-
Views
-
Cite
Cite
Peter Villella, Caroline Dodds Pennock. On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe., The American Historical Review, Volume 129, Issue 2, June 2024, Pages 809–810, https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhae114
- Share Icon Share
Extract
Readers will encounter many memorable images in On Savage Shores, Caroline Dodds Pennock’s examination of Native Americans who reversed the dominant direction of colonial trans-Atlanticism and entered the strange and mostly hostile world of Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Two, however, stand out for their revealing contrasts. One is the splendid coat of arms adorning an historic palace in Cáceres, Spain, marking the former dwellings of the descendants of Tecuichpochtzin, daughter of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma (137–138). The other, which closes the volume, is the unmarked grave of an Inuk baby named Nutaaq (“child”) in London. Seized with his or her mother during a violent exchange in 1577, Nutaaq succumbed quickly to disease and was buried unceremoniously behind St. Olave’s Church (232–237). On Savage Shores contains a wealth of anecdotes attesting to the ubiquitous presence of Indigenous individuals in Europe during the century following the Columbian Encounter. Some are intriguing, even inspiring; many more, like Nutaaq’s, are heartbreaking.