Native Americas

1. How did the Indian societies of South and North America differ from European societies at the time the two came into contact? In what ways did Indians retain a “world view” different from that of the Europeans? An obvious distinction between the two civilizations is the Indians lacked weapons, tools, or sciences comparable to that of the Europeans. The Native Americans also existed in small, loose groups that lacked unity, while the Europeans were able to establish cities and alliances; another reason the Europeans conquered them easily. The fact that the Indians lived in a primitive agricultural society formed Indian reverence for the land which they believed belonged to all people unlike the Europeans who believed that they had dominion over the land and nature and could transform it at their will. But the Native Americans revered nature and the physical world spiritually and had neither the means nor want to transform the land. Religious views were different among both groups as well. The Indians were polytheists who believed in nature as various sprits who are part of one great deity. The Europeans were monotheist and believed in a simple world dived between good and evil. The Europeans regarded the Indians as savages and thus put full effort in conversions.
2. What role did disease and forced labor, including slavery; play in the early settlement of America? Is the view of the Spanish and Portuguese as especially harsh conquerors and exploiters valid---or is this image just another version of the English “black legend” concerning the Spanish role in the Americas? Slavery provided the labor force necessary to process the raw material of the New World in to profit. The huge number of slaves needed to do this changed demographics, such as in the West indies, and dissolved cultures, whether they were Indian or African. The rise of slavery also resulted in the appearance of a social structure and classes 3. Are the differences between Latin America and