Europeans discovered when they landed on the North American continent were vastly different from those Europeans. While the Europeans "fought bitterly over religion," they did worship the same God, and while they had intense nationalist rivalries, "they were conscious of a shared historical experience" (Hertzberg 1). The Indians had a localized sense of place and tribal religions, and "they shared neither a universal language nor a known historical experience" (Hertzberg 1). They were far more culturally diverse than the Europeans, with different religions, heroes, and ideas about correct behavior" (Hertzberg 1). Even their names for themselves differed, often meaning something similar to "the people" or "original beings" (Hertzberg 1).
The uniqueness of American Indian identities was diluted in a number of ways, however. Hertzberg states that "The Indian response to European penetration was...cast largely and almost inevitably in tribal terms. It was as tribesmen that Indians welcomed the Europeans, traded with them, negotiated treaties, raised the hatchet, were decimated by disease, whiskey, and war, fought for their homelands, and were driven farther and farther west" (2). Hertzberg relates that "As the Indians reacted to the Europeans in tribal terms, so the overwhelming effect of European penetration was to divide the tribes and further exacerbate tribal differences," a process that continued to repeat itself as the whites kept moving westward (2). Moreover, the American nation confronted the Indians with "a diversity of authorities, both official and unofficial," and responsibility for Indian affairs was divided and passed from one bureau to another (Hertzberg 4). Thus, just being a part of American society produced fragmentation within the Indian culture.
Berkhofer's concept of the scientific image of the Indian rests upon scientific concepts such as evolution and its interpretation, as well as upon...