A New World
The First Americans
The Settling of the Americas
- Most residents were descended from bands of hunters and fishers who had crossed the Bering Strait via a land bridge at various times 15k-60k years ago.
- 14k years ago, glaciers began to melt at the end of the last Ice Age, submerging the land link between the Western Hemisphere and Asia.
- Warming climate created a food crisis. Developing agriculture made civilizations possible 9k years ago. Corn, squash, and beans were the basis of agriculture, and the lack of livestock creating plowing and fertilization problems.
Indian Societies of the Americas
- The continent contained cities, roads, irrigation systems, extensive trade networks, and large structures before the Europeans.
-
…show more content…
- Europeans saw weak men and mistreated women. Indian men were weak, and Indian women were “not much better than slaves” according to Europeans.
- Europeans thought that by subduing the Indians, they would give them more freedom.
Indian Freedom, European Freedom
Indian Freedom
- Many Europeans saw freedom in the Indians, but they quickly deduced that there was no such thing as freedom in Indian societies. Indians were seen as barbaric due to their lack of government, laws, and authority. They were deemed too free.
- Indians did have a form of liberty. There was small-scale slavery, as opposed to personal liberty, and most Indians resisted the Europeans’ attempts to enslave them.
- For the Indians, group anatomy and self-determination took priority over personal liberty.
Christian Liberty
- Freedom was not a single idea but a collection of distinct rights and privileges.
- One conception common throughout Europe understood freedom less as a political or social status than as a moral or spiritual condition. Servitude and freedom mutually went together.
- No connection to later ideas of religious toleration.
Freedom and