Europeans vs Native Americans During Colonial Virginia

Although there is a shared number of similarities, the Europeans of the early 16th century had many differences with the Native Americans of the same era. When the Europeans first discovered the Americas in the late 1400s to the early 1500s, they expected to find a land filled with savages that had little or no intelligence or technological advancements. However, these European explorers came to realize that the Native Americans were far more civilized than they had imagined. Upon reaching North America, the first European explorers held to the stereotype that the Native Americans were a primitive society simply because the Natives’ way of life, in some ways, were far different from their own. The biggest and perhaps the most clear difference between the two societies are that some of the Natives lived in a matrilineal society, while the Europeans believed in a more common patrilineal way of life. For example, the Iroquois believed in matrilineal families where it was determined by the mother, rather than the father. Females were clearly the authority of the household. If a woman desired a divorce from her husband, she simply took his belongings and placed them at the doorstep. Moreover, there was a group of older women from related families who made a majority of the political decisions for the village.

Whether or not the village should go to war was decided upon by the matrons. If the village were to disagree with a war effort, the matrons ceased the production of supplies, forcing the men to return home. In these ways, the European and Native American societies were extreme opposites. The political system was another way the two societies were different. While the Europeans had a capitalism-based society, many Native Americans practiced a more reversed capitalism. This was a direct contrast to the Europeans, where the goal was to acquire material possessions. Instead, the Indians believed in giving everything they owned to others. Rather than

Cited: Heinemann, Kolp, Parent Jr., Shade. “A History of Virginia 1607-2007.” Old Dominion, New Commonwealth. University of Virginia Press. 2007. 211-239. www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/.../9780803222007_excerpt.pdf www.academicamerican.com/colonial/topics/slavery.htm www.wikipedia.com