- Historic Sites Native Americans First View Whites From The
Shore New York Indians Discover Dutchmen Spring 2009 | Volume
59, Issue 1 In hindsight, these first encounters were
asymmetrically momentous events, presaging catastrophic
consequences for the native peoples of North America. Europeans
wrote accounts of these meetings; Indians did not. Nevertheless,
memories of such meetings passed from generation to generation
within the tribes. Some traditions recalled dreams,
premonitions, and prophecies that foretold the coming of
powerful strangers, stories no doubt retold with increasing
bitterness as Europeans kept coming. In some accounts people
looked from the shore and thought the awesome approaching ships
were giant white seabirds or floating islands. The hairy men
onboard had firearms, armor, and metal goods. But, contrary to
what European explorers frequently asserted, there is little
evidence that Indians regarded them as gods. Early Europeans
lacked the power and dominance they would later amass, and