ipl-logo

Europeans Vs Native Americans Essay

597 Words3 Pages

When the Europeans came to the new world, America, the Natives had no idea of the concept of a continent or a hemisphere. Many Indian tribes where scattered around the continent. When the Europeans, the whites, first came to the new world they had little conflict with the natives until later in the colonial era. When the Europeans came to the new world it was a culture shock for both them and the Natives. The Natives were extremely diverse. Each tribe had different forms of governments, different religious beliefs, and languages. Even though the Natives religion was similar to the Christian religions of the Europeans, being that most tribes had one creator who was at the top of their religious hierarchy, the whites still found it necessary …show more content…

When the Europeans first came to the new world the natives assigned areas of the land for themselves for hunting and farming, also assigning plots of land for new settlers to live in for a short period of time, but also letting some land free for anybodies use . The Natives believed that you cannot own land but that you can own the right to use the land. The Natives saw the land as a resource for anybody to use where the Europeans saw land as something to be bought and owned. The Europeans had always been involved in trade routes, but the Natives were more into gift giving. The Europeans also cared more about wealth and goods than the Natives. The Natives were more open when it came to women. For example, in the tribes premarital sex was open and women could choose to leave or divorce their husbands. The men were always in charge in running the tribes, however the women took special part in many religious ceremonies and women elders took part in choosing the male village leaders and took part in meetings. In the villages women could own their homes and their tools, and the men moved in with the woman’s family after marriage. In English law the men controlled the property and a wife did not have legal

Open Document