Chapter 2 Summary and Analysis

Due to epidemics, alcoholism, and all the other tumult associated with European arrivals, many Indians turned to Christianity for answers, and European missionaries were more than willing to teach. But this "conversion" was by no means uniform. Some became born-again and evangelical; others converted for political or social reasons. Others borrowed some Christian concepts but kept other traditional spiritual beliefs and still others rejected and mocked Christianity.

Intermarriage was a common occurrence, giving rise to what the French called metis or children of European and Indian parentage. Some Indians intermarried extensively with Africans and were subjected to further racism because of it. In addition to intermarriage, some tribes sought to bolster their numbers by capturing Europeans. Some of these kidnapped Europeans were killed, but many more were adopted by an Indian tribe and treated as a member of the tribe.

The...