Book Review: “On Savage Shores” by Caroline Dodds Pennock

On Savage Shores by Caroline Dodds Pennock

It’s easy to see the academic logic.  How does a historian do something new?  History is literally old hat : – ), so what more is there to say.

The obvious answer is to take a different viewpoint. Since history is written by the winners, there are plenty of “losers” who have been erased, misrepresented, and demonized. 

For example:

• Native American resistance (this, this)
• Mexican America (this, this)
• Slavery (numerous, including this and this)
• The Erased History of Imperialism (this, this)

In US and American history, one of the most interesting “new takes” is history of the native peoples who were here before the European contact, who encountered, resisted, and were ultimately conquered by waves of Euro-immigrants. 

Professor Pennock adds to this literature with this history of “the people who travelled the other way”, voyaging to Europe from the Americas. (p. 1)  Some travelled involuntarily as prisoners or slaves, others travelled as part of families, and others travelled as diplomats and officials. 

All of them encountered strange and savage parts of the newly globalized world–Europe.

Pennock makes clear that there were tens of thousands of people who moved from America to Europe, taking up residence in ports, cities, and out into the countryside.

We have relatively limited information about these folks.  The histories were written by Europeans, and the stories fit European expectations and biases.  It is rare to have any of their own words, or even reliable details of their names and life stories. 

Many were captives or servants, regardless of European laws and customs.  Pennock recounts records of lawsuits by illegally enslaved people, who fought, sometimes successfully, for their freedom within the legal systems they found in Europe.

Other travelers were diplomats or local leaders, seeking power and status from the European overlords.  The Spanish Americas were rife with intrigue, civil wars, and parallel legal structures.  The Emperor in Spain could tip the balance in these power struggles, and native rulers soon understood this legal system.

Other travelers were part of families, especially wives, concubines, and care givers.  And, soon enough there were children with mixed heritage, who had complicated, contested status in both America and Europe. 

What did these people find in Europe?

We don’t have much direct evidence, but there is plenty of circumstantial evidence that Americans found Europe a savage place, with vast inequalities and insane violence even for Europeans. Some Americans are recorded as wondering why the Europeans put up with it without rebelling and throwing out their kings and emperors.

The wealthy and powerful Americans found a complicated imperial legal and political system, different but akin to what Mexican and Peruvian leaders were used to.  There are many old documents petitioning the Spanish Emperor on behalf of American potentates, for rights and privileges in America.  In a sense, these documents resemble a mash up of, say, Mayan legal arguments and Spanish Imperial laws, with a dressing of Catholic evangelism.  

Of course, captive and enslaved people encountered violence and cruelty.  It is impossible to deny that the first thing Columbus did after claiming the land was to capture and enslave the people he found there.  (Which, by the way, was totally against Spanish law and his instructions.)

Other Americans in Europe encountered curiosity, misunderstanding, and racism.  Captives were put on display, formally or informally.  Mostly, they were expected to enact roles in the imperialist fantasies of the Europeans, representing their alien cultures, demonstrating the superiority of European culture, and validating the territorial claims of whoever controlled them.

But Pennock shows that there were many thousands of Americans who came to live more or less ordinary lives in Europe.  Many were captives or servants, but others lived free, married, and many left mostly invisible legacies.  These immigrants brought knowledge of the Americas, economically valuable resources, and food we all have come to love.

There is little documentation of these interactions.  Inevitably, Europeans record how they “discovered” America and its resources, erasing the role of American informants, translators, collaborators, and entrepreneurs.  But the real story, from the first days of contact, was always a two way street. European incursion was impossible without the participation of the Americans, willing or not.

The picture Pennock draws of the European invasion of America is less an inevitable victory of a superior civilization, and more like the dawn of globalism.  Columbus is credited with “discovering” and conquering America. It might be more accurate to say he opened the Atlantic (and soon, Pacific) trade routes, which was the beginning of our current global culture and economy.   

Perhaps both Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day should be superseded by a new Global Interchange Day.  : – )

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1. Caroline Dodds Pennock, On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2023.

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