{UAH} When the European “Pilgrims” Ate Human Beings for Thanksgiving: American Cannibals!
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When the European "Pilgrims" Ate Human Beings for Thanksgiving:
American Cannibals!
Thanksgiving means many things to many people. To the average
American, it is a time of giving thanks for what we have. A time of
watching football, getting ready to spend obscene amounts of money on
Black Friday "sales": camping out for a new television set that we
didn't need. To Native Americans it is often about being insulted by
pop-American history, a time of betrayal and a reminder of the
centuries-long genocide that took place after indigenous North
Americans saved the collective ass of colonists. For others it is
simply about a day or two off of work, school, and Star Wars or
Godfather marathons on cable. But for the historical settlers at
Jamestown, from 1609 to 1610, when the holiday was already in
practice, this was a time of murder and cannibalism.
The idea that there were man-eating pilgrims is nothing new, but
American History courses in U.S. schools typically make no mention of
it. Still, many historical accounts mention settlers (though her
perhaps not pilgrims proper), turning to cannibalism for survival,
particularly as the winter months approached.
In the United States, Americans commonly trace the Thanksgiving
holiday to stories of a 1621 celebration at the Plymouth Plantation.
According to national myth, it was here that the Plymouth settlers
held a harvest feast after a successful growing season, but the
holiday was documented as being in practice as early as 1607,
including in Jamestown (founded in 1607), Virginia as early as 1610 or
before.
The Associated Press described the situation in Jamestown in less than
traditional terms, some time ago. Amongst these surprising traits of
the Jamestown practices of the season were cannibalism.
Smithsonian forensic anthropologist Douglas Owsley said the human
remains date back to a deadly winter known as the "starving time" in
Jamestown from 1609 to 1610. Hundreds of colonists died during the
period. Scientists have said the settlers likely arrived during the
worst drought in 800 years, bringing a severe famine for the 6,000
people who lived at Jamestown between 1607 and 1625.
The historical record is chilling. Early Jamestown colonist George
Percy wrote of a "world of miseries," that included digging up corpses
from their graves to eat when there was nothing else. "Nothing was
spared to maintain life," he wrote.
How could the colonists have wound up in such dire straits? A large
part of it had to do with their alienation from indigenous peoples.
That much of the Thanksgiving myth is true. Very few settlers would
have survived on these shores without the advice of Native Americans
which they had previously no interest in dialoging with. Long before
they began begging for the help described in the Thanksgiving myth,
many colonists turned to murder and cannibalism of the indigenous
Native Americans. The Algonquian tribes of Virginia's Native Americans
– the Powhatans – were friendly, but this didn't spare all of them
from being devoured by the colonists.
….
The colonists also drove away wildlife by over-hunting, and could not
farm land that wasn't prime for horticulture. Many of them had no
knowledge of such things, having arrived at these shores for
ideological and economic reasons, by way of non-British nations like
Holland in the Netherlands, which they had already fled to, after
finding that their religious take-over of Britain was not going as
planned.
Explorer George Percy's explained the cannibalism of Native Americans
the colonists killed:
"So great was our famine, that a Savage we slew and buried, the poorer
sorte took him up againe and eat him; and so did divers one another
boyled and stewed with roots and herbs… [the cause of starvation was]
want of providence, industrie and government, and not the barennnesse
and defect of the Countrie, as is generally supposed."
In his "Cannibalism in Early Jamestown," Mark Nicholls explains that
"When dearth and disease swept through Jamestown, reducing its
population perhaps by 80 percent in the catastrophic Starving Time of
1609–10, some individuals had turned to cannibalism out of hunger."
Percy and others told of sporadic cannibalism and the breakdown of
colonial society in the face of disaster:
A worlde of miseries ensewed as the Sequell will expresse unto yow, in
so mutche thatt some to satisfye their hunger have robbed the store
for the which I Caused them to be executed. Then haveinge fedd upon
our horses and other beastes as longe as they Lasted, we weare gladd
to make shifte with vermin as doggs Catts, Ratts and myce all was
fishe thatt Came to Nett to satisfye Crewell hunger, as to eate Bootes
shoes or any other leather some Colde come by. And those beinge Spente
and devoured some weare inforced to searche the woodes and to feede
upon Serpentts and snakes and to digge the earthe for wylde and
unknowne Rootes, where many of our men weare Cutt of and slayne by the
Salvages. And now famin beginneinge to Looke gastely and pale in every
face, thatt notheinge was Spared to mainteyne Lyfe and to doe those
things which seame incredible, as to digge upp deade corpes outt of
graves and to eate them. And some have Licked upp the Bloode which
hathe fallen from their weake fellowes…
If we Trewly Consider the diversety of miseries, mutenies, and
famishmentts which have attended upon discoveries and plantacyons in
theis our moderne Tymes, we shall nott fynde our plantacyon in
Virginia to have Suffered aloane…The Spanyards plantacyon in the River
of Plate and the streightes of Magelane Suffered also in so mutche
thatt haveinge eaten upp all their horses to susteine themselves
withal, Mutenies did aryse and growe amongste them, for the which the
generall Diego Mendosa cawsed some of them to be executed, Extremety
of hunger inforceinge others secrettly in the night to Cutt downe
Their deade fellowes from of the gallowes and to bury them in their
hungry Bowelles.
Percy, Nicholls explains that "There are earlier narratives that made
the same point, including a few relating to the Newfoundland voyages.
But Percy is saying something else here. Life in Jamestown, for all
the conscious mimicry of English tradition, is fundamentally different
from life back home."
Not quite as romantic as a stuffed turkey, but historical details have
rarely impeded the mythos of Americana.
Article by Mike Ahnigilahi
Related Posts:
English cannibals ate out the indigenous nations –…Europeans were
cannibals right into the 20th CenturyKing James IV and I of Scotland
and England 1566 –…Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires … of EuropeThe
North American Drought: Here comes the famine, inflation
American Cannibals!
Thanksgiving means many things to many people. To the average
American, it is a time of giving thanks for what we have. A time of
watching football, getting ready to spend obscene amounts of money on
Black Friday "sales": camping out for a new television set that we
didn't need. To Native Americans it is often about being insulted by
pop-American history, a time of betrayal and a reminder of the
centuries-long genocide that took place after indigenous North
Americans saved the collective ass of colonists. For others it is
simply about a day or two off of work, school, and Star Wars or
Godfather marathons on cable. But for the historical settlers at
Jamestown, from 1609 to 1610, when the holiday was already in
practice, this was a time of murder and cannibalism.
The idea that there were man-eating pilgrims is nothing new, but
American History courses in U.S. schools typically make no mention of
it. Still, many historical accounts mention settlers (though her
perhaps not pilgrims proper), turning to cannibalism for survival,
particularly as the winter months approached.
In the United States, Americans commonly trace the Thanksgiving
holiday to stories of a 1621 celebration at the Plymouth Plantation.
According to national myth, it was here that the Plymouth settlers
held a harvest feast after a successful growing season, but the
holiday was documented as being in practice as early as 1607,
including in Jamestown (founded in 1607), Virginia as early as 1610 or
before.
The Associated Press described the situation in Jamestown in less than
traditional terms, some time ago. Amongst these surprising traits of
the Jamestown practices of the season were cannibalism.
Smithsonian forensic anthropologist Douglas Owsley said the human
remains date back to a deadly winter known as the "starving time" in
Jamestown from 1609 to 1610. Hundreds of colonists died during the
period. Scientists have said the settlers likely arrived during the
worst drought in 800 years, bringing a severe famine for the 6,000
people who lived at Jamestown between 1607 and 1625.
The historical record is chilling. Early Jamestown colonist George
Percy wrote of a "world of miseries," that included digging up corpses
from their graves to eat when there was nothing else. "Nothing was
spared to maintain life," he wrote.
How could the colonists have wound up in such dire straits? A large
part of it had to do with their alienation from indigenous peoples.
That much of the Thanksgiving myth is true. Very few settlers would
have survived on these shores without the advice of Native Americans
which they had previously no interest in dialoging with. Long before
they began begging for the help described in the Thanksgiving myth,
many colonists turned to murder and cannibalism of the indigenous
Native Americans. The Algonquian tribes of Virginia's Native Americans
– the Powhatans – were friendly, but this didn't spare all of them
from being devoured by the colonists.
….
The colonists also drove away wildlife by over-hunting, and could not
farm land that wasn't prime for horticulture. Many of them had no
knowledge of such things, having arrived at these shores for
ideological and economic reasons, by way of non-British nations like
Holland in the Netherlands, which they had already fled to, after
finding that their religious take-over of Britain was not going as
planned.
Explorer George Percy's explained the cannibalism of Native Americans
the colonists killed:
"So great was our famine, that a Savage we slew and buried, the poorer
sorte took him up againe and eat him; and so did divers one another
boyled and stewed with roots and herbs… [the cause of starvation was]
want of providence, industrie and government, and not the barennnesse
and defect of the Countrie, as is generally supposed."
In his "Cannibalism in Early Jamestown," Mark Nicholls explains that
"When dearth and disease swept through Jamestown, reducing its
population perhaps by 80 percent in the catastrophic Starving Time of
1609–10, some individuals had turned to cannibalism out of hunger."
Percy and others told of sporadic cannibalism and the breakdown of
colonial society in the face of disaster:
A worlde of miseries ensewed as the Sequell will expresse unto yow, in
so mutche thatt some to satisfye their hunger have robbed the store
for the which I Caused them to be executed. Then haveinge fedd upon
our horses and other beastes as longe as they Lasted, we weare gladd
to make shifte with vermin as doggs Catts, Ratts and myce all was
fishe thatt Came to Nett to satisfye Crewell hunger, as to eate Bootes
shoes or any other leather some Colde come by. And those beinge Spente
and devoured some weare inforced to searche the woodes and to feede
upon Serpentts and snakes and to digge the earthe for wylde and
unknowne Rootes, where many of our men weare Cutt of and slayne by the
Salvages. And now famin beginneinge to Looke gastely and pale in every
face, thatt notheinge was Spared to mainteyne Lyfe and to doe those
things which seame incredible, as to digge upp deade corpes outt of
graves and to eate them. And some have Licked upp the Bloode which
hathe fallen from their weake fellowes…
If we Trewly Consider the diversety of miseries, mutenies, and
famishmentts which have attended upon discoveries and plantacyons in
theis our moderne Tymes, we shall nott fynde our plantacyon in
Virginia to have Suffered aloane…The Spanyards plantacyon in the River
of Plate and the streightes of Magelane Suffered also in so mutche
thatt haveinge eaten upp all their horses to susteine themselves
withal, Mutenies did aryse and growe amongste them, for the which the
generall Diego Mendosa cawsed some of them to be executed, Extremety
of hunger inforceinge others secrettly in the night to Cutt downe
Their deade fellowes from of the gallowes and to bury them in their
hungry Bowelles.
Percy, Nicholls explains that "There are earlier narratives that made
the same point, including a few relating to the Newfoundland voyages.
But Percy is saying something else here. Life in Jamestown, for all
the conscious mimicry of English tradition, is fundamentally different
from life back home."
Not quite as romantic as a stuffed turkey, but historical details have
rarely impeded the mythos of Americana.
Article by Mike Ahnigilahi
Related Posts:
English cannibals ate out the indigenous nations –…Europeans were
cannibals right into the 20th CenturyKing James IV and I of Scotland
and England 1566 –…Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires … of EuropeThe
North American Drought: Here comes the famine, inflation
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