Many history books have sought to challenge the commonly held view that there were few or no people from other countries and races in Western Europe until the twentieth century. Caroline Dodds Pennock has written On Savage Shores to try and rectify this perspective by sharing the experiences of the different indigenous peoples of both South and North America who came to Europe as early as the fifteenth century. Why did they come ? What role did they have ? What were their impressions of European culture and society ? How did they thrive, or fail to thrive, so far away from home ?
This is a fascinating book. I listened to it on audio, read by the author, and was captivated by what she has been able to piece together of the stories of these people. The problem, of course, is that most of them left no written record of their experiences and that they appear in European narratives only in glimpses when their stories align with that of the European narratives. Nevertheless, the author has been able to access enough information to share the voices of those who would otherwise be unheard.
Indigenous people came to Europe as slaves, as servants, as emissaries from their people or as curiosities. Occasionally they were adopted into European families. Some had skills to share but others had to perform for audiences. Some were older people but many were children, and even babies. They came from South America, North America and from Arctic lands although the riches of their diversity, skills and traditions were rarely appreciated.
This book is often sad and the attitudes of many European people of the time are uncomfortable for the modern reader. The author also shares with the reader all the things that these people brought to Europe which we often fail to remember are not native to our shores and outlines the lasting effect that these visits had on our society as well as those of the indigenous peoples.
An interesting book which opened my eyes to a piece of history of which I was not previously aware.
Anne Is Reading 