... Indies in 1492 and Europe's response was to try and conceptualise the Americas using any material possible; textual accounts, poetry and artworks (the media of the time). The rhetoric of this material was not subjective as artists were drawing upon their own societies to explain the reasons behind their actions. According to the natives these reasons may have been invasion, theft and domination - even to the conquerors and their sponsors - the reasons may have been the same, but to the general questioning public in Europe, the acts were legitimised by their need to help and civilise lower orders of humanity in the 'new world'. This notion of colonies requiring help and their inhabitants being needy was the result of their decline in character. Initially they were viewed as exotic cultural equals3. During the enlightenment, trade and commerce began to grow and the trope of the era concerning people ...

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