Native American Colonization

Decades Paper Summaries Conceptions of group identity and autonomy emerged out of the cultural interactions between colonizing groups, Africans, and American Indians during the colonial era. They emerged when the settlers kept contact with the Native Americans, other Europeans, and Africans in a lot of well defined colonial settings. However, before the arrival of Europeans, many Native American societies claimed the continent as their own. Then when the settlers arrived and settled across north America, they transformed the environments and the people around it. They also developed complex societies, for example, Native American societies were organized into closely settled empires, and the Europeans seized the ruling class and established …show more content…
It took shape after the Spanish defeated the Aztec and Inca empires. There, the Spanish colonizers took advantage on the pre-existing systems of tribute and labor discipline. Then once they overthrew the native rulers, the Spanish monarchs transferred their ideas and customs onto America. Their institutions included municipal councils, the legal code, and the Catholic Church. The Spanish conquest also initiated a wide intercontinental movement of plants, animals, and diseases called the Columbian exchange. This triggered a lot of opposing responses from Spain’s European rivals, especially the English and Protestant Dutch. Then a new society took form on the conquered lands. Between 1500 and 1650, over 350,000 Spaniards migrated to the Mesoamerica and the Andes, and 250,000 – 300,000 Africans. This racial mixture was widespread and the Indians’ population was declined as the people of Spanish and mixed-race descents …show more content…
This influence the European views of social, political, and economic relationships between white and nonwhite peoples. The Spanish and Portuguese colonists didn't understood much of the Native American’s belief and customs. So with the little knowledge they had in dealing with people who were non-Europeans, it lead to debates over how the Native Indians should be treated. They also questioned how civilized these peoples were compared to their European standards. For example, in 1607, Opechancanough, Powhatan’s brother, had assaulted some of the first English invaders because he refused to allow the English proposals to place Indian children in Christian schools. When he become the paramount chief in 1621, he discussed an attack with the leaders of neighboring Indians. Then in 1622, twelve chiefdoms killed nearly one-third of the English settlers, all coordinated by