Wednesday, December 4, 2013

322 Watch: The First 'Act of Terrorism' in English-America

On March 22, 1622, the first documented act of terrorism in English-America was recorded, when an English settlement was attacked by local natives.  The event became known as the "Barbarous Massacre".  It sparked powerful sentiments at the time, and caused English settlers to start referring to themselves as "Virginians".

Edward Waterhouse, then wrote a persuasive piece, that was published in England, titled A Declaration of the State of Colony and Affairs in Virginia and generated a movement of anti-Native sentiment, calling for the destruction of neighboring native populations.

In hindsight, knowing what we know now about 3/22, is it possible to believe the Natives were given an incentive to attack and slaughter a quarter of the town's population?  One can never be too sure.  Maybe without this event, the sentiments of genocide towards the natives, which certainly came, would have never taken seed amongst the English settlers.

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