Colonial men perceived natives as creatures lacking purpose and history, hence madhouse-like.

Evidence

The world of native savages was a perfect setting for men who had escaped the reality of civilization. Under a merciless sun, surrounded by an entirely hostile nature, they were confronted with human beings who, living without the future of a purpose and the past of an accomplishment, were as incomprehensible as the inmates of a madhouse. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 496

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• XREF: This is the colonial construction of the Other as timeless/historyless — foundational to Said’s Orientalism and to the representation toolkit the Islamophobia field uses.

Related

• The African interior was experienced by Europeans as a realm outside history and purpose. (similarity 0.86)
• Colonial representations of natives contained their opposite readings from first contact. (similarity 0.80)
• Colonizers need mythic savagery to claim civilized identity. (similarity 0.78)