American Geographical Society

Sixteenth Century North America: The Land and the People as Seen by the Europeans by CarlOrtwin SauerReview by: Louis de Vorsey, Jr.Geographical Review, Vol. 63, No. 3 (Jul., 1973), pp. 412-413Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/213947 .

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GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS

SIXTEENTH CENTURY NORTH AMERICA: The Land and the People as Seen by the Europeans. By CARL ORTWIN SAUER. xii and 319 pp.; maps, ills., bibliogr., index. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 1971. $8.95. 914 x 53/4 inches.

As John Leighly observed some years ago in his Introduction to "Land and Life," "The circumstance that Carl Sauer has elected to work, and has worked freely and

imaginatively, in an ill-defined and unspecialized field of scholarship makes his

writings of interest to an audience more inclusive than the group in which the structure of learned institutions places him." In this all geographers should find

both a cause for rejoicing and a model for emulation. Sauer's latest book, on the condition of North America in the sixteenth cen-

tury as reported by its European discoverers, reflects his penchant for working in what Leighly termed "an ill-defined and unspecialized field of scholarship."

Consequently it is not an easy book to review. Although it will be of considerable interest to historical geographers as well as to historians of exploration, it is

neither a work in historical geography nor a history of discovery. It cannot, there-

fore, be tested against the norms presently accepted by the fraternities working in these subfields of geography. It must be viewed for what it is -"vintage Sauer."

"Sixteenth Century North America" follows Sauer's earlier "The Early

Spanish Main" (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1966) and "Northern Mists" (Berke-

ley and Los Angeles, 1968) and combines with them to form an impressive scholarly contribution by one of the most original and innovative minds ever to

be associated with American academic geography. In the first and best of these

studies Sauer was on home ground, using contemporary sources in an extraor-

dinarily authoritative manner to detail the story of the Spanish discovery of, and impact on, Caribbean America. His intimate knowledge of the landforms,

biophysical resources, and ethnography of the region south of his adopted Cali-

fornia provided him with superb equipment for his chosen task of outlining and interpreting the historical geography of the Spanish Main from 1492 to 1519. In "Northern Mists" this intellectual equipment is, not surprisingly, less effective, and the resulting outline of pre-Columbian seafaring in the North Atlantic is less

impressive. It is, however, a valuable conspectus of the fascinating and challeng-

ing literature growing out of the surge of early Europeans toward the unknown

islands to the west and toward the fringes of the boisterous Atlantic. In the present book Sauer has bowed to cartographic and geographic conven-

tion in his definition of "North America," for he covers only the continental United States and Canada-still an awesomely large field to study. The sixteenth

century was chosen because it seemed to provide enough firsthand reports and

supporting data to allow a reconstruction of conditions that existed before

Europeans came to stay. As an outline of this crucial subject and period, Sauer's work stands as an inspiration and a challenge to younger workers in the field of

historical geography. Perhaps this will ultimately prove to be the book's greatest value.

Two principal themes that run throughout the book are worthy of comment here: the role that North America played in sixteenth-century European power

This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 22:46:52 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS

politics and the role of the American Indian in the chronicle of that century. Sauer points out in his Foreword that "except for the fisheries round about

Newfoundland, the European activities were motivated and carried out as parts of the greater game of power politics of that century." The impression emerges that for much of the sixteenth century the Europeans were concerned only in-

cidentally with North America itself, since their main energies were directed to

discovering routes around it or through it to the Orient. This finding does much to make early European attitudes and responses in North America comprehensible.

As long ago as 1929, in his "Historical Geography and the Western Frontier"

(in The Trans-Mississippi West [edited by James F. Willard and Colin B. Goody- koontz; Boulder, Colo., 1930], pp. 267-289), Sauer stressed the overriding signifi- cance of the American Indian as a factor in the modification of the continent's

landscape: "The Spanish and American explorers reconnoitred an Indian country, with Indian guides, over Indian trails, between Indian settlements. Routes of movement and places of settlement were marked out by the experience of In- dians in the main. In the East the American frontier took over crops, methods, and fields of the Indian agriculturists." These facts have been ignored too fre-

quently in frontier studies, much to their detriment. In the present book the American Indians emerge as dramatis personae to share equally in the play set in motion by the Orient-seeking Europeans of the sixteenth century. The In- dians' trails, settlements, cleared fields, and fire-modified forests and savannas, as well as their skills and foodstuffs, are included in Sauer's outline. This material is diffused throughout the book, however, and must be searched for. A summary chapter similar to the penultimate one, on "Nature and Natives as Seen by Europeans," would have been a valuable addition.

The book has several problems, which seem to result from faulty editing. There is an annoying sparsity of footnote documentation throughout, even to the point of allowing extensive quotations to stand without citation of the source. Moreover, inconsistencies in the organization and style of the footnotes are dis-

tracting. This is, after all, a book that will have primarily a scholarly audience; as such it requires a meticulously prepared scholarly apparatus. The scholar cannot help but feel cheated by the rather abbreviated "List of Works Frequently Cited" that accompanies the book in place of a bibliography. Many of the edi- torial lapses that mar the body of the book could be excused if one had a better guide to the vast body of relevant literature over which Sauer has acquired a command in his long career. As suggested above, Sauer's major accomplishment in this book may well be that of inspiring and challenging others to go farther and deeper into the study of North America during the century that saw the first European impacts.-Louis DE VORSEY, JR.

RED MAN'S LAND/ WHITE MAN'S LAW: A Study of the Past and Present Status of the American Indian. By WILCOMB E. WASHBURN. viii and 280 pp.; ill. and index. Charles Scribner's Sons. New York, 1971. $7.95. 91/2 x 6/4 inches.

That the Indian has fared better since the Conquest in the United States than his counterpart has in other countries is a conclusion many readers may share with historian Washburn. Turning to both moralistic and legalistic thought, the au- thor traces the complex subject of the changing status of the Indian in American

politics and the role of the American Indian in the chronicle of that century. Sauer points out in his Foreword that "except for the fisheries round about

Newfoundland, the European activities were motivated and carried out as parts of the greater game of power politics of that century." The impression emerges that for much of the sixteenth century the Europeans were concerned only in-

cidentally with North America itself, since their main energies were directed to

discovering routes around it or through it to the Orient. This finding does much to make early European attitudes and responses in North America comprehensible.

As long ago as 1929, in his "Historical Geography and the Western Frontier"

(in The Trans-Mississippi West [edited by James F. Willard and Colin B. Goody- koontz; Boulder, Colo., 1930], pp. 267-289), Sauer stressed the overriding signifi- cance of the American Indian as a factor in the modification of the continent's

landscape: "The Spanish and American explorers reconnoitred an Indian country, with Indian guides, over Indian trails, between Indian settlements. Routes of movement and places of settlement were marked out by the experience of In- dians in the main. In the East the American frontier took over crops, methods, and fields of the Indian agriculturists." These facts have been ignored too fre-

quently in frontier studies, much to their detriment. In the present book the American Indians emerge as dramatis personae to share equally in the play set in motion by the Orient-seeking Europeans of the sixteenth century. The In- dians' trails, settlements, cleared fields, and fire-modified forests and savannas, as well as their skills and foodstuffs, are included in Sauer's outline. This material is diffused throughout the book, however, and must be searched for. A summary chapter similar to the penultimate one, on "Nature and Natives as Seen by Europeans," would have been a valuable addition.

The book has several problems, which seem to result from faulty editing. There is an annoying sparsity of footnote documentation throughout, even to the point of allowing extensive quotations to stand without citation of the source. Moreover, inconsistencies in the organization and style of the footnotes are dis-

tracting. This is, after all, a book that will have primarily a scholarly audience; as such it requires a meticulously prepared scholarly apparatus. The scholar cannot help but feel cheated by the rather abbreviated "List of Works Frequently Cited" that accompanies the book in place of a bibliography. Many of the edi- torial lapses that mar the body of the book could be excused if one had a better guide to the vast body of relevant literature over which Sauer has acquired a command in his long career. As suggested above, Sauer's major accomplishment in this book may well be that of inspiring and challenging others to go farther and deeper into the study of North America during the century that saw the first European impacts.-Louis DE VORSEY, JR.

RED MAN'S LAND/ WHITE MAN'S LAW: A Study of the Past and Present Status of the American Indian. By WILCOMB E. WASHBURN. viii and 280 pp.; ill. and index. Charles Scribner's Sons. New York, 1971. $7.95. 91/2 x 6/4 inches.

That the Indian has fared better since the Conquest in the United States than his counterpart has in other countries is a conclusion many readers may share with historian Washburn. Turning to both moralistic and legalistic thought, the au- thor traces the complex subject of the changing status of the Indian in American

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