In the historical writing piece “Coming of Age in the Dawnland” the author Charles C. Mann’s purpose was to inform readers about Indian life before European settlers had arrived. I think that Mann achieved his purpose through the strength and persuasion of his writing. Mann describes how the Indians had already developed villages before the Europeans had arrived. It is also explained that the Indians had their own government already in place. However, there were many different tribes which resulted in frequent conflict. The Indians had already developed villages and settled land while "New England was barely inhabited" before the Europeans had arrived.(25) The land inhabited by the Indians was so tremendously varied. There were “wet maple forests, shellfish-studded tidal estuaries, thick highland woods, mossy bogs full of cranberries and orchids, fractally complex snarls of sandbars and beachfront, and fire-swept stands of pitch pine” (25). All of this was “within the compass of a few miles” (25). This shows the conditions that the Indians were living in at this time.…show more content… On page 29, the sachem is described as the main authority figure of the Patuxet people. The sachem “upheld the law, negotiated treaties, controlled foreign contacts, collected tribute, declared war, provided for widows and orphans, and collected farmland when there were disputes over it” (29). The sachem of Patuxet was not the authority figure of all of the Indians. He had to obey the great sachem of the Wampanoag village. In modern American times, the great sachem is similar to the President and the sachem of Patuxet is similar to a state
