Digitale Ausgabe
Download
| TEI-XML (Ansicht) | |
| Text (Ansicht) | |
| Text normalisiert (Ansicht) |
Ansicht
| Textgröße | |
| Originalzeilenfall ein/aus | |
| Zeichen original/normiert | |
Zitierempfehlung
Alexander von Humboldt: „View of America and its native tribes“, in: ders., Sämtliche Schriften digital, herausgegeben von Oliver Lubrich und Thomas Nehrlich, Universität Bern 2021. URL: <https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1810-Pittoreske_Ansichten_in-04-neu> [abgerufen am 23.04.2024].
URL und Versionierung
|
Permalink: https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1810-Pittoreske_Ansichten_in-04-neu |
| Die Versionsgeschichte zu diesem Text finden Sie auf github. |
| Titel | View of America and its native tribes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jahr | 1814 | ||||||
| Ort | London | ||||||
|
Nachweis in: The New Monthly Magazine and Universal Register 2:8 (September 1814), S. 127–129; 2:10 (November 1814), S. 311–313; 2:11 (Dezember 1814), S. 402–404.
|
|||||||
| Sprache | Englisch | ||||||
| Typografischer Befund | Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung. | ||||||
|
Identifikation |
|||||||
Statistiken
|
|||||||
|127|
|Spaltenumbruch|
IT cannot but excite astonishment,that, at the conclusion of the fifteenthcentury, there should have been found,in a world which we denominate the new,
the very same kind of antiquarian re-mains, the same religious notions, andforms of architecture, as seem to belongto the earliest ages of civilization inAsia. It is with the characteristics ofnations, as with the internal structure ofthe plants that are spread over the faceof the earth. The stamp of the originalstock remains indelible, notwithstandingthe numberless modifications producedby climate, soil, and various other inci-dents.
In the first period after the discoveryof America, the attention of the Euro-peans was more particularly directed tothe gigantic edifices of Corzco, to thehigh roads through the midst of the Cor-dilleras, to the lofty graduated pyramids,to the religious rites, and symbolicalwritings of the Mexicans. Descriptionsof different provinces of Mexico andPeru were then as frequent as are, in ourdays, the accounts of the vicinity of PortJackson, in New Holland, or the Islandof Otaheite. It is absolutely necessaryto have been upon the spot, in order toappreciate justly the noble simplicityand the character of truth and fidelitywhich pervade the narrations of the ear-liest Spanish travellers: and, in perusingtheir works, we lament only the want ofgraphic illustrations, which would havegiven us more satisfactory ideas of manymonuments, partly demolished by fana-ticism, and partly fallen to decay throughculpable neglect.
The ardor for those American investi-gations diminished after the commence-ment of the seventeenth century. TheSpanish colonies, whose territory alone
|Spaltenumbruch| had been inhabited by civilized nations,were shut against foreigners; and when,more recently, the Abbé Clavigero pub-lished, in Italy, his work on the ancienthistory of Mexico, doubts were raisedconcerning many facts which were for-merly confirmed by numerous eye-wit-nesses, frequently persons by no meansamicably disposed towards each other.Celebrated writers, who received lesspleasure from the harmony of naturethan from her contrasts, have representedAmerica as one vast swamp, unfavour-able to the propagation of the animalspecies, and not till of late inhabited byraces of men not surpassing the SouthSea islanders in civilization. An unli-mited scepticism had banished soundcriticism from the historical disquisitionson the Americans. The fictions of aSolis and some other travellers who hadnever quitted Europe, were blendedwith the faithful and simple relations ofthe earliest visitors of the New World;and it was deemed the duty of a philoso-phic historian to protest, in the firstplace, against all that the missionarieshad observed.
Towards the end of the past century, ahappy alteration took place in regard tothe opinions entertained respecting thecivilisation of nations, and the causesthat alternately promote and obstruct itsprogress. We became acquainted withnations whose manners, institutions, andarts, are almost as different from thoseof the Greeks and Romans, as the origi-nal forms of the extinct species of ani-mals from those which at present engagethe attention of naturalists. The societyof Calcutta has thrown a brilliant lightover the history of the Asiatic nations.The monuments of Egypt have, of late,been partly described with admirablecorrectness, and partly compared withthose of the most distant regions; andmy researches concerning the nativetribes of America appear at an epoch,when that which does not approach tothe style and manner of which theGreeks have left us inimitable models, isnevertheless deemed well worthy of at-tention.
In the description of the historicalmonuments of America, I have endea-voured to observe a due mean betweentwo routes alternately pursued by thoseliterati who have entered into the discus-sion of such monuments, languages, andnational traditions. The one adoptinghypotheses which, though brilliant, reston tottering foundations, have deducedgeneral conclusions from a small num-
|128|
|Spaltenumbruch| ber of insulated facts. They found, inAmerica, Chinese and Egyptian colonies,Celtic dialects, and the alphabet of thePhœnicians. While we yet remain inthe dark respecting the origin of theOsci, the Goths, and the Celts, they pre-tended to pronounce decisively on theorigin of the tribes of the New World.Other writers, on the contrary, amassedmaterials, without ever raising them-selves to any general notions: a pro-ceeding from which the history of nationscan derive as little benefit as the differentbranches of the natural sciences. I shalldeem myself fortunate if I shall bethought to have equally avoided boththese extremes. A small number oftribes, far distant from one another, asthe Etruscans, the Egyptians, the Tibe-tians, the Aztekians, exhibit striking co-incidences in their buildings and religiousinstitutions, in their division of the year,in their returning periods of time, andin their mystical representations. Thehistorian ought not to overlook thesecoincidences, for which it is just as diffi-cult to account as for the resemblancebetween the Sanscrit, Persian, Greek,and German idioms; but while he risesto general ideas, he should know how tostop at the point where we are abandon-ed by certain facts. Agreeably to theseprinciples, I will attempt to state the re-sults deduced from the data which Ihave been enabled to collect concerningthe native tribes of America.
An attentive examination of the geo-logical relations of the New World, anda consideration of the equilibrium of thewaters spread over the surface of theearth, forbid the assumption that thenew and the old continents rose at dif-ferent times from the bosom of the deep.On both hemispheres we perceive the likeseries of rocky strata lying one aboveanother, and probably the granite, gyp-sum, and sand-stone formations in themountains of Peru, had their origin atthe same period as the correspondingstrata in the Alps of Switzerland. Thewhole globe has apparently been visitedby the same catastrophes. On the sum-mits of the Andes, at an elevation ex-ceeding that of Mont Blanc, are foundthe petrified muscles of the ocean. Fos-sile bones of elephants are scattered overthe equatorial regions, and, what is re-markable, they are met with, not onlyunder the palms in the torrid valleys ofthe Oronoko, but on the highest andcoldest plains of the Cordilleras. In thenew as in the old world, whole creations
|Spaltenumbruch|and whole species of organic bodies havebecome extinct, to give place to thosewhich now people the earth, the air, andthe waters.
No grounds exist for presuming thatAmerica was first peopled by men at amuch later period than the other conti-nents. The luxuriant vegetation, thebreadth of the rivers, and the partial in-undations are powerful obstacles to themigration of nations in tropical coun-tries. Extensive tracts of northern Asiaare as thinly peopled as the savannahsof New Mexico and Paraguay, and weshould by no means presuppose that thecountries first inhabited must necessarilybe the most populous.
The question relative to the origin ofthe population of America can no morebelong to the province of history, thanthose concerning the origin of plantsand animals, and on the distribution oforganic germs, to the natural sciences.History, when it goes back to the mostancient periods, exhibits to us almost allthe parts of the globe inhabited by peo-ple who look upon themselves as abori-gines, because their ancestry is unknownto them. Amidst a variety of tribes whosucceeded and intermingled with oneanother, it is impossible to decide withcertainty from which of them the popu-lation first proceeded, and to define thelimits beyond which the empire of cos-mogonal tradition commences.
The tribes of America, with the ex-ception of those that are nearest to thepolar circle, belong all to one singlerace, which is distinguished by the formof the skull, complexion, very scantybeard, and straight hair. The Americanrace exhibits striking analogies with thatof the Mongol tribes, which comprehendsthe descendants of the Hiong-nu, so fa-mous under the denomination of Huns,the Kalkases, the Cahnucks, and theBurattes. Recent observations haveeven demonstrated, that not only the in-habitants of Oonalashka, but severalSouth American tribes also, denote, bythe osteological characters of the skull,a transition from the American to theMongol race. If the sable African race,and the numberless tribes which inhabitthe interior of Asia and its north-easternregions, and to which systematic geo-graphers have given the indefinite appel-lation of Tartars or Tschoudes, shouldever become better known to us, theCaucasian, Mongol, American, Malay,and Negro races will be less widelyseparated than they have been, and we
|129|
|Spaltenumbruch| shall recognize, in this great family ofman, one single original, which has un-dergone various modifications from cir-cumstances that we shall, perhaps, neverbe able to penetrate.
The native tribes of the new world,though all of them are allied by veryessential characteristics, yet, on theother hand, present, in their moveablefeatures, in their more or less dark com-plexion, in their shape and size, varietiesnot less striking than the difference whichwe perceive between the Arabs, Per-sians, and Slavonians of the Circassianrace. The hordes, however, which roveabout in the burning plains of the equi-noctial regions are by no means of adarker colour than the mountaineers, orthe inhabitants of the temperate zone;whether it be that in man, as in mostanimals, there is a certain period of lifebeyond which the influence of climateand food is insignificant, or that the de-viation from the original mode is notperceptible till the expiration of manycenturies. From all that has been ob-served, however, it results, that the Ame-ricans, like the Mongol tribes, have a lessflexible organization than the otherAsiatic and European nations.
The American race, though less nu-merous than any other, is dispersedover the greatest portion of the globe.It extends, through both hemispheres,from 68° N. L. to 55° S. L. It is theonly one that, at the same time, inhabitsthe scorching vallies bounded by theocean, and the ridges of mountains ele-vated more than 200 fathoms above thePeak of Teneriffe.
(To be continued.)
|Spaltenumbruch|
|311|
|Spaltenumbruch|
|Spaltenumbruch|
THE number of the languages whichdistinguish the indigenous nations fromone another seems to be still greaterin America than in Africa, where,according to the recent researches ofMessrs. Seetzen and Vater, they ex-ceed 140. In this respect the whole ofAmerica resembles the Caucasus, Italybefore the conquest of the Romans, andAsia Minor at the time when the Cili-cians, of Semitic origin, the Phrygians,of Thracian descent, the Lydians andthe Celts dwelt here together within asmall compass. The formation of theearth, the extreme luxuriance of the ve-getable kingdom, and the dread of theintense heat of the vallies entertained bythe inhabitants of the tropical regions,impede mutual intercourse and createan astonishing diversity of Americandialects. This diversity is not so greatin the savannahs and forests of thenorth, which are traversed by hunters,on the banks of the great rivers, alongthe coasts of the ocean, and whereverthe Incas have introduced their theocracyby force of arms.
When we speak of more than a hun-dred languages, on a continent whosetotal population is not equal to that ofFrance, we term those different lan-guages which have the same affinity toone another as, I will not say the Ger-man to the Dutch, or the Italian to theSpanish; but as the Danish to the Ger-man, the Chaldee to the Arabic, theGreek to the Latin. As a person be-comes more and more familiar with thelabyrinth of American languages, he per-ceives that many of them belong to oneand the same family, while a great num-ber of others remain insulated like theBasque among the European, and theJapanese among the Asiatic languages.This insulation is perhaps only apparent,and it may be presumed that those lan-guages which seem to defy all ethnogra-phic classification, are allied to otherseither long extinct, or peculiar to na-tions whom no travellers have hithertovisited.
Most of the American languages, eventhose whose groups differ from oneanother in the same manner as the dia-lects of German, Celtic, and Slavonianorigin, exhibit a certain resemblance intheir general organization, which if it
|312|
|Spaltenumbruch|does not indicate one common stock, atleast denotes a very close analogy in theintellectual faculties of the American na-tions, from Greenland to the streights ofMagellan.
Very minute enquiries, conducted ac-cording to a method before unknown inetymological studies, have proved, thatthere is a small number of words com-mon to the languages of the Old andNew World. In 83 American languages,examined by Messrs. Barton and Vater,have been found about 170 words whichseemed to have the same roots; and wemay easily convince ourselves that theseresemblances are by no means acci-dental or an imitative harmony, and per-haps resulting only from the uniformstructure of the organs which rendersthe first articulated tones of childrenpretty nearly the same in all parts of theworld. Out of 170 words, in which thissimilarity is perceived, three fifths seemto claim affinity with the languages ofthe Mantchous, Tungusians, Mongols,and Samojedes, and the other two-fifthswith Celtic and Tschoudian dialects, andwith the Basque, Coptic, and Congo lan-guages. Those words were found out ona comparison of the whole of the Ameri-can languages, with the whole of the lan-guages of the Old World; for as yet weknow not of any American dialect whichcan be deemed more nearly allied thanthe rest to any of the numerous groups ofAsiatic, African, or European languages.The assertions of some scholars, proceed-ing upon abstract theories, respectingthe supposed poverty of all the Ameri-can languages, as well as the extraor-dinary scantiness of their system of num-bers, are as rash and unfounded as thestatements of others who contend forthe imbecility and stupidity of the hu-man race in the New World, the di-minution of organic bodies, and the de-generacy of the animals transportedthither from our hemisphere.
Various dialects at present spoken bybarbarous nations alone, seem to berelics of copious and flexible languages,which denote a considerable progress incivilization. I shall not here enter intoan examination of the question—whetherthe original condition of mankind was astate of rudeness and stupidity, orwhether the savage hordes are descendedfrom nations whose mental powers, aswell as the language in which they arereflected, were previously both equallydeveloped: but I shall merely observethat the little which we know of thehistory of the Americans seems to de-
|Spaltenumbruch|monstrate that those tribes which mi-grated from north to south, possessed intheir northern abodes that variety of lan-guages which we discover in the tropicalregions. Hence we may draw the ana-logical inference that the ramification,or to use an expression independent ofall systems the diversity of the languagesis a very ancient phenomenon. Perhapsthe languages which we term Americanoriginally belong no more to this quarterof the globe than the Madjarian or Hun-garian, and the Tschoudian or Finnishdo to Europe.
It must be admitted that the compari-son of the languages of the Old and NewWorld has led as yet to no general re-sults; but we ought not on this accountto relinquish our hopes that this studywill prove more productive when the sa-gacity of scholars shall possess a largerstock of materials. How many languagesof America, as well as of the interior andeastern part of Asia may there still be,whose mechanism is as unknown to us asthat of the Tyrrhenian, Oscian, andSabine dialects! Of the nations whichdisappeared from the Old World, theremay perhaps still exist some petty de-tached tribes in the vast wilds of America.
If, however, the early intercourse be-tween the two worlds can be but veryimperfectly proved by the languages, itis on the other hand unequivocally de-monstrated by the cosmogonies, the mo-numents, hieroglyphics, and institutionsof the American and Asiatic nations.I think that to the evidences already ad-duced on this point, I have added nosmall number that were hitherto un-known. I have every where endeavouredto discriminate that which denotes a com-mon origin from what must be consideredas the result of analogous relations,subsisting between nations which haveattained the highest degree of civi-lization.
To determine the period of the ancientconnection between the two worlds waspreviously impracticable, and it would betoo presumptuous to pretend to de-signate the group of nations in the OldWorld, to which the Toltekes, Aztekes,Muyscas, or Peruvians, are nearest al-lied, since the relations here alluded toare founded upon such traditions, monu-ments, and usages, as may possibly beof higher antiquity than the present di-vision of the Asiatics into Mongols, Hin-doos, Tongouses, and Chinese.
At the time of the discovery of theNew World, or to speak more correctly,at the period of the first Spanish inva-
|313|
|Spaltenumbruch|sion, the American nations, which hadmade the greatest progress in civilizationwere mountaineers. People born inthe valleys of a temperate region climbedthe ridges of the Cordilleras, which be-come more elevated as they approachthe equator; and on these heights theyfound a temperature and vegetation si-milar to those of their native land.
All those situations in which man hasto struggle with natural obstacles on asoil of inferior fertility, and is not abso-lutely vanquished in too unequal a con-flict, are most favourable to the de-velopment of his energies. On the Cau-casus and in the centre of Asia the bar-ren mountains afford an asylum to inde-pendent and savage tribes. In the equi-noctial regions of America, where ever-verdant savannahs rise above the regionof the clouds, the Cordilleras alone areinhabited by polished tribes; the firstadvances in science were there coevalwith the extraordinary institutions by nomeans favourable to individual liberty.
We perceive in the New World, as inAsia and Africa, various centres whencespread an original civilization, whosemutual relations, however, we are asincapable of discovering as those ofMeröe, Tibet, and China. Mexico de-rived its civilization from a more northernregion. In South America it was theextensive structures of Tiahuanako thatfurnished the models of those monu-ments which the Incas erected at Coutz-ko. Ramparts of considerable extent,bronze weapons, and engraved stonesfound in the vast plains of Upper Ca-nada, in Florida, and in the wildsbounded by the Oronoko, Cassiquiare,and Guainia, attest that these regionsnow traversed only by hordes of savagehunters were once the abode of nationswho had made some proficiency in thearts.
(To be concluded in our next.)
|Spaltenumbruch|
|402|
|Spaltenumbruch|
|Spaltenumbruch|
THE unequal distribution of the diffe-rent species of brute animals over theearth, had a powerful influence on thecondition of nations, and on their moreor less rapid progress in civilization. Inthe Old World, it was the pastoral lifethat formed the link between the hunterand the husbandman. The ruminatinganimals, so easily naturalized in everyclimate, were the companions of theAfrican Negro, as well as of the Mon-gols, the Malays, and Caucasian race.Now, though several quadrupeds, andvery numerous species of vegetables, arecommon to the northernmost parts ofboth worlds, yet the only kinds ofhorned cattle possessed by America arethe buffalo and the bison, two varietieswhich it is very difficult to domesticate,and the females of which, notwithstand-ing the richness of the pastures, yieldbut little milk. The American hunter,therefore, was not prepared, by the careof flocks and herds, and the occupationsof a pastoral life, for the pursuits ofagriculture. Never did the inhabitantsof the Cordilleras attempt to milk thelama, alpaca, or guanaco; and milk diet
|403|
|Spaltenumbruch|was formerly as unknown to the Ameri-cans, as it is to many of the tribes ofeastern Asia.
There is no instance of the savageliving in the forests of the temperatezone, having voluntarily exchanged thechase for agriculture. This transition,the most important and the most diffi-cult in the history of human society,cannot be effected but by compulsorymeans. When in their great migrationstroops of hunters, persecuted by otherwarrior hordes, reach the plains of theequinoctial zone, the impenetrable close-ness of the woods, and the luxuriantgrowth of the vegetable species, producean essential change in their characterand way of life. Between the Oronoko,Ukajale, and the river of Amazons,there are tracts where man finds scarcelyany thing but streams and lakes. Hereon the banks of the rivers, even the mostsavage inhabitants surround their hutswith the fig of Paradise, the jatrophatree, and some other vegetables, whichcontribute to their subsistence.
Neither historical facts nor populartradition record that any connexionever subsisted between the South Ameri-can nations and those dwelling to thenorth of the isthmus of Panama. Theannals of the Mexican empire seem togo back to the sixth century of our æra.They state the periods of the migrationswhich took place, the causes which oc-casioned them, the names of the leadersbelonging to the illustrious family of theCitins who conducted northern tribesfrom the unknown regions of Aztlan andTeocolhuacan to the plains of Anahuac.The founding of Tenochtilan happenslike that of Rome in the heroic age, andit is only from the 12th century that theAztekian chronicles, like those of theChinese and Tibetians, contain the al-most uninterrupted record of the secu-lar festivals, the succession of the kings,the tributes imposed upon the conquered,the foundation of cities, meteorologicalphenomena, and many trivial incidentswhich have an influence on society in in-fant states.
But though no traditions denote anyimmediate connexion between the na-tions of the two grand divisions of Ame-rica, their history on the other hand ex-hibits striking coincidences in the politi-cal and religious revolutions which ledto the civilization of the Aztekes, Muys-cas and Peruvians. Bearded men of alighter complexion than the natives ofAnahuac, Cundinamarca, and the plainof Couzco, make their appearance, with-
|Spaltenumbruch| out its being known from what countrythey come. As high priests, legislators,friends of peace, and of the arts andsciences, which it promotes, they accom-plish a change in the state of the nations,from whom they experience a respectfulreception. Quetzalcoatl, Bochica, andMango Capac, are the sacred names ofthese mysterious beings. Quetzalcoatl
comes in black priestly attire from Pa-nuco and the shores of the MexicanGulf: Bochica, the Buddha of theMuyscas appears on the elevated plainsof Bogota advancing from the savannahssituated on the east side of the Cordille-ras. The history of these lawgivers isfull of marvellous stories, religious fic-tions, and such circumstances as betrayan allegorical meaning. Some scholarshave conjectured that these foreignersmight have been shipwrecked Europeans,or descendants of the Scandinavians,who as early as the 11th century visitedGreenland, Newfoundland, and perhapseven Nova Scotia; but the slightest re-flection on the period of the first Tol-tekian emigrations, on the monastic in-stitutions, the religious symbols, the ca-lendar and the forms of the monumentsof Cholula, Sogamozo, and Couzco, willlead to the conviction that the codes ofQuetzalcoatl, Bochica, and MangoCapac, could not possibly derive theirorigin from the north of Europe. Everything, on the contrary, seems to point toeastern Asia, and to people connectedwith the Tibetians, the Shamanists, theTartars, and the bearded Ainos of theislands of Jesso and Sachalin.
When I employ the terms—Monu-ments of the New World—progress inthe imitative arts—cultivation of the un-derstanding, in my inquiries respectingAmerica, it is by no means my inten-tion to denote a state of things which israther vaguely denominated a higher de-gree of culture and civilization. Nothingis more difficult than to institute com-parisons between nations who have ad-vanced by different roads to social im-provement. The Mexicans and Peru-vians must not be judged by such princi-ples as are deduced from the history ofthe nations of whom our studies are con-tinually reminding us. They differ fromthe Greeks and Romans in the sameratio as they resemble the Etruscans andTibetians. The theocratic governmentof the Peruvians favoured on the onehand the progress of industry, publicworks, and, if I may be allowed the ex-pression, whatever relates to civilizationin general and in mass: on the other
|404|
|Spaltenumbruch| hand it prevented the development ofindividual energies. Among the Greeksit was just the reverse, and till the timeof Pericles the free and rapid mentaldevelopment of individuals bore no pro-portion to the slow advance of nationalcultivation. The empire of the Incasmight be likened to a vast monastic in-stitution, in which every member hadprescribed to him what he was to dofor the general benefit. Whoever makeshimself acquainted on the spot with thosePeruvians, who for ages retained theirnational physiognomy without alteration,will be enabled duly to appreciate thecode of Mango Capac and its influenceon morals and the public weal. Therewas general prosperity, but no indi-vidual happiness; resignation to the willof the sovereign usurped the place ofpatriotism; for great enterprizes therewas patient obedience, but no genuinecourage; a spirit of order, which bypetty laws for regulating the conduct inthe most indifferent transactions, ex-tinguished at once all freedom of thoughtand all greatness of character. Themost complicated of all political institu-tions recorded in history had nipped thebud of individual liberty; and the foun-der of the empire of Couzco, who flat-tered himself that he should render menhappy through restraint, in fact trans-formed into mere machines. The Peru-vian theocracy was indeed less oppres-sive than the government of the Mexi-can monarch, but both contributed es-sentially to impart to the monumentsthe religious worship and mythology ofthese mountaineers that dismal andgloomy air, which forms so striking acontrast with the arts and the pleasingfictions of the people of Greece.
Paris, April, 1813.
|Spaltenumbruch|
view of america and its native tribes. By alexander von humboldt. From the Introduction to the Pic-turesque Atlas of his Travels not yetpublished.
view of america and its native tribes.by alexander von humboldt. From the Introduction to the PicturesqueAtlas of his Travels. (Continued from p. 166.)
view of america and its native tribes. By alexander von humboldt. (Concluded from p. 313.)