Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis

Europeans regarded Indians as uncivilized, barbarous, immoral, superstitious, and atheistic, when in fact they merely had different standards, customs, religions, and cultures. It is important to not regard the time before Europeans came as "prehistory," as if that time was somehow devoid of culture or significance. This chapter shares certain creation myths Indians used to explain how the world came to be, and also some accounts of first contact with the Europeans.

A half-Cherokee, half-Scottish man named John Norton provides an Iroquois creation story in 1816. It involves an image of the earth as sitting on the back of a Great Turtle, an image that is shared by many Indian creation myths. A "Great Spirit" punishes his daughter for becoming pregnant out of wedlock by casting her down a great hole in the heavens. The Great Turtle catches her, with slime on...