



THE GENERAL HISTORY
OF VIRGINIA: Is a HISTORY
(literary term: A telling of
historical events and usually
written with a purpose of
persuasion.
Smith’s writings are
SUBJECTIVE – A person’s
own personal account and may
not be entirely factual. Ideas
and beliefs getting in the way
of accurately depicting events
Smith paints himself as an
invincible hero who is singlehandedly responsible for the
success of Jamestown.
Why He Wrote It:
 In
1624, almost 20 years after Jamestown,
The Virginia Company announced it was
publishing a HISTORY of the Jamestown
colony – John Smith found out that he
would not be mentioned within the book.
 John Smith beat The Virginia Company to
publication, printing The General History of
Virginia before their story could be
published.
 Written nearly 20 years after the fact, The
General History of Virginia does not
mention The Virginia Company.
HISTORIANS HAVE NOT BEEN KIND
TO JOHN SMITH
Today,
the writings of The
Virginia Company have
disappeared through time.
John Smith’s depiction of
Jamestown in The General
History of Virginia is the only
resource we have about our first
successful colony in America.
Historians and literary
ETHNOCENTRISM scholars declare that
The General History of
Virginia is stained with
Smith’s own
ETHNOCENTRISM.
 ETHNOCENTRISM:
When a person
unknowingly or
knowingly places their
own culture and beliefs
as a societal norm, and
rejects all cultural
beliefs of different
ethnic groups or
cultures.

BIRTH OF THE “AMERICAN DREAM.”
"Here
every man may be
master and owner of his
owne labour and land...If
he have nothing but his
hands, he may...by
industrie quickly grow
rich.”

From “A General History of Virginia”
Hooray! The
American Dream
brought more
Europeans! More
Europeans
means more
diarrhea!!!
Let’s go find
you a toilet,
my friend!
Sweet!
REVIEW OF TERMS AND CONCEPTS
Indigenous –
 “History” (literary term) –
 Subjectivity –
 Objectivity –
 Hyperbole –
 Ethnocentrism –
