As is the case with most native populations that did not use systems of writing for most or all of their history, much of what is known about Native Americans comes from the records of the Europeans who first encountered them in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Some of these accounts are accurate, while some include parts that are accurate and other parts that reflect their biases towards native peoples. One aspect of native life which the European colonists often remarked upon, when they left written records, was their system of agriculture.