History
The first primary document being used is titled ‘Giovanni da Verrazano, Encountering Native Americans (1524).’ It was written by Lawrence Wroth. What I have learned from the document is that European explorers met Native American groups, some who were friendly and others who were hostile (Foner). I have also learned that the explorers always wrote letters to their royal leaders for every voyage they made, and in this particular primary document, the main message concerned the incidence of religion among the Native American groups. I have also learned that the native groups did not have any expectations of visitors from another continent. As per Giovanni’s writings, the natives were both curious and afraid of them. The natives did not like gold because of its color, yet gold bore a lot of economic value. Instead, the were more attracted to red and blue colors.
The second primary reading is ‘Jewish Petition to the Dutch West India Company (1655).’ It was written by Samuel Oppenheim. I have learned that New Netherland was among the European colonies. I have learned that in New Netherland, there was a distinction between public and private worship (Foner). I have learned that the Jews who had been expelled from Brazil arrived to the New Netherlands and the Dutch Reformed Church, which was the dominant church, gave them the conditions for staying as long as they remained private, and not to become a public problem. I have also learned that religious toleration had its limits. In New Netherlands, there had to be a single dominant religion which would be considered as public, which was the Dutch Reformed Church. All other religions were considered private and would be practiced away from the view of anyone in the public.
The potential problem of using the documents able for historical research is that one cannot prove whether what was written was an accurate account of what took place. Since the primary documents are written from a person’s perspective, we can only acquire information about what they found to be important in their view. The primary document written by Lawrence Wroth would have to be taken through a long distance before reaching the King, therefore there is likelihood that some information may have been distorted.
Fala
