 The landscape portrays the east as warm and sophisticated and the west as dark and uncivilized—epitomizing the sense of disdain with which Americans viewed the Indigenous peoples.Proponents of the "longue durée" assert that a broader, more macro synthesis of history elucidates long-term patterns and trends that would not otherwise be realized.Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, one of many contemporary historians with expertise in this area, argues that U.S. and European Imperialism laid the foundation for a systemic type of xenophobia and settler colonialism that exists today.