Sudden cultural colonization provoked violent anticolonial reaction

Evidence

Another illustration of the inability to deal with difference is provided by Captain Cook’s early experience of Tahiti (1769). The Englishmen knew that the Tahitians held property communally and that they were therefore unlikely to possess a European concept of “theft.” In order to win over the natives, the crew showered them with gifts. Soon, however, the Tahitians began to help themselves. At first, the pilfering amused the visitors. But when the natives snatched Banks’s spyglass and snuffbox, he threatened them with his musket until they were returned. Cook’s crew continued to be plagued by incidents like this. A similar misunderstanding was to lead to Cook’s death at the hands of the Hawaiians, in 1779. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 624 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Millenarian prophecy could channel land grievances into organized anticolonial movements — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1379; Cross-cultural misunderstandings over property norms escalated to lethal colonial violence — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 624; Incoming Christians’ pig-farming practices provoked communal violence in Motril

Broader Connections

• Cross-cultural misunderstandings over property norms escalated to lethal colonial violence #corroborates (1.00) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 624