For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. For them, Europe comprised savage shores, a land of riches and marvels, yet perplexing for its brutal disparities of wealth and qualityof life, and its baffling beliefs. The story of these Indigenous Americans abroad is a story of abduction, loss, cultural appropriation, and, as they saw it, of apocalypse—a story that has largely been absent from our collective imagination of the times.

These original visitors were treated with great kindness and courtesy, as they worked to learn the language of the old world. But it wasn't unusual for them to be made members of the King's retinue and to live as did the nobles. Later when the Conquistadors returned to Spain/Portugal the returned with the first Mettzos (children of the sailors and native woman). It wasn't very long before they became servants for the nobility. Dodds C (2005) Kathleen Ann Myers, Neither Saints Nor Sinners: Writing the Lives of Women in Spanish America (2003). Itinerario: International Journal on the History of European Expansion and Global Interaction, 2(29), 141-141. Too much of the book is the author explaining why she was using certain words, even going so far as to write a paragraph on the word "stuff" instead of another word. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by

For a text written in 2023 that claims it is “groundbreaking,” I wouldn’t expect it to just repeat what has already been told decades earlier…Also many Indigenous scholars and record keepers tell their nations’ experiences with European settlers over the centuries. The author rarely cites these accounts; she only uses European texts and scholars to depict Indigenous-settler relationships. There were certainly Indigenous rulers, nobles and diplomats in the Atlantic world – glamorous kings and imposing ambassadors – but there were also many people of the most ordinary sort, people whose presence barely merited a mention in the annals of history. Only by accumulating many tiny slivers of these lives, which touched so many but have seemingly made so shallow an imprint on western traditions, can we start to build a picture of the past that sees these travellers as they were – sometimes remarkable, and at other times mundane – but above all there." Save yourself the trouble, read the synopsis, then don't read the book. Think about what Native peoples might have felt going to a strange land.....and you would save yourself HOURS of your life by NOT reading this poorly written book. These Indigenous people may not have intended, or wanted, to be explorers, but they were still the first of their people to set foot in the ‘new world’ of Europe. These were Lucayan Taíno people, their name deriving from the Arawak words ‘Lukkunu Kaíri’ (good island people). They were the main inhabitants of the larger islands, and their lifestyle seemed in some ways to conform to European expectations of ‘primitive’ people: they frequently went naked and lived in communal houses built of wood, straw and palms. But they had sophisticated polities and kinship networks which the Spanish (and, for many years, scholars) failed to recognise. Despite the decorous protocol and complex etiquette which typified his early exchanges with Taíno chiefs, Columbus nonetheless behaved as if their people were objects, grabbing Native men, women and children as he journeyed along what is now the Bahamian archipelago. In November 1492, the Admiral kidnapped around two dozen people from Cuba, and shipped them to Spain as ‘curiosities’ and potential translators. The careless objectification of the Taíno is typical of European attitudes to Indigenous peoples; they were valued and treated according to what would make them of most use. But the Spaniards were also aware that these were humans, and potential Christians, a fact which proved of considerable importance in the years to come.

Funder reveals how O’Shaughnessy Blair self-effacingly supported Orwell intellectually, emotionally, medically and financially ... why didn’t Orwell do the same for his wife in her equally serious time of need?’There are well-recorded cases of high-status Indigenous people in the Spanish and Portuguese territories, often descendants of prominent nobility, coming over to Europe to appeal for their rights through the Spanish legal system. For example, the sons of [the Aztec emperor] Moctezuma are recorded appealing for money, pensions, jobs and confirmation of the rights to their lands.

I have appeared on TV programmes for global broadcasters including the BBC, the Science Channel, Sky, Channel 4 and the Smithsonian Channel and have featured on In Our Time on Radio 4. Most recently, I went in search of the Lost Pyramids of the Aztecs, which was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK. I have also acted as a historical consultant for several TV projects, including Heroes and Villains: Cortés for the BBC and Mankind: The Story of All of Us for the History Channel. I see teaching as central to my work, and I have received teaching awards from Leicester and Sheffield, related to my interests in innovative teaching, learning and assessment, particularly in the field of e-learning.

Deftly weaves diverse and fascinating tales of the exciting adventures, complex diplomatic missions, voyages of discovery, triumphant incursions, and heartbreaking exploitations – of the many thousands of Indigenous travellers to new lands. Essential reading for anyone interested in how the events of the “Age of Exploration” shaped the modern world”— JENNIFER RAFF, author of ORIGIN

A thrilling, beautifully written and important book that changes how we look at transatlantic history, finally placing Indigenous peoples not on the side-lines but at the centre of the narrative. Highly recommended” —PETER FRANKOPAN Deftly weaves diverse and fascinating tales of the exciting adventures, complex diplomatic missions, voyages of discovery, triumphant incursions, and heartbreaking exploitations - of the many thousands of Indigenous travellers to new lands. Essential reading for anyone interested in how the events of the "Age of Exploration" shaped the modern world" — JENNIFER RAFF, author of ORIGIN Throughout the book she is cautious both to not overstate her case – archival sources are sparse but far from non-existent, but also to as much as possible represent Indigenous perspectives, an important part of which is naming correctly. So there is extensive discussion of naming, of making sure that Indigenous individuals and nations are properly named in the ways they would have known. For those of us working in these fields, this is a vital aspect of recognising both the distinctiveness and integrity of Indigenous Peoples, but also of chipping away at the power of the Imperialist and colonialist sources as the only ways of knowing. Crucially, also, it is a way of enhancing the humanity and agency of those Peoples This whole approach to history follows a powerful modern mantra: we must restore “agency” to people in the past. Looked at in one way, the principle is obviously right: where traditional, one-sided accounts have obscured the active role people really played, we should correct that error. Yet the modern tendency goes much further, privileging any interpretation, however strained, that can turn people from patients into agents. The cause may be a generous moral impulse on the part of the historian; but the consequence, all too often, is more error, just of a different kind. You also recount several cases of Indigenous people starting families with Europeans, willingly or unwillingly. Could you give some examples?

There are so many Indigenous writers and scholars active in the field who tell these accounts in a much more respectful and unbiased manner. It’s time to let them tell their own stories. We’ve heard the white Euro-centric stories enough now. Though the Tlaxcalans were especially successful, expeditions in which noble families came to Spain to promote their interests or complain about Spanish actions were fairly typical. The conquest of the Americas was not a straightforward story of Europeans versus Indigenous peoples. Very often, Indigenous nobilities were forced to either cooperate with or exploit European ways of doing things.