INDIVISIBLE
Confronting Enduring Legacies of Division in American History
EUROPEAN COLONIZATION OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE
When the Americas were first discovered by Europeans, many mercantilist countries rushed to America to expand their colonial empires. Not only did those countries want the new resources that the Americas had to offer, but they also saw an opportunity to spread Christianity. In this exhibition, you will learn about Spanish, French, and English exploration and colonization of the Western hemisphere.
HANAAN
The picture shows the interactions between the Jamestown colonists and the Powhatan tribe during the English Exploration and Colonization of the Western Hemisphere. The relationship they had depended heavily on their needs for survival. They would fight often, then would have a truce, but something would cause it to break. At first they didn’t trust each other, but the Jamestown colonists couldn’t provide food for themselves, so they had to ask for help from the Native Americans. The drawing shows the colonists burning the Powhatan tribe’s village and fields as a representation of their toxic relationship. The colonists are burning the food that would have helped them survive, just to harm the Powhatans. By trying to harm the Native Americans, they were harming themselves as well. The Powhatans also ended up harming themselves by trying to protect themselves. After they attacked the Jamestown colony following Powhatan’s death, the colonists became even more prejudiced and unjust towards Native Americnas, causing them to be seen as savages. The relationship between the two groups didn’t end well for either of them.
DIEGO
Click to learn more about Spanish exploration, conquest, and colonization in the Western Hemisphere! This Prezi will explore the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and the Incas.
JAMIN
Click below to read a self-made book about the Dutch experience from the Dutch Republic's independence, to its colonization of America, to the height of its trade, to its fall as a European sea power. This contains many important events that mark that period of time, it also provides the dutch perspective on other european powers and natives.
​
We all know the phrase ‘in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue’, this famous line marked the golden era of Spanish, English, and French navigation. But when it comes to the dutch exploration, this isn’t just a random story, it is part of a greater packet of untold stories and perspectives of this famous time period, this packet includes the fall of the famous Iroquois nation and other native nations, the enslavement of Caribbean natives, and the Sweedish exploration of the Caribbean. It is always important to not just focus on the main, famous, folklore stories, but to focus on the unheard stories of people of that time. Normally, to generally understand that period of time, most people hear the ‘loudest’ voices of that time, but the ‘softer’ voices represent time just as much as the ‘louder ones’. Therefore, it is always important to hear all sides of the story. To make sure what you hear is the most truthful, researching it would be best. You do this with many analysis techniques including the ‘CRAP’ technique (currency, reliability, authority and purpose), these techniques can help understand the real and the fake. Being constantly curious is also a good way to learn more, more perspectives can always help you learn more about the sweet and sour of that era. Overall, it isn’t just the famous stories we should hear from, it should be the other perspectives that define that era and our learning as well.
​
This was the first ‘little America’ of the early modern world. Just like America, they fought and won against a controlling monarchy, they accepted all immigrants, they are a republic made up of many small dutch states, their main economic system was capitalism, they treated all with equality and respect (no serious conversions of natives). Sounds like a utopian settlement to me. Many of these values have been deeply inserted into American values.
​
With stories of the unknown finally told, we should use these analyzation techniques to analyze stories like the Balkan's crisis, the Rohingya crisis, or the Israel-Palestine crisis; all of these stories are heavily influenced by the media, but not carefully checked and agreed by the civilians who live there and around. By hearing all the voices needed and analyzing it, we can finally find truth from perspectives.