When Europeans landed in the Americas; they left a huge imprint on the soil that would never fade. With better technology, ways of living, methods and more; their culture was beneficial for the Native Americans. The Europeans introduced new animals, plants, and farming methods to the Native Americans which soon caused the European population to bloom in the Americas. However, along with the beneficial things they’ve brought, diseases were transferred that killed many people from both sides, the Native population started dwindling little by little as they were forced to move to separate areas after Europeans inhabited almost all their land. Despite the harsh outcomes for the Native Americans, it was a good thing that European culture prevailed.
Plants such as tobacco, maize, beans, tomatoes, and especially the lowly potato eventually revolutionized the international economy as well as the European diet. In exchange, the Europeans introduced Old World crops and animals to the Americas. Over time, the variety of crops and foods widened for both the Europeans and the Natives -- as they were also, more accessible. The Natives were introduced to the firearms by Europeans and traded with them, whenever possible, since the nature of hunting and
…show more content…
Even though Catholicism spread to the Americas, most efforts to convert Natives failed as they resisted them. There were some that obliged and ended many sacrifice-required rituals. The Europeans colonized almost all the land while forcing the Natives to migrate to smaller and smaller regions. They made reservations for the Native Americans due to their decreasing population and culture, also providing educational centers in return for taking their land. Their culture was not so heavily affected by the Europeans -- mostly in physical forms. Some Native Americans learned European languages while still maintaining their
The Native Americans suffers hardship for being seen as a minority in the European-American society. Being forced into labor and acquiring diseases from the Europeans was only a few of the calamities they endured throughout the years. The indigenous people’s culture and religion diminishes as the Europeans settles in around them. The agony of seeing their own culture and religion yield to Europeans influences. The Europeans influences the indigenous people as they attain their lands and due to that, Native Americans has to adapt to their surroundings in order to survive.
Scientifically speaking, we are still unsure how the first American Indians came from Asia to North America. Today, three divergent viewpoints are asserted by the community of scholars and Native Americans: The Bering Strait theory, in which Native Americans came from northern Asians who migrated to North America by crossing a land bridge that is now sunken due to the glaciers melting at the end of the last Ice Age. The Multiple Migrations Theory, where Native Americans came to North America via a myriad of different routes around the globe, and the Indigenous Origin theory, in which most members of the Native American community have been native to the Americas and have been on the continent “since the first day of light.” The ideas that the
This ideal way of life clashed with the worldview of Europeans. Early European colonizers believed that because Native Americans were not using the vast amount of land which included forest to maximize their profits, then they were justified for colonizing North American land. This settlement led to the enslavement of people, worldwide distribution of diseases, and transfer of goods that shaped America to what it is today.
During the late 1400s and the early 1500s, European expeditioners began to explore the New World. Native Americans, who were living in America originally, were much different than the Europeans arriving at the New World; they had a different culture, diet, and religion. Eventually, both the Native Americans and the European colonists exchanged different aspects of their life. For example, Native Americans gave the Europeans corn, and the Europeans in return gave them modern weapons, such as various types of guns. This type of trade was called “the Columbian Exchange.”
The Europeans taught their ways of life to the Native Indians, and tried to get them to assimilate into the European culture. The French and the Spanish both had the Natives settle in villages along side them. The Natives, if they were not forced to convert to Christianity , would learn the European ways, as well as continuing to practise their own rituals, rather than combining the two religions together. The Natives understood Christianity, but looked at it from a Native point of view, and thought of it as foreign. However, many Natives were eventually coerced into converting, thus leading to the rise of the
Native Americans flourished in North America, but over time white settlers came and started invading their territory. Native Americans were constantly being thrown and pushed off their land. Sorrowfully this continued as the Americans looked for new opportunities and land in the West. When the whites came to the west, it changed the Native American’s lives forever. The Native Americans had to adapt to the whites, which was difficult for them.
When the Europeans began colonizing the New World, they had a problematic relationship with the Native Americans. The Europeans sought to control a land that the Natives inhabited all their lives. They came and decided to take whatever they wanted regardless of how it affected the Native Americans. They legislated several laws, such as the Indian Removal Act, to establish their authority. The Indian Removal Act had a negative impact on the Native Americans because they were driven away from their ancestral homes, forced to adopt a different lifestyle, and their journey westwards caused the deaths of many Native Americans.
Lastly, the European conquest affected the indigenous population negatively because their establishments were destroyed. When Moteuczuma was killed the most powerful empire came to an end. The images from the Lienzo of Tlaxcala clearly display how the indigenous population renounced their own spiritual beliefs to embrace the religious beliefs of the Europeans. (Mesoamerican Voices, p.45) Although image 3.3a shows Malinche gracefully being baptized, the reality of the indigenous population is that they loss many people and suffered many injustices.
The progression that we as the privileged face has caused the regression of the unprivileged. The Age of Exploration was a time period of laying the stepping stones to progression. However, we were given the advantage to define the word progression. The ignorance that we have put forth in realizing the different definitions of progression is depicted in Ishmael, “‘... the Plain Indians had been agriculturalists for centuries. As soon as horses became readily available, they abandoned agriculture and resumed the hunting-gathering life’”(Quinn 217).
Rather than never having to hear the end of it, Native Americans began to resent their culture and encouraged fellow tribe members to do the same. They thought that it would be best for them in the long run, to look out for their family. Those who chose to continue practicing their culture were treated very poorly by both other natives and white people. The Europeans had implemented this way of thinking that everything and everyone should be the same, that they should all live the same lifestyle -- that anything that was against the majority, was wrong, into the minds of several Native Americans. Their desire to control the lives and property of others spread from one another like rapid fire.
The Columbian Exchange between the new world and the old world significantly change people’s lives. After 1492, Europeans brought in horses to America which changes the nomadic Native American groups’ living from riding on buffalos to horses. This interchange also change the diet of the rest of the world with foods such as corns (maize), potatoes which are major diet for European nowadays. Besides all the animals from old world to the new world, Spanish also brought in the diseases that Native Americans were not immune of, such as smallpox which led to a large amount of Native Americans’ deaths.
Something that had one of the biggest impacts on the world as it is today is colonization. There’s no way that the world we live in would be the same without it. From colonization, a multitude of good things came out of it, such as wealth for many nations, new land discovered, and colonies established. However, all of those things came at a price to others. The negatives of colonization affected the Native Americans (North, South, and Central America) and the Africans.
Throughout the late 1400’s and the 1500’s, the world experienced many changes due to the discoveries of new lands and peoples that had been never been visited before. The new-found lands of the Americas and exploration of Africa by the Europeans led to new colonies and discoveries in both areas. It also brought different societies and cultures together that had never before communicated, causing conflict in many of these places. While the Europeans treated both the Native Americans and West Africans as inferior people, the early effects they had on the Native Americans were much worse. Beginning in the late 1400’s, many different European explorers started to look for new trade routes in the Eastern Hemisphere in order to gain economic and religious power.
When Europeans found the indigenous people on the Indies the world changed. The New World, and The Old World. The main differences between the West Indies and Europe was the wildlife, climate, and way of life. The Native people of America were very different among themselves, and Europeans.
Before the Spanish ship that changed it all, which arrived in the “New World” in 1492, thriving organized communities of native people had centuries of history on the land. That ship, skippered by Christopher Columbus, altered the course of both Native American and European history. 1492 sparked the fire of cultural diffusion in the New World which profoundly impacted the Native American peoples and the European settlers. Prior to European contact, Native Americans lived as hunter-gatherers, living and traveling in groups of typically less than 300 people. These Native Americans spoke over 400 languages and practiced a myriad of different religions (The American Pageant).