Of Plantation - Francis Bacon

Summary and Analysis 

Francis Bacon’s essay Of Plantations was first published in 1625 as part of his collection of 58 essays. These essays were originally written in English and later translated into Latin. At that time, the essay was a new form of writing, but it became popular because it discussed common topics in a clear and simple way. Of Plantations was added in the final edition of his essays in 1625.

Bacon’s Essays were admired by people of his time for both their writing style and their ideas. He wrote about topics that mattered to him and to ordinary people. The titles of his essays were simple, and the subjects were easy to understand. For example, Of Plantations reflects the growing interest during Bacon’s time in colonizing America and establishing plantations.

Of Plantations was important at the time it was published because it showed the growing interest in English colonization in America. One of the main reasons for starting these colonies was to make money from the land. However, the early settlers faced many problems. They suffered from famine and drought, and many died because they didn’t know how to grow crops or survive in the new land. They had to learn how to use the land properly, which led to the creation of plantations. But plantations were not only about food. It also helped the settlers to build strong communities. Overall, this essay reflects the colonists’ hopes of building a successful life in the New World.

The English people were fascinated by the natives in the colonial territories. During the time of Bacon and other writers, literature described them sometimes poetically and other times nearly scientifically. Even Bacon gave advice to the colonists about how to deal with the natives. He suggested that the English should teach the natives /Indians their ways so the natives could see a "better" way of life. Besides trying to teach them, many people in England were confused and curious about these foreign people whose society was very different from their own.

The people of England and other Europeans were very interested in native societies because they were so different from their own. Since they could not easily understand these new cultures, some writers tried to explain the natives by comparing them to familiar ideas, like patriarchy or the class system. For example, they often described what the natives wore in detail to guess their social status, just like they did in Europe.

Apart from trying to explain the natives/Indians in ways people already understood, most English and Europeans mainly saw them as the “other.” This idea of being “otherness” showed up in two opposite ways. Some described the natives as uneducated or dangerous savages, while others described them as innocent and natural people, untouched by a corrupt mankind.

How did Europeans deal with their conflicting views about the American Indians, and how was this shown in their treatment of the natives, especially in the literature and art that described them? To understand this, we can look at the writings of historian Karen Kupperman, a scholar who specializes in the early modern Atlantic, colonization, and early Native Americans. We can also look at the work of Michel de Montaigne, a French writer who is contemporary to Bacon. In his essay On Cannibals, Montaigne talks about American natives who practiced cannibalism. However, while Bacon believed that the natives needed to learn from the colonists, Montaigne had the opposite opinion. He thought the native way of life had its own value.