Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World

“Barely able to climb any higher, the bus coasts to a stop near the Heart of Jesus, a large abandoned church covered with graffiti and filled with the strong smell of stale urine, all topped by a giant concrete Jesus.”

This passage exemplifies a larger narrative technique in Indian Givers: a description of the decrepit surroundings the Indians live in reflects the damage Europeans did to their societies. This example brings into focus the negative impact of colonial conversion efforts.

“Protected in their well-lit cases and set against dark backgrounds and with few placards to distract the eye from the gold itself, the artifacts seem to float in space. The pieces also seem suspended in time, for no apparent history or chronology is attached to the objects. The museum presents them for the maximum aesthetic appreciation of the art aficionado and the gawkers at beauty or wealth.”

In the world of archaeology and anthropology, provenance, or the chronological documentation of an artifact’s history, is of paramount importance. These Indian artifacts have no provenance or context to situate them, likely because they were stolen. Weatherford also emphasizes that they were chosen for display due to their aesthetic beauty or monetary value, not their cultural significance.

“Precious metals from America superseded land as the basis for wealth, power, and prestige. For the first time there was enough of some commodity other than land to provide a greater and more consistent standard by which wealth might be measured. This easily transported and easily used means of wealth prepared the way for the new merchant and capitalist class that would soon dominate the whole world.”

The sheer quantity of precious metals provided by the Americas provided small denomination coinage and, in turn, a more involved and competitive market in Europe. This new system allowed people to generate (and hoard) wealth more effectively, even outside the aristocratic class.