Europeans And Native Americans: Colonization Of The Americas

Colonization o the Americas

Europeans and Native Americans have historically been separated from each other for over 10,000 years. The first major encounter they had was when Christopher Columbus arrived on the shores of Bahamas in 1492. What kept the Americas and The Europeans separated for so long? And what did the encounter lead too?

Pre-Columbus

The Americas was first settled in between 10,000 to 23,000 years ago when migrators could cross the Bering Strait on foot due to a land bridge that was there during the ice age. When the migrants arrived the continent it was in rough conditions. Due to the ice age everyone lived as hunters and gatherers. When the climate finally stabilized around 8000 BCE they divided themself into tribes settling

The Native Americans had different plants, wildlife, ideas and technology. This was due to large distances between the continents so only the oldest plants and animals species lived on both continents. Different sorts of fruits, and vegetables were growing in the continents. There were also different livestock being domesticated in The Americas. Native American cultivation was mostly dominated by tomatoes, corn and potatoes while Europe mostly had grains and onions. The Native Americans also lacked in domesticated animals to put to use, this was because most of the animals that lived in The Americas lacked certain features that make them domesticateable. The only animal in The Americas that could be domesticated were Lamas. Lamas were mostly used for their wool but could also be used to carry light items across distances, or were slaughtered for their meat. Europe on the other hand had a lot of animals that they could domesticate. Europe had chickens, cattle, pigs, sheep and horses. This was highly beneficial as they could use them for milk from milking cows, meat from slaughtering and egg from chickens. They could also get wool from shearing sheeps, leather from cow-, and pig-hide. Or use the animals for work purpose as traveling, carrying, or ploughing the

But as The Europeans got more established on the continents and the Native American population plummeted from European diseases they found out that they were easy pray that could be easily supressed and dismantled from their homes. As the European claimed more land the Natives got angry. The Natives raided small settlements in attempts to scare off the Settlers but their attacks were pitiful compared to the retaliation. Large empires got dismantled by disease and technological superiority and the Natives were relocated westward. As USA Became independent they kept going claiming more land as they expanded westwards. When the Natives had their backs towards the wall they fought in a final effort in the battle of the Wounded Knee which was the last battle between the Natives and colonizers. Within a span of 200 years the Native population went from 100millon to 10 million from disturbance by European