The discovery of America certainly captured the European imagination and Columbus was viewed as a hero explorer. Oviedo in his natural history of the West Indies (1526) viewed Columbus "as a brave and wise sailor, and courageous captain, he showed us to this New World, which is so full of gold that thousands of such statues could have been made out of the gold that is sent to Spain. But he is still worthy of fame and glory for having brought the catholic faith to these parts". America was viewed as hidden, in having no place in human history until being uncovered by European initiative. Possession of America was followed by the renaming of the land, European centred names were given such as New England and New Spain, this represented the feelings of superiority of the people of Europe at the time.

Early European perceptions of the 'New World' in relation to other cultures can be observed by looking at how Europeans reacted to the native Arawak people. The ambivalence about America and its peoples Is displayed in t

wo different accounts in the form of paintings and books, usually constructed by people who had never visited America, in the first view its was seen as "a wonder. The mountains and hills, the plains and meadow lands are both fertile and beautiful" (Columbus)

Europe's encounter with the New World had a big effect upon how religion and authority were viewed. Most ancient geographers previously believed that the globe had contained a single landmass divided into three linked continents: Asia, Africa and Europe, these three parts stemmed from Noah's three sons. And Europe's maps derived from Ptoremy, a Greek scholar's geography. This posed two problems for European beliefs, and perhaps led to a shift in ideas. The first problems was that the discovery of America posed issues for Christianity, as the bible gave no reference to the 'New World', this was a challenge to traditional authority in the form of the classical civilisations. The encounter also impacts European methodological approaches.

"They are beastly.. These people raid the other islands and carry off all the women they can take... the Carrib's eat the male children they have by them" (Alvarez Chanca, 1492)

Cannibalism signified in European minds the absence of civilisation which brought humans down to beasts, the customs of the savages were not seen as something requiring explanation, they were seen as representing the 'naturally' degenerate, man in a fallen rather than a primitive form.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Alvarez Chanca, America Europeans, Ptoremy Greek, Rousseau Discourse, Europe European, Rousseau America, West Indies, Christianity Oviedo, Dr Oritz, Tzvetan Todorov, discovery america, 'new world', 'discovery' america, native indians, conquest america,
Approximate Word count = 1054
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)