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Abstract William Robertson was a famous historian in the Enlightenment and published a multi-volume work about the American history. Under the influence of the Eurocentrism， Robertson accepted the theory of American degeneracy elaborated systematically by Buffon and became one of the representatives of the theory. Robertson’s idea of America undoubtedly had a great influence on many Europeans perception of America in his time. His description of the characteristics of Native Americans from the perspective of the degeneracy seemed to contribute little to the original theory， but it obviously contributed to the wide spread of this theory in European academic community and societies. In fact， far from an indiscriminate imitation of Buffon and other scholars’ proposition of degeneracy and in his research， Robertson put forward some thought-provoking questions on the premise of confirming the physical degeneracy of Native Americans. According to the content of The History of America， Robertson’s descriptions are at best the echoes of the theory of degeneracy in European academic circles.
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Received: 17 January 2022
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2022, Vol. 61 
