Summary

When European visitors first came to the shores of the Americas, their appearances were shocking to the Native Indians who may have thought they were deities or supernatural beings. Motecuhzoma thought Cortés was the god-hero Quetzalcoatl returning to fulfill a prophecy. The North American Indians like the Wampanoag and the Narragansett initially believed that the Europeans possessed supernatural powers. The Europeans were also impacted by their encounters with Indians. Columbus was convinced that he had landed in Asia, near India, which was why he dubbed the people Indians. A problem was presented to Europeans when it was later learned that Columbus had not landed in Asia. That people existed in this unknown land went against the Bible that proclaimed that all people had perished in the great floods. How did these people get across the great ocean?

Jesuit educator José de...