This is the study of two distinct colonial experiences that happened in 17th- century North America, but 2,000 miles apart—the Dutch in New York and the Spanish in New Mexico. The Spanish were mostly a medieval, agrarian society that came to New Mexico by way of colonial Mexico. The Dutch, on the other hand, were largely urban and at the forefront of the Renaissance and the mercantile world. The native Pueblos and Mohawks were both agricultural people who lived in large villages structured by matrilineal clan-based social systems. The Spanish primarily sought mineral wealth. The Dutch sought wealth from the fur trade.
Noted archaeologist Nan A. Rothschild of Barnard College, Columbia University uses archaeological techniques to weave social theory with detailed material evidence to give us a well-balanced understanding of the experience. At the end of the experience, the Pueblos were thriving in New Mexico, and the Mohawks had long since disappeared from the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys. Rothschild demonstrates that the reasons are complex and paradoxical. In New Mexico, the Spanish sought to annihilate the Pueblo culture, which may have produced the resistance that led to survival. The Dutch kept the Mohawks at a distance, interacting with them only for trade. The Mohawks finally moved to Canada to survive.
Rothschild’s multi-disciplined approach to the issue underscores the similarities and differences that led to these results. Colonial Encounters in a Native American Landscape provides fresh and exciting insights to a little understood chapter of the American experience.
