As a result, the Natives tried to merge the Europeans as honorary Indians, hoping to harness or neutralize their powers. When that didn’t work, the natives tried to beat the
Tensions arose between the Indians and the settlers because the Indians were not willing to give up their land and their
Between the years 1600 to 1700, English colonists were just settling the New World and establishing their own colonies, yet this colonization didn’t come without obstacles. Upon entering the seemingly unscathed land, colonists were greeted by Native Americans. At first, the two groups expressed a relationship characterized by amity and cooperation, yet as time went on, the “white superiority” of the colonists and the belief that they were primary owners of land soured the relationship. It was just a matter of time before the colonists would take over and run out the Native Americans. Primarily peaceful and affable, the relationship between the Indians and English steadily depreciated as the English overran the lands of the Indians while the
The Native Americans and Euro-Americans settlers were more different than similar from one another. THESIS: Both the Native Americans and Euro-Americans have very different lifestyles, cultures, and dissimilar perspectives. Euro-Americans saw themselves as conquers of the civilized world and saw the Native Americans as “savages”. Both Euro-Americans and Native Americans had a different theory about the land; it created problems between the two.
Throughout the seventeenth century, conflict between Europeans and Native Americans was rampant and constant. As more and more Europeans migrated to America, violence became increasingly consistent. This seemingly institutionalized pattern of conflict begs a question: Was conflict between Europeans and Native Americans inevitable? Kevin Kenny and Cynthia J. Van Zandt take opposing sides on the issue. Kevin Kenny asserts that William Penn’s vision for cordial relations with local Native Americans was destined for failure due to European colonists’ demands for privately owned land.
When the Europeans came to the Americas, they didn’t know how to treat the Native Americans because they had never encountered other people who weren’t of their race. So Europeans developed this belief that they were superior then Natives and Africans. They took their resources and took advantage of them. They treated them harshly and turned them into slaves to make them work on their land. Europeans also tried to change their beliefs and culture, which caused much resistance and revolts from the Natives and Africans.
European exploration of the West began in 1500 and continued to flourish for over three centuries. While colonizing this new land, Europeans first came into contact with the native peoples. European religious views, gender roles, and land ownership shaped their interactions with Native Americans. The English, for example, practiced Christianity, while the Native Americans possessed a more spiritual and animalistic religion. Native American societies were heavily reliant on women for not only household duties, but also agricultural responsibilities.
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.
The Native Americans were seen as weak willed, for they barely resisted the conquest of their homes. If the Native Americans showed no incentive of retaliating and were better at manual work, it seemed natural to the Spanish that they be enslaved. The Native Americans, on the other hand, saw the Spanish in a different light as well as they watched many Spaniards become obsessed with gold. The Spanish were given Gold as gifts and went crazy just holding it and lusting for more, like savage monkeys. The Spanish, by nature, couldn’t help but become greedy monsters for gold, because in Europe riches were equivalent to power.
The Europeans came mostly in peace; however, the Native Americans saw the newcomers as a threat to their livelihood. Amoroleck, an Indian captured by the Europeans after a clash between the two, explained that the Native Americans attacked the settlers because they believed the settlers “were a people come from under the world, to take their world from them.” (Merrell 45) With early conflicts, neither party was coming out victorious with their losses out numbering their winnings between the Indians and Europeans. Eventually, the Native Americans would accept the Europeans and even live jointly, aiding one another whether it was determining the best hunting grounds, planting the right crops in the right area, or incorporating lifestyles by helping round up escaped slaves. The two parties learned to make the most out and how to benefit from each other.
As the song goes, "In 1492,in fourteen ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." Before Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World, the Native Americans knew it as their home. Soon after Columbus reported back to let all of Europe know that he successfully found land, European settlers quickly followed. Every tribe was one of it 's kind, yet their cultures shared the importance of their religious practices, beliefs, and values . The Native Americans were generally very peaceful people, that is, until the Europeans invaded their land and forced them to fight back.
Upon the first colonial establishments, the Europeans viewed Native Americans as uncultured, unintelligent, and uncivilized. The first colonizers found themselves ultimately superior to the perceived rudimentary cultural and societal customs that were observed. Native Americans viewed Europeans as a strictly one sided cultural mass enforcement foreign establishment, stopping at nothing to enforce their perceived superiority in all forms of cultural and societal aspects. Differences in land use, gender roles, and societal history added to the wedging and hostility between the Native Americans and European people. Upon the European's first impression of Native American culture, the first notable aspect of their "species" and society was their promising outlook as potential slave laborers.
When the English settlers arrived in America they had many assumptions about the Native American people. Some of these assumptions by the English people included the idea that the Native American people were brutal savages. The differences in culture between the Native Americans and the Europeans often caused clashes that led to the destruction of land and the people. Unfortunately, the differences within the two cultures forced the Native Americans to either adapt to the European culture, or migrate west to reservations.
Quite simply put, Europeans viewed Africans and Native Americans as inferior to themselves. They were considered to be heathens and barbarians by the Europeans. And, at least initially, they were not Christian. It was believed that Europeans could save both Native Americans and Africans not only spiritually but also economically and socially. This type of attitude also most likely made it much easier for the Europeans to discriminate and exploit them.
“none shall want what another has, yet [they are] exact observers of property” (Penn, XIX). They believed in leaving the land as nature intended and believed no man could own the land. Europeans did not have the same beliefs as the Native Americans. “Called by ignorance the fox grape (because of the relish it has with unskillful palates), is in itself an extraordinary grape” (Penn, V). The Europeans are fond of wine and thought of the Natives as ignorant for their lack of knowledge on many things the Europeans believed made them
