Jamestown Migrations

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What if the whole world were all still contained in a small town hidden somewhere in Africa? People would never have wandered away from their birthplace, and this world would not be what it is today. But, thanks to migration this previous statement is not true. People have left their hometowns in search of something different ever since the beginning of time. The reason behind these migrations are just about endless. Something that almost all of these migrations have in common is their lack of initial success. The colonist that usually became successful found a way to adapt to the new land they had migrated too. Adaptations cause one to sway from one’s usual system of behavior or beliefs. When these ways of living cannot be pried away the…show more content…
For a large percentage of the American population, this is their ancestral story which traces how their ancestors settled in “The New World.” In the essay “Voicing Virginia’s “Naturals”? Alterity and the Old World Reception of Malick’s The New World,” Cathy Covell Waegner proposes an intriguing new perspective. Instead of viewing the “New World” through the eyes of the Europeans, one can view the “New World” through the eyes of the Native Americans. As the Europeans ultimately had to find a way to adapt to this new land, the Native Americans had to adapt to the invaders’ lifestyle. The Europeans eventually took over the new land once claimed by the natural Native Americans. This led to several changes for the Native Americans that may have been against their will. Migration is one of the major changes that had to take place. As the Europeans settled in and began to rapidly colonize, Native Americans had to find a new place to live if they wanted to do so in their peaceful harmonic way. Hence, as the Europeans began to colonize more of the west, so did the Native Americans. The Native Americans eventually were forced off of the East Coast in ways that resemble a type of diaspora. Why didn’t the two different ethnic groups decide to peacefully coexist with each other? This question can simply be answered with the phrase “cultural alterity.” Cathy Waegner explains “cultural alterity” as “the process by which societies and cultures exclude particular groups on account of their ‘otherness’ ” (Waegner, 23). In summary, the Native Americans were seen as savages by the Europeans. The Jamestown colonists treated them with no respect, while showing a complete sense of superiority over the tribes. They chose to completely neglect the Native Americans as an equal cultural

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