Remake of Anticipatory Discussion: The Colonists are Coming! by Gretchen Monroe

Instructions

gmonroe4 — 2025-09-19 19:13:58 UTC

Put your name at the top of a pad.
When looking at the image associated with this discussion, what thoughts and ideas do you already have about the picture, or with theColonists? What do you predict might be the Colonists initial perspectives on the Native Americans? Be willing to explore your own prior learning on the subject of Colonial America, and NY thoughts you have leading into this based on Learning Check #1.
When you are finished, comment on another person's response that has not been commented on yet. Reference something specific the person said, and build on their ideas.
If you would like to look at the attached link to Virginia history, go ahead! I think you might find it interesting. It is just for your information, and is not required reading.

Chloe W

2025-09-22 19:14:06 UTC

When looking at this image I think about what the Colonists are bringing to the New World and how the Native Americans are responding to seeing new things. I think that the colonists would have also been very curious about the items that the Native Americans had crafted or obtained because there were new resources to the Colonists found on this new land. I think the Colonists would have thought that the Native Americans were odd or that they were confusing to them due to the manner that they communicate in, how they dress, and how they live. I wonder what items the Natives wanted from the Colonists and vice versa. Each side had different value systems regarding material possessions, so trading might have been either very difficult or very easy.

Logan

2025-09-22 19:14:59 UTC

When looking at this image, I see the colonists of Jamestown, trading with the Indians in one of their villages. I have already learned prior to this about what went on at Jamestown, and the colonists interactions with the neighboring Indians. I think that the Colonists initial perspective on this was that they were trading with the Natives in order to give them better tools for some goods that they had already crafted and done the work for. I don't think that the colonists were trading to be super friendly with the Indians, I think that they were just trading for some things that they needed to survive. From the Natives perspective, I think that they are kind of amazed and eager to trade with the colonists to get some new tools, and form an alliance with a group that can help and protect them. The Natives want to have a friendly relationship with the Colonists. This image captures the early situations in which the Colonists were making their first encounters with a group of people so foreign to them.

Laynee

2025-09-22 19:16:09 UTC

When I first looked at the photo, I noticed where the natives were looking. It appears as though they are gazing at the axes at the feet of the two colonists. This might imply that the natives are eager to trade their goods for the shiny weapons in the colonists possession. In my perspective, and based on the natives expressions, I would say that the natives are afraid of the axes and have no desire to come near them. It is interesting that the colonists wish to trade weapons while the natives simply bring food and what looks like traps. This image causes me to consider the many differences between the natives and the colonists.

Jack Hansen

2025-09-22 19:16:47 UTC

In the colonists accounts of the first encounters with the Natives of the new land, they often times viewed them as savages or lesser than them. The colonists thought themselves to be more advanced and socially aware/acceptable than the Natives were. In this picture, the colonists are front and center, representing how they thought themselves to be higher. The interesting thing though, is that in the back left of the picture there seems to be Native American guards, showing that this is their land and not the Explorers. The title of this painting "John Smith Trading with the Indians." This contrasts the way the Colonists viewed themselves because this shows they needed the Natives, even though the Colonists often times thought them to be lesser than they were.

Emma

2025-09-22 19:17:11 UTC

While we hear many stories about how the colonists viewed the Native Americans as inferior and that they treated them as such this picture makes me wonder if that was always true at the beginning. You can see in this photo that the Native Americans are interspersed between the colonists, and that they are the only ones who have food in this painting. I think that at the beginning, before the colonists knew how to provide for themselves they probably learned a lot from the Native Americans who knew the land and how to live off of it. It is hard to learn new things from someone while still believing that they are less than you. I think in the beginning the colonists probably respected the Native Americans because of their knowledge, that the colonists did not possess.

Dalayna

2025-09-22 19:17:17 UTC

There are so many different encounters between the natives and the colonists that ended in many different ways, but this image in particular seems to be more peaceful. One thing I noticed right away was that the Natives were giving the Colonists things that they needed for survival (like food), but it looks like the colonists were giving weapons or advanced tools that the Natives didn't have. It made me think of one document from the last unit about how the explorers introduced the Natives to drunkenness and how in this photo is looks like they are introducing them to tools that people in a sinful world could use for evil. Another thing is just how different both sides look. The picture almost seems exaggerated because of how different each party presents themselves in their clothing, appearances, and even in how they stand.

Hudson Buhr

2025-09-22 19:17:21 UTC

Seeing this image sparked the thought of how the colonists were able to communicate with a new people group who most likely spoke a different language. I think that when the colonists saw the Indians, they would consider them a hardcore people. The Indians didn't have the modern advantages at the time that the colonists had. The Indians wore very little clothing and hunted and scavenged for food, which would bring a sense of struggle that they would have to persevere through, and I feel that the colonists would respect that hard work. In this picture, it looks like the colonists and Indians are trading tools for food. So the Indians were helping the colonists settle, help prepare for the land, and teach them useful tricks for surviving. I noticed the cart in the background looks like a prison cell. I wonder if there were people in there or animals.

Zachary Clough

2025-09-22 19:17:24 UTC

When I look at this image, I see 2 differing groups of the Native Americans and Colonials interacting. I see them trading their unique goods with each other. It seems as if the colonists are cocky and flashing their superiority through their advancements in weaponry. The fact that the main colonist has a musket, a flint knock, and a sword seems a little excessive. I also think that the trading is an important point in the painting in order to show interactions and events of communication. I wonder what they were actually talking about, and how the Native Americans reacted to seeing tools that are more advanced and stronger than theirs. Did they fear? Or did they see them as friends and trading partners? One last thing I see, is the color difference. The Native Americans are flushed out with only beige colors while the Colonists are the main focus with bright colors and shiny tools and more "sophistication".

Madeline

2025-09-22 19:17:24 UTC

When first looking at this image, I notice the Native Americans doing a lot of work in the back. I see the colonists making some sort of deal with the Natives, perhaps for trade. I feel like the colonists are kind of invading their land that the Native Americans have worked so hard to build up. The Native Americans have clothes on that they may have made themselves, along with their frightening weapons. The colonists weapons look more advanced and may be something the natives have never seen before. I think both sides are in awe of how different their features and looks are. I wonder if the colonists were intimidated by the natives strong features, or vice versa. I wonder if there are certain materials that the Native Americans want to trade with the colonists.

2025-09-22 19:18:06 UTC

I assume they wanted to make peace with the Indians by trading and communicating with them. They both seem a little confused, as they should, since the Indians have probably never seen white men and vice versa. The different ways of life, culture, and how they dress probably provoked the colonists to view the Natives in a way. From prior knowledge, I know the colonists had struggled gaining traction in the new land and the Indians helped by supporting them and giving them food and water for their goods. I think this is an early depiction of Plymouth and shows the colonists first encounters with the Indians.

James

jamesdahlberg — 2025-09-22 19:18:07 UTC

Looking at this image, I see the clash of 2 cultures. There is a divide between the 2 different lifestyles and the distinctive people. While many of the Native Americans warred against the colonists for fear of losing land or property, this picture represents the colonists trading with Native Americans. Many of the early colonists were only able to survive because of the relationship they built with the Native Americans who knew the land and how to srvive. The colonists bring the tools to grow the efficiency of the Native Americans while the Native Americans bring food and resources vital to the colonists survival. On the water we see two different techologies of differing peoples as well. The colonists have ships with sails and masts, while the Native Americans have boats to paddle on and move around more locally. Both groups wield weapons at this meeting which could show the slight edge between the 2 peoples.

Nevaeh Ringen

2025-09-22 19:18:10 UTC

When I look at this image, the first thing I see are the weapons that the colonists and Natives are holding. This proves that the neither the Native Americans or the colonists fully trusted each other and were very skeptical of each other. I know that through the Columbian Exchange the explores and colonists brought things like guns, disease, livestock, etc. to the Americans and the Americas also introduced new items like cacao beans to Europe. The emphasis on trade in this picture is very important because many of the colonies in America would not have survived without the Native's aid. I also noticed there are ships in the background which show how the colonists came as explorers with only a limited amount of supplies which furthered their need for help from the Native Americans.

Joey

2025-09-22 19:18:27 UTC

When I hear the word "colonist" in this context, many things come to mind. I think about people going to the New World to begin new lives and the creation of new societies. I also think about conflicts between Indians and the Colonists. I think the Colonists will be wary of the Native Americans. They look and behave differently to them and have different customs. They could view them as useful trading partners or a people to be subjugated and used for slave labor. Colonies like Jamestown relied on trade with Native Americans for food, and the Plymouth Colony needed their help to learn how to farm properly. There were also Colonists who viewed them as a nuisance who needed to be subjugated or removed.

Callie Allmand

2025-09-22 19:20:00 UTC

The Native Americans are giving the colonists raw materials which the colonists might have never seen. The Colonists have more advanced tools and manufactured goods to trade which could be intimidating or intriguing to the Natives. The colonists are larger in the image and stand confidently, the Natives don't look as confident. This could mean that the creator thought of the colonists as superior. If you look in the background of the picture the natives look like they are working hard in different ways, not lazy. Both of the groups stand apart from each other which could indicate that they are still skeptical of each other.

Jax

2025-09-22 19:20:30 UTC

In association with the image my thoughts are as follows; curiosity, caution, and scheming is written all over the two sides. The colonists were aways full of zeal, striving for a new home where they could start anew. The colonists curiosity could sometimes develop into greediness as they sought out to abuse their friendships with some Native Americans, but this was not always the case as some formed serene alliances based around trade and they both desired a good that neither had seen or has rarely seen before. The colonists have already head the stories from early explorers and know that not all Native American interactions are peaceful so going into this they will procede with caution and the Native Americans feel the same way about them as well as they know some are more harsh towards Native Americans and some are more nurturing and kind towards them. Scheming worked hand in hand with curiosity and caution as well. Scheming was all apart of their next plan of action will the Native Americans aide the new explorers or will they be hostile towards them, and for the explorers they have the choice of interacting in peace with the Native Americans or coming in with the attempt to eradicate them from the area and take the ladn as their own.

Isaiah

isaiahwhitson — 2025-09-22 19:20:58 UTC

The first thought that comes to my mind is the portrayal of natives in contrast to the settlers. The scantily clothed natives stand off to the side with several corn stalks at their feet and a wicker basket of other assorted agricultural goods. The settlers stand tall and imposing, with long many useful tools and weapons. The sharp contrast between the mechanically and technologically advanced Europeans and the hunter-gatherer natives displays the differences in civic advances on different continents. Though it is difficult to estimate why it is so, there is a very large gap between the advances of the colonizers and the Indians. The settlers arrived in America with gunpowder, transcontinental ships, advanced navigation, and many other amazing tools that the natives were still centuries away from achieving. The natives had new agricultural techniques, but nothing near the technology the colonists introduced. This disparity is difficult to solve.

Jacob Martinez

2025-09-22 19:22:17 UTC

When viewing this image, I perceive that the colonists are mentally comparing themselves to the Indians and asserting themselves as more advanced than the Native Americans. I also think the colonists are wanting to turn the Natives into servants as depicted by the pile of pickaxes between the two main colonists in the image. This image also shows the previous experiences both the colonists and Indians have been through as both groups meet each other with weapons, indicating that there has been previous hostility between other colonists and tribes. I wonder if the Native's are trying to offer gifts to the colonists in friendship as one of the Native's is holding a basket of food toward the group of colonists.

cc

2025-09-22 19:24:11 UTC

First thing I notice is the facial expressions, all of which are quite serious. The Indians have corn and resources by the, and by the colonists are weapons like axes. In this picture it seems that they are trading what looks like corn and maybe weapons. Although the colonists sometimes thought less of Indians, they did need them to survive by getting resources like foods. These groups are different and have different cultures both can be intrigued by each other with the different resources each group has. The Indians are in the back working while some are conversing with the colonists. The colonists and Indians would most likely be confused or intrigued the first time seeing each other because of how different they look. Both brought weapons to this meeting showing they don't trust each other.