Interpreting a Continent

Kathleen DuVal is assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and author of The Native Ground: Indians and Colonists in the Heart of the Continent. John DuVal is professor English and literary translation at the University of Arkansas and translator of many award-winning books.

This reader provides important documents for colonial American history, including new English translations of non-English documents. It reflects current scholarship and teaching that includes all of North America and non-Europeans in the story of colonial America, which is no longer simply the story of the thirteen colonies that revolted against the British Empire but also of Spaniards, French, Dutch, Africans, and various Native Americans.

Section I: Exploration Chapter 1: Cristobal Colon a Luis de Santangel Chapter 2: Greenlanders' Saga, c. 1000 Chapter 3: Christopher Columbus to Luis de Santangel, 1493 Chapter 4: Jacques Cartier's First Voyage, 1534 Chapter 5: Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca's Shipwreck off the Texas Coast, 1528-1536 Chapter 6: Jacques Marquette on Descending the Mississippi River with Louis Joliet, 1673 Chapter 7: Captain James Cook's Third Voyage, 1776-1780 Chapter 8: Osage Creation Account (Black Bear Clan Version), Recorded 1920s Section II: Interpreting and Instructing New Peoples Chapter 9: La Relation des Montagnais Chapter 10: The Requerimiento, 1533 Version Chapter 11: Pedro de Castaneda de Najera on the Search for the Seven Cities of Cibola, 1540 Chapter 12: Rock Painting, Pecos River Valley, Texas, 1500s Chapter 13: Montagnais Indians on Their First Encounter with the French, Early 1500s Chapter 14: John Smith on the Powhatans, 1607-1616 Chapter 15: John Eliot's Translation of the Bible into the Massachusett Language, 1663 Chapter 16: Olaudah Equiano on Encountering Europeans, 1740s Chapter 17: Pontiac's Speech to an Ottawa, Potawatomi, and Huron Audience, 1763 Section III: Founding and Governing Chapter 18: La Relation de Samuel de Champlain Chapter 19: Great Law of the Iroquois League, c. 1300s (recorded late 1800s) Chapter 20: Samuel de Champlain on Founding Quebec, 1608 Chapter 21: John Winthrop on Founding New England, 1630 Chapter 22: Laws for the Province of Pennsylvania, 1682 Chapter 23: Creek Leaders Meet the Trustees of Georgia, 1734 Chapter 24: Father Junipero Serra Writes from San Diego, 1770 Chapter 25: Catherine the Great's Response to a Petition to Establish a Russian Colony, 1788 Section IV: Social and Economic Life Chapter 26: Metodo de Gobierno que se Observa en Esta Mision de la Purisima Concepcion Chapter 27: Thomas Campanius Holm's Engraving of New Sweden, 1640s Chapter 28: Hans Sloane Observes Jamaica, 1687-1689 Chapter 29: Saukamappee on the Coming of Horses, Guns, and Smallpox, 1700s Chapter 30: Benjamin Franklin Becomes a Printer, 1714-1723 Chapter 31: Eliza Lucas to Mrs. Boddicott, 1740 Chapter 32: Runaway Advertisements, Mid-1700s Chapter 33: Mary Christina Martin's Case Before the German Society of Pennsylvania, 1772 Chapter 34: Spiritual and Temporal Guidelines for a Texas Mission, Late 1700s Section V: Slavery Chapter 35: Los Negros Fugitivos a le Rey de Espana Chapter 36: Francois Froger's Plan of Fort Saint Jacques, Gambia, 1695 Chapter 37: New Netherland Act Emancipating Certain Slaves, 1644 Chapter 38: Virginia Codes Regulating Servitude and Slavery, 1642-1705 Chapter 39: Louisiana's Code Noir, 1724 Chapter 40: Venture Smith's Account of Slavery and Freedom, 1700s Chapter 41: Afro-Floridians to the Spanish King, 1738 Chapter 42: George Whitefield Admonishes Southern Slaveholders, 1740 Chapter 43: Advertisement for a Slave Sale, Charleston, c. 1770s Section VI: Women and Colonialism Chapter 44: La Relation du Pere Jacques Gravier Chapter 45: Anne Bradstreet's Prologue to The Tenth Muse, 1650 Chapter 46: Marie de L'Incarnation to Her Son, 1667 Chapter 47: Deodat Lawson Describes Events at Salem, 1692 Chapter 48: Father Jacques Gravier Describes Indian Conversions at the Illinois Mission, 1694 Chapter 49: Maria de Jesus de Agreda and Catherine Tekakwitha, 1600s Chapter 50: Susannah Johnson Recalls Her Captivity, 1754-1757 Chapter 51: Phillis Wheatley's "On Being Brought from Africa to America," 1773 Section VII: Violent Conflict Chapter 52: Antonio de Otermin a Francisco de Ayeta Chapter 53: Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales's Account of the Conquest of Florida, 1565 Chapter 54: Henri Joutel's Account of the Murder of La Salle, 1687 Chapter 55: Antonio de Otermin Describes the Pueblo Revolt, 1680 Chapter 56: Antoine Simon Le Page Du Pratz Describes French Conflict with the Natchez, 1729 Chapter 57: George Washington Recalls His Defeats at Fort Duquesne, 1754-1755 Chapter 58: Louis-Antoine de Bougainville's Journal of the Seven Years' War, 1756 Chapter 59: Ohio Indians Talk to the British, 1764