Sowell at first paints the rosy picture of benevolent middleman minorities.
Here is a quite different one.
The small number of Western explorers quickly set to work to ally with one indigenous tribe both for help with mere survival but also then to gain advantages against all indigenous groups in the ensuing conflicts which were nonetheless also traditional among them.
This pattern of interactions with native populations was hardly confined to Spanish or Portuguese new world intrusions, but was also prevalent in British, French, and Dutch North America from the beginning.
A few of the North American Indians were already wise to the newcomers in North America, having already seen what they had done in Central and South America.
The Menu, The Alliance and Trade Feast:
But this kind of social behavior is hardly emblematic of white people only against others.
It has gone on since long before the dawn of history.
Wade discusses the Yanomamo villagers of Brazil and Venequela, who always fight among themselves.
Villages lure other villages into alliances using trade and feasting to defend against or attack rival coalitions.
But often, the alliance feasts are set up to massacre the invited allying tribe itself!
A few of the North American Indians were already wise to the newcomers in North America, having already seen what they had done in Central and South America.
The Menu, The Alliance and Trade Feast:
But this kind of social behavior is hardly emblematic of white people only against others.
It has gone on since long before the dawn of history.
Wade discusses the Yanomamo villagers of Brazil and Venequela, who always fight among themselves.
Villages lure other villages into alliances using trade and feasting to defend against or attack rival coalitions.
But often, the alliance feasts are set up to massacre the invited allying tribe itself!
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