Native American Biography.

Uncovering the histories of Native American individuals in North America before 1600 is difficult. Since few natives , scholars have to depend on the descriptions recorded by Europeans of the Native Americans they encountered. Part of the problem with such sources is that Europeans often misconstrued the motives to which they attributed the behavior of the Indians. To compensate for such biases historians attempt to match what they can discern about the culture of the individual in question with what the Europeans actually wrote about him or her. In so doing it is possible to uncover some of what the individual might have thought as he or she tried to cope with European explorers, soldiers, colonists, and priests.

Early Life.

One of the most interesting leaders in early North America was the Lady of Cofitachequi. From sources written by the Spanish, we...