- Historic Sites Indians In The Land Did the Indians have a
special, almost noble, affinity with the American environment—or
were they despoilers of it? Two historians of the environment
explain the profound clash of cultures between Indians and
whites that has made each group almost incomprehensible to the
other. August/September 1986 | Volume 37, Issue 5 RW That word
natural is the key. Many of these concepts of Indians are quite
old, and they all picture Indians as people without culture.
Depending on your view of human nature, there are two versions.
If human beings are inherently evil in a Calvinistic sense, then
you see Indians as inherently violent and cruel. They’re
identified with nature, but it’s the nature of the howling
wilderness, which is full of Indians. But if you believe in a
beneficent nature, and a basically good human nature, then you
see Indians as noble savages, people at one with their
environment. WC To understand how Indians really did view and
use their environment, we have to move b