John Winthrop

            In the early Colonial period, colonists and explorers alike came into contact with Indians and had to deal with them one way or another. Depending upon the circumstances, the relations between the whites and Indians varied from good, to bad, to even worse. In the writings of Christopher Columbus, John Smith, and John Winthrop, we see these different levels of relations exhibited. Despite coming into contact with the Indians at about the same time in history, Columbus, Smith, and Winthrop all showed a different perception and presentation of the Indians. .
             Christopher Columbus was the explorer's explorer. As a person who wasn't about to settle anywhere, much less in the New World, he had a different outlook on the environment and social setting he found himself in. When he met the Native Americans, Columbus was fortunate enough to have a very smooth meeting. Of this meeting his journal states, "The inhabitants received them after their fashion with great ceremony They imagined them come from heaven, and signified as much to them" (113). With this first impression, it was hard for Columbus to dislike the natives. Columbus and his colleagues soon began to barter with the natives, and found out they could get very good prices from them. After some more observation of the natives, Columbus comments, "They are an inoffensive, unwarlike people their manners are very decent" (114). Columbus's perception and presentation of the Native Americans was a good one, which was nurtured by the positive encounters he had with them. .
             John Smith's perception of the Native Americans was quite different from that of Columbus. This can be attributed to Smith's negative experiences with the Indians. In his book "The Generall Historie", Smith comments on his captivity, "then as many as could layd hands on him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and being ready with their clubs, to beate out his braines, Pocahontas laid her own upon his" (245).