La Vere Columbian Exchange Analysis

In 1492 Christopher Columbus set sail across the Atlantic from Spain with the intention of getting to India in search of spice. However, he landed in the Americas under the impression that he was in India, and so, he called the inhabitants Indians when in truth and fact they weren’t. It is believed by most experts that the Indians originated from Northeast Asia and others believe that they came from different parts of Asia.
The topic of this passage, in a nutshell, is the way of life of the Native Americans of Texas. La Vere seeks to explore the various cultures of the Natives and to expound on the account given by the Europeans in order to paint a full picture of how everyday life was in the communities. What was told by the Europeans
“Whether one was a hunter or gatherer shaped how one acted in society and even whom one considered as relatives.” The family structural patterns were determined by geographical and tribal circumstances and these systems consisted of both nuclear and extended family members. Many hunting societies were patrilocal meaning that a man took his bride from outside his society and brought her into his family. As a result, new blood was able to come into the family. In this society, men, including fathers, sons and brothers, did majority of the hunting. In agricultural societies, most of the farming were done by women including mothers, daughters and sisters. Therefore, farming societies were matrilocal meaning that a woman took her groom from outside and brought him into her family. This happened because it would be unwisely to break up the farming teams formed by the women since they provided majority of the sustenance and the farms were very productive. Patrilineal families had close relations with the fathers’ family while matrilineal families had close relations with the mothers’ family and because male hunters were very important most families were
How they interacted with their kin was determined by many things, including the person’s gender, age, whether they lived in a patrilineal or matrilineal society, clan membership, family connections, and certain well-known demands and taboos.” Many of the Texan Indian societies operated on kinship principle. One was forbidden to marry in their clan since everyone within that clan was kin. This included cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents, etc. It was expected of every kin to take care of kin. By this kinship, they could depend on others during time of need. The obligations within this system were very important because to the Indians it meant a difference between “life and death”. A kinsperson duty might be to provide food, shelter and protection, while in some cases, a man might even have to share his wife with his brother and a woman, her husband with her sister. All these obligations had to be done willingly and this system stressed on sharing, family and