If the depopulation of the Americas often remains in the background of early narratives of exploration and conquest, this was in part achieved by suppressing or misrepresenting the voices of the indigenous inhabitants. Given their inability to successfully repel the invaders, the natives of the Americas repeatedly found themselves treated as slaves or children, whose voices and opinions were of little importance. For the explorers to have foregrounded and demonstrated respect for the perspective of the conquered would have meant recognition of the natives' fundamental status as human beings. It might have implied that although the native cultures and civilizations were vastly different from European standards, that did not mean that Europeans had the right to destroy and conquer them. Of course, no European bent on claiming land and wealth for his nation would admit to the absurd notion that "primitive" peoples...