These strangers offered the Arawak red-colored caps, glass beads, and other curious trifles. In exchange, the Arawak brought parrots, cotton skeins, darts, and other items. Then the strangers drew out swords, which the Arawak, in ignorance, grasped by the blades, cutting themselves. It was a symbolic act, this inadvertent drawing of blood. For the Arawak and the strangers looked at the world from opposite angles, and both were fascinated by what the other was not.

What is the cultural diffusion after the arrival of the Europeans?

European assimilation to Indigenous Cultures

Peaceful relation with native population led to cultural convergence

Lack of cultural diffusions due to explorers return to Europe

Europeans forced assimilation to modern revival of cultural divergence