The white Europeans were doing the same thing at the very same time in Europe. In fact, they brought remnants of the inquisition to the new world. The Salem witch hunts were derived and a direct link to the Inquisition.
Another fact of worthy note is that the European settlers paid bounties on the scalps of native Americans, including children. Let that sink in. The earliest European communities in America paid hunters a bounty for scalping children and even babies. They didn't bring as much reward as the woman scalps and the old people scalps, but one can suppose that for the murdering European bounty hunters every scalp counted towards the payment of a mug of beer and a tavern wench.
