Colonial society and culture

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Colonial society and culture
The colonial history of America started about 400 years ago when on May 13, 1607, 104 colonists in search for their fortune and a better life disembarked from three ships and stepped ashore onto a spot that would turn out to be ground zero in a cultural and ecological exchange that was to transform a continent. It was the start of a new culture on a land which would have to become the land of opportunity of the future. However, for those 104 colonists it was a shaky start because two weeks after their arrival they were attacked by a war party of the Paspahegh tribe and they suffered their first casualties. The attack awoke the settlers to the requirement of defenses, and in response they hurriedly constructed a triangular picket with bulwarks at each corner, a building they named James Fort.
The colonial society and culture is one of the most important topics which have always received the attention of historians. A number of scholars have invested their time and resources into establishing what the facts are and what is factional with regards to the elements shaping up colonialism and the impact of colonialism on the society. This paper will talk about the works of four historians who looked into the different turns of American history — The White Man's Burden by Winthrop D. Jordan, Voices Of a people's history of the United States by Howard Zinn, and Anthony Arnove, and The Slave Ship by Marcus Rediker. The accounts in these three books help in understanding and ups and downs of colonialism in America. On the basis of the research conducted by authors these three books it would not be wrong to say that colonialism in America was founded on inferiority complex.
It seems that the history of America is the history of racism. In the words of Jordan: “Negroes looked different to Englishmen; their religion was un-Christian; their manner of living was anything but English; they seemed to be a particularly libidinous sort of people.” (Jordan 4) “For one man to declare another man to be a slave, inferiority complex had to be the background through which such a practice was founded. It is clear to see the foundations through which slavery was established. The first seven topics in the first chapter of Jordan’s book deal with the first impression the English men had in their encounter with Africans. The topics are titled The Blackness Without, The Causes of Complexion, Defective Religion, Savage Behavior, The Apes of Africa, Libidinous Men, and The Blackness Within. Throughout the topic, the author tries to bring out the nature of inferiority complex that existed between the Englishmen and the Africans. He looks at what the Englishmen thought about the Africans and their lifestyles. He presents details...