The separate nations of Europe were linguistically and culturally different one from another; native societies were astonishingly diverse. Yet despite these great dissimilarities the stories of the encounter run in broad parallel. When native met newcomer, both groups tried to benefit, as people will. In almost every case, each side believed itself to be superior—ethnocentrism seems to be a near-universal human quality—and from this belief was convinced that it could control the encounter to its advantage. But even though these various groups had wildly varying ideas about what they wanted and
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