Europeans vs Native Americans

During the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Europeans started to come over to the new world, they discovered a society of Indians that was strikingly different to their own. To understand how different, one must first compare and contrast some of the very important differences between them, such as how the Europeans considered the Indians to be extremely primitive and basic, while, considering themselves civilized. The Europeans considered that they were model societies, and they thought that the Indians society and culture should be changed to be very similar to their own.

The Europeans and the Indians had very contrasting ideas of personal wealth and ownership. The Europeans believed that only the rich should own land, and strongly followed the practice that when you passed away, the land stays in the family to keep the family honor and pride alive. In European society, what one owned decided one's identity, political standpoint, wealth, and even independence. The Indians believed that property was part of a tribe, not a personal possession to own. One of their beliefs was that the land was sacred, and each family should have a piece of the whole. As a general rule, the Indians followed their belief that states that everything on the earth is given to all, and each person deserves their own share. In 1657, a French Jesuit said that, "Their kindness, humanity and courtesy not only makes them liberal with what they ha..

Native Americans had inherited the land now called America and eventually their lives were destroyed due to European Colonization. When the Europeans arrived and settled, they changed the Native American way of life for the worst. These changes were caused by a number of factors including disease, loss of land, attempts to export religion, and laws, which violated Native American culture.

Native Americans never came in contact with diseases that developed in the Old World because they were separated from Asia, Africa, and Europe when ocean levels rose following the end of the last Ice Age. Diseases like smallpox, measles, pneumonia, influenza, and malaria were unknown to the Native Americans until the Europeans brought these diseases over time to them. This triggered the largest population decline in all recorded history. Fifty percent of the Native American population had died of disease within twenty years. Soon after, Native Americans began to question their religion and doubted the ability of shamen to heal. This was the first step towards the destruction of Native cultures. The Native Americans had never experienced anything like these deadly diseases before and they came to believe that Europeans had the power to kill or give life.

Many Native groups, because they were nomadic, didn't see land as belonging to one person. The idea that someone could come in, claim a piece of land and ban them f...

One huge shift in history happened around the late 1400’s when a slightly well known man by the name of Christopher Columbus came across what is now known as North America. Columbus actually thought he had found a new and shorter route to the West Indies. When this was announced, the news spread like wildfire and it was not soon after that, other countries began to send their own explorers. It was a bright and positive time when leaders wanted to claim new land for their country. But, what of the people that were already settled in America where Columbus had been so quick to claim for Spain? These people were the real settlers of America, the Native Americans as they would be called later on in history. For a long time in America’s history and even up until I was in Elementary School, it was being taught that Christopher Columbus was in fact the discoverer of America. The truth, as we all know is that he could not have possibly discovered it when there was already people there! Instead, it is possible to say that he “laid claim” to it for Spain. There were many other famous explorers other than Columbus. Some of them include Lief Ericson who discovered Newfoundland, Amerigo Vespucci who discovered South America and the West Indies, Vasco de Balboa who discovered the Pacific Ocean, Hernando Cortez who discovered Mexico and consequently wiped out an entire civilization known as the Aztecs. Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo di...
Disease and Medicine along with war and religion were three ways American history has changed. When the colonists came over from Europe they unknowingly changed the world forever in ways they couldn't have imagined. These effects were present to both Native Americans and Europeans. Some of these changes made life easier for both Native Americans and Europeans but some made relations worse too. And some effects wouldn't show up until it was too late.
One of these significant changes was the introduction to new disease to the new world. When the Europeans came over and started to interact with the Native Americans they brought with them new diseases that Native Americans weren't accustomed to. Since Native Americans weren't immune to these diseases like the Europeans diseases spread rapidly and lethally. New Diseases such as smallpox, diphtheria, measles, bubonic and pneumonic plague, cholera, influenza, typhus, dysentery, yellow fever spread through Native American tribes like wild fire. Add these new deadly diseases and with other...

In the beginning, the Native Americans welcomed the new settlers with open arms. They taught the Europeans how to hunt, fish, and generally survive in their new land. The Indians traded with them, but sooner or later conflict flared and when Indians started dieng of diseases brought over by these new people, the settlers doing very little to help them. After their entrance into the Native American territory, the Europeans started wanting more power, and took more Indian land and held the natives to live on reservations. They became crookes who stole from the Indians, who originally had lived there and been there for thousands of years before these new settlers. The settlers did everything in their power to get what they wanted; they killed thousands of Indians and took what they needed. The settlers also wanted goods such as gold, buffalo, and other resources of this new land. They made the Indians do their dirty work and forced them to go out and get the goods. When resistance started against the new settlers in the Native American reservations, pure chaos broke out between the 2 groups of people. The settlers always overtook the Indians due to their gun power as opposed to the Indians bows and arrows. In conclusion, the settlers brought with them many new diseases which over time killed off most of the Native Americans. There are many reasons for the Indians to oppose the Europeans, but undoubtedy not as many reasons for the settlers to rival the Indians except for their own needs. The settlers killed an innumerable amount of Indians for no legitimate reason whatsoever, besides for their own selfish needs as opposed to those of the Indians.

There are few other examples in history of two cultures being so different as the Native Americans and the soon to be European settlers encountered. There are two big concepts that I could imagine Europeans having great difficulty understanding about indigenous culture. The first concept I think the Europeans would have great difficulty understanding is the natives idea of land. The Native Americans tied themselves very closely with the land they lived on as they would use it for things such as food, shelter, and navigation. It seems as if the Natives only took from the land what they needed from it as the land was not viewed as the property of men but as its own separate entity that demanded great respect. On the other hand, the Europeans view was completely different as they viewed the owning of property as a symbol of power and success in ones life. From this, it is not hard to tell that this misunderstanding between the two peoples caused big problems for the Natives as the more industrialized Europeans moved to North America in the conquest for the land the Native Americans were living on. Another great misconception the Europeans had was the notion of the Native Americans being one big group of people with one culture. This notion was completely wrong and as a matter of fact according to Dean Snow’s story, the Native Americans on the East coast alone were speaking at least 68 different languages representing merely five of the 20 language families in North America at the time. The language was not the only thing different amongst tribes as different tribes would build different types of shelter, use different methods of agriculture, and have different religious customs to name a few. If the Europeans could of recognized this sooner, they may have been able to communicate with the Natives better. The Europeans could have also looked at the many different cultures as a learning tool for different things such as ways of navigation, hunting, and...

While there were both positive and negative results from the cultural interactions between Native Americans and Europeans , their interaction was historically inevitable , and whether it was a ``good thing ' is irrelevant .
The interaction of the European Old World with the culture and ecology of the New world brought numerous changes for the occupants of the New
World . In terms of material goods , livestock in the form of horses , cows and pigs were brought to the New World by Europeans (Kennedy , Cohen
Bailey , 2004 ) These animals became an integral part of the culture of many Native American tribes , especially in the plains and the west .
Comanche and Apache Indians began to rely on horses to sustain a lifestyle of hunting and raiding , while Eastern Indians began domesticating livestock to supplement their farm proceeds (Kennedy ,
Cohen Bailey , 2004 ) On the negative side , European also brought numerous diseases to the New World that wiped out a large portion of their population (Devevan , 1996 ) Smallpox , measles , influenza , typhus , diphtheria and other diseases wreaked havoc among the natives because they did not have any immunity from previous exposure to these diseases (Kennedy , Cohen Bailey , 2004 )
European culture , economy and ecology also absorbed some elements of
Native American life . An abundance of precious metals were found in the
``New World ' and brought back to Europe . New crops , such as corn , potatoes , tobacco , beans , and chocolate , all of New World origins , became staples of European diets (Kennedy , Cohen Bailey , 2004 ) The
Europeans also learned farming techniqu