These diseases completely wiped out the 10 million or so Native Americans on the islands and at least ½ of the more than 100 million on the mainland of North America.” The Europeans that came brought diseases that killed many Native Americans and destroyed entire empires. This
Between the years 1600 to 1700, English colonists were just settling the New World and establishing their own colonies, yet this colonization didn’t come without obstacles. Upon entering the seemingly unscathed land, colonists were greeted by Native Americans. At first, the two groups expressed a relationship characterized by amity and cooperation, yet as time went on, the “white superiority” of the colonists and the belief that they were primary owners of land soured the relationship. It was just a matter of time before the colonists would take over and run out the Native Americans. Primarily peaceful and affable, the relationship between the Indians and English steadily depreciated as the English overran the lands of the Indians while the
Indians vs. Settlers The intercontinental interaction between the Native Indians and European was very unique during all of the historical interactions among different nations. This interaction was characterized mainly by diversity, which played a significant role in assisting the European in suppressing the Indians and dominating the New Land due to the different ideologies and traditions that served on the behalf of the Europeans. During the colonization era, the relations between the Indians and Europeans did not follow only one track, in which the Indians reacted in different ways toward Europeans, which was also done by the Europeans toward the Indians. This diversity was rooted to the Indian’s traditions, the concept of land and freedom, and the different European policies that governed the
Columbus is quoted saying that the natives were “exceedingly straightforward and trustworthy and most liberal with all that they have” along with being “readily submissive”. As said before the natives were also more than willing to trade their gold for whatever simple tools the Europeans were willing to offer them. The Spanish did not return the hospitality however, forcing the local natives to work for them and capturing many more along the Caribbean to make them slaves. The population of the natives in the Caribbean began to rapidly decline in the years following the Europeans arrival. Many of them died battling the Spanish in attempts of getting the intruders to leave, while many others could not handle the work the Europeans were forcing upon them.
Before Europeans even knew of the Americas there were Indians. The Indians had diverse cultures and conflicts with each other. There were hundreds of different groups of Indians. Most hated each other and killed each other. Some sought to get beyond murder and cannibalism.
“1491” Questions 1. Two scholars, Erikson and William Balée believe that almost all aspects of Native American life have been perceived wrong. Although some refuse to believe this, it has been proven to be the truth. Throughout Charles C. Mann’s article from The Atlantic, “1491”, he discusses three main points: how many things that are viewed as facts about the natives are actually not true, the dispute between the high and low counters, and the importance of the role disease played in the history of the Americas. When the term “Native American” is heard, the average person tends to often relate that to a savage hunter who tries to minimize their impact on their surrounding environment.
When the Europeans began settling in the new land many cultural differences began to arise. Consequently, this left the English settlers and the natives with fear and confusion. The natives of the new land had never seen anything like the Europeans; they had white skin, huge ships, dressed differently, and they had many different weapons. Christopher Columbus in his narrative, Report of the First Voyage, described them as “timid beyond cure” (“Report of the First Voyage” 18). He also stated that when he would men ashore to contact the natives “people without number have come to them, and as soon as they saw them coming, they fled; even a father would not stay for his son” (“Report of the First Voyage” 18).
When the English arrived the Natives were “bold and audacious as they dare [came] unto [the English’s] forts, truck and trade with [them]...” (Strathcey 21). The Native Americans from the individual people all the way to their hierarchy, justice system and willingness to adapt set them in the same category of eliteness and intricacy as all other foreign societies at the
The development of agriculture and the rise of industrialization generated new cultures and innovations in the new world. Native people in early America developed cultural distinct , men were in charge of the fishing, hunting, jobs that were more exposed to violence, and the women stayed closed to the village, farming, and child bearing. The way of life possessed by natives Americans did not compel them to conquer and transform new land. As opposed to European colonizers, Native Americans subscribed to a more “animistic” understanding of nature. In which they believed that plants and animals are not commodities, they are something to be respected rather than used.
Historians differ on what they think about the net result of the European arrival in the New World. Considering that the Columbian Exchange, which refers to “exchange of plants, animals, people, disease, and culture between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas after Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492,” led to possibly tens of millions of deaths on the side of the American Indians, but also enabled agricultural and technological trade (Henretta et al. 42), I cannot help but reflect on whether the effects should be addressed as a historical or a moral question. The impact that European contact had on the indigenous populations of North America should be understood as a moral question because first, treating it as a historical question is difficult due to lack of reliable historical evidence; second, the meaning of compelling historical claims is contestable as the academic historian perspective tends to view the American Indian oral history as invalid; and finally, what happened to the native Indians is morally repulsive and must be discussed as such. The consequences of European contact should be answered as a moral question because historically, it is hard to be historically objective in the absence of valid and dependable historical evidence.
They are often labeled as uncivilized barbarians, which is a solely false accusation against them. This paper aims to address the similarities between Native American beliefs and the beliefs of other cultures based on The Iroquois Creation Story in order to defeat the stereotype that Natives are regularly defined by. Native Americans are commonly considered uncivilized, savage, and barbarian. Nevertheless, in reality the Natives are not characterized by any of those negative traits, but rather they inhabit positive characteristics such as being wise, polite, tolerant, civilized, harmonious with nature, etc. They have had a prodigious impact on the Puritans
Upon the first colonial establishments, the Europeans viewed Native Americans as uncultured, unintelligent, and uncivilized. The first colonizers found themselves ultimately superior to the perceived rudimentary cultural and societal customs that were observed. Native Americans viewed Europeans as a strictly one sided cultural mass enforcement foreign establishment, stopping at nothing to enforce their perceived superiority in all forms of cultural and societal aspects. Differences in land use, gender roles, and societal history added to the wedging and hostility between the Native Americans and European people. Upon the European's first impression of Native American culture, the first notable aspect of their "species" and society was their promising outlook as potential slave laborers.
Throughout the late 1400’s and the 1500’s, the world experienced many changes due to the discoveries of new lands and peoples that had been never been visited before. The new-found lands of the Americas and exploration of Africa by the Europeans led to new colonies and discoveries in both areas. It also brought different societies and cultures together that had never before communicated, causing conflict in many of these places. While the Europeans treated both the Native Americans and West Africans as inferior people, the early effects they had on the Native Americans were much worse. Beginning in the late 1400’s, many different European explorers started to look for new trade routes in the Eastern Hemisphere in order to gain economic and religious power.
“Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”, chapter one of “A People’s History of the United States”, written by professor and historian Howard Zinn, concentrates on a different perspective of major events in American history. It begins with the native Bahamian tribe of Arawaks welcoming the Spanish to their shores with gifts and kindness, only then for the reader to be disturbed by a log from Columbus himself – “They willingly traded everything they owned… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (Zinn pg.1) In the work, Zinn continues explaining the unnecessary evils Columbus and his men committed unto the unsuspecting natives.
When Christopher Columbus’s three ships hit the sandy beaches of what is now known as the Bahamas the world had been changed forever. The new world changed many aspects of both the Natives as well as the Europeans that set on the new land. Things such as new foods, disease, and even labor systems changed both the new and the old world drastically. When the first Europeans first set foot on the land unknown to them at the time, they had no idea what was in store for them and neither did the natives. Little did they know that waiting for the natives were dangerous organisms not seen by the naked eye.
