Colonization of America Upon the European’s discovery and colonization of the Americas an irreversible transformation was triggered. The extreme differences in the cultures of the Europeans and Native Americans would prove to be fatal to the way of life that existed before European colonization. It appears that the majority of the actions of the Native Americans towards the new European colonists were in peace and acceptance. Unfortunately the colonists dreams conflicted with the views of the Native Americans. The ‘free living’ philosophy of the Native American’s left them open to an unexpected overtaking by the colonists. The Europeans believed in making a new world out of America while completely disregarding the fact that …show more content…
As more people reported about there encounters and opinions of the Native Americans the interests of the English soon changed. Native Americans were soon portrayed as savage animals because of the lack of understanding of the Settlers. The culture of the Native Americans was so different from the culture of the English that the English would soon look at the natives as inferior. The Native Americans were deemed hostile, bestial, cursed by God, primitive beings with inferior knowledge and language. Also the English commonly thought of them as crafty, brutal, loathsome, cannibalistic and promiscuous. These negative images of the Native Americans grew from stories passed from settler to settler which were commonly misinterpretations with very little truth. The English have developed a long history of moving in to land foreign to there’s and exploiting the local people for their prosperity. The dealings between English and the Native Americans would prove to be no different from England’s previous dealings foreign lands. In no time the English were in a position in which they would do whatever it took to claim as much land as they could, even if it meant fighting with hostile “Indians”. Some Englishmen thought it was wrong to claim land which was already being used, no matter what the culture of the Native Americans was. However the majorities view was that they were performing a
European exploration, in its entirety, is a complex subject with many causes and effects. In the attempt to break away from their previous home, colonists experienced a novel mixing of a variety of life, people plants and animals included. Africans, Europeans, and Indians all became acquainted in a new medley of a society. Each group, all with a unique cultural background, found a common identity as Americans due to the many new encounters and new neighbors. This was the beginning of the melting pot America is today. With “profit-seeking and soul-seeking” as the motive, Europeans concentrated the many cultures in young America.
The Europeans had became greedy and selfish. They had become reliant on the native Americans to do everything for them. They had made them do necessary tasks that they could have done themselves, but chose not too. They had made them carry them when they didn’t want to walk, feed them, fan them,carry their hammocks,etc. They had become conceited, thinking they were too “royal” to do anything for themselves. They had made the Native Americans slaves and servants to their every bidding no matter the circumstance. They had become puppets to the Europeans and they controlled the Natives and forced them to do whatever they wanted. They had made the Natives lose their dignity and sink so low by making them complete their every request. The Natives had been worn down and degraded to be known as nothing to the Europeans but servants and people who they could call to do something for them. Countless Natives had died because of what the Europeans had brought to them
The Indians had many complaints against the English including the English cheating them out of land prices, English livestock eating corn on their land, and the English selling Indians alcohol, causing them to be drunk. The most grievous offense to the Indians was the unfair land prices because it caused them to lose land without fair compensation which decreased the amount of crops they were able to grow. Overall, these complaints showed that the English didn’t care about the well-being of the Native Americans. Cheating them out of land and selling them alcohol allowed the English to make a profit in unethical ways. By letting their livestock graze on Indian territory they were being destructive without caring about the impact their actions had on the Indians (Hewitt and Lawson 2013).
During the sixteenth century European pilgrims migrated across the Atlantic Ocean to settle in North America. North America had just been introduced to the Western Civilization. The America’s were home to the indigenous people, that were made up of several tribes that were called Indians by the early settlers. Together the Indians and settlers began to thrive. Growth and development in the new world was made possible by the abundant amount of natural resources.
The migration of European settlers and culture to North America is an often examined area. One aspect of this, however, is worthy of deeper analysis. The conquest of North America by Europeans and American settlers from the 16th to 19th centuries had a profound effect on the indigenous political landscape by defining a new relationship dynamic between natives and settlers, by upsetting existing native political, economic and military structures, and by establishing a paradigm where the indigenous peoples felt they had to resist the European and American incursions. The engaging and brilliant works of Andres Rensendez and Steve Inskeep, entitled respectively “A Land So Strange” and “Jacksonland”, provide excellent insights and aide to this analysis.
Historically, relationships between European colonists and Native American were extremely complex and complicated. Due to the violent European colonization of America, Native Americans became susceptible to oppressions and extinction for over five hundred years (Poupart, 2003). European colonists’ central focus were directed towards acquiring maximum profits by exploiting Native American’s vast resources and utilizing their physical performance toward enslavement. This created devastation among Native American families, movement of various fatal diseases, and destruction of the traditional lifestyle of Native Americans (Starkey, 1998). The elimination of Native American culture came with strong opposition and resistance through civil organizations, religious movements, and conflict revolutions.
When the Europeans first came to the America, they assumed that they would be welcomed and be looked up to because of the gifts and trade they brought over. However, they couldn’t be farther from the truth, as the Natives feared their foreign weaponry, technology, and animals. Both groups, although in different circumstances, had misconceptions of each other that altered the views the Europeans and the Natives had of each other.
Introduction: When the Europeans arrived to the Americas, they became confused as they saw the Native Americans. The Europeans noticed that the Native Americans had tools that were primitive to them, saw that the Natives’ architecture was bad based on their society, and that Natives had different spiritualities that them.
Even before the end of the war many of the Native Americans had grown to resent both European powers. They had felt betrayed by both and found that the fighting on their lands were useless. They had only chosen the French as an ally simply because they grew tired of the British’s push into their lands. This belief though did not go away after the war either. Yet just as the French and American colonists would grow tired of the British control so would the Native Americans. Their fears had grown over the years as they saw the rise in European diseases and death due to wars and they were just as tired as the rest of them. It did not matter that the British were going to try to settle them west of the Appalachians.
Within the nineteenth century, many Americans saw Native Americans as heathens that occupied land. These people saw the land as theirs because of how they fought to become independent. They also claimed that the Native Americans did not claim land or have a concept of property. Others understood that it was wrong to take the land forcefully. These people understood the land was not rightfully theirs for the taking. It is also perceived that all Americans disliked Native Americans. When in fact there were people who sympathized the natives. They wanted to live in peace and not war. Although, they still believed Indians were below them and had ideas of reserves. Looking at history,
In the seventeenth century, there were many clashes between British settlers and Native Americans in New England. The British landed in what they believed to be a desolate wilderness which they would tame and civilize in the name of the Christian God. They viewed the people they encountered there as savage, primitive, and uncivilized-- almost less than human. The settlers regarded this new land as unowned-- theirs for the taking. The Natives, on the other hand, saw the British as greedy, entitled invaders who threatened their way of life, and their existence altogether. As a result, these two groups often clashed, and struggled to peacefully coexist. This can be seen in, A Relation of the First Troubles in New England By reason of the Indians there, which recounts, in detail, the various quarrels between Natives Americans and British settlers in New England. In this essay, I will argue that the document shows that conflict between the Native Americans and the British settlers-- war, violence, threats and intimidation-- was completely inevitable due to a lack of communication, a lack of understanding between the two groups, and the desire by the British settlers to conquer the untamed, uncivilized New World and the natives inhabiting it.
The process used by Europeans to colonize America, like many other colonial projects, is left up to the scrutiny of later historical analysis. During which, many located the striking impact the Colonials had upon that of the innocent Native American Tribes. John Axtell, a historian on European and Native encounters writes in his piece Natives and Newcomers, “While Natives shared certain characteristics, with the rest of mankind known to Europe, their cultures were so strange, so numerous, and so diverse that Invaders found it hard to predict their behavior.” In addition colonizers in America found themselves wanting to control more and more land, pressing back the boundaries they had set forth for the Indians. This was of course, in order
Euro-Americans believed the Native Americans were savages and devil worshippers. They believed the land the Indians were on was for everybody to settle on and use for their own reasons. The land had no titles or deed stating who owned it or was using it. The Indians had their own way of reserving land among themselves. Europeans believed in paperwork stating ownership, the Indians didn’t have such paperwork. If the Indians were to have titles or deeds for the land, the Europeans would not recognize it as a legal document. Therefore making the paperwork null and void and the land free to use. The Europeans had plans to preserve the land and build on it. John Winthrop believed there was a natural and civil right to the land. Natural right meaning
In the 16th century, when Europeans first discovered and reached the American continent, the fertile land filled with opportunities, they met the Native Americans. The first encounter between the Europeans and the Natives was rather violent and brutal but significant with several side effects. The Europeans` anthropocentric idea and their congenital idea of conquering brought not only brutality but also advancement in technology to the Native American. The effect is long-lasting and western American was not part of America until the late 19th Century. Thus, the colonial experience has cultivated the advancement in America nowadays to a great extent. (Taylor, X)
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the movements to explore the new world increased rapidly. Among them was the arrival of the early Europeans on Americas. Only in a few decades this arrival has changed the land and the people of the Americas both on the physical the non-physical outcomes.