Europeans looked at the indigenes of America as, uncivilized people. But the French philosopher Rousseau pointed out that such people should be respected because they had not polluted their culture. Many people think that the term “noble savage” would be appropriate to them. But the world-famous poet William Wordsworth came out with another view. He said that those who live in close proximity with nature will have less imaginative and emotional strength, in short, the indigenes were seen either as uncivilized or as noble savages or as people with less emotional and imaginative power.
The indigenes thought the things they exchanged with the Europeans as mere gifts. But for greedy Europeans, the things they got-like fish and hides- were goods to be sold in the Western markets. The price of the things the Europeans sold to the indigenes depended on the supply.
The indigenes did not have any idea about the markets in far-away Europe. Sometimes European gave a lot of things but sometimes only very little in exchange for the items they got from the indigenes. They used to wonder why this was so as they had no idea about the market prices. The greed of Europeans often made the indigenes sad. In their greed to get more and more hides, they killed a lot of otters. The indigenes were afraid that the animals would take revenge on them.
