Difference Between European And Native American Settlers

There were very distinct differences between European settlers and the Native Americans they encountered when arriving in the New World. Some obvious differences include, language and culture. But there were many more.

One example of the differences the early Americans faced was religious differences. Many of the European settlers came to North America seeking freedom to worship as they chose and for separation of state and religion. The Native Americans, on the other hand, had little to no religion. Many Europeans tried to teach and convert the Native Americans with little success. Both groups seemed to be very set in their ways.

Another difference was their dependencies. Native Americans depended completely on the land they inhabited for everything including food, clothing, shelter, etc. The Europeans had come from a developed land, where they had industries, factories, and technology. Once in the New World, they were not able to depend solely on the land because they didn’t know how. So they depended largely on trade with their homeland to survive. But they also learned things like

hunting and farming from the Native Americans.
Many of the European settlers that traveled to the New World were considered peasants in England.

They came to North America seeking opportunities for a better lifestyle. They were highly driven by making a profit. They cared little to none about the Natives, as long as they were getting their land and increasing their wealth. The Europeans had an understanding of how land was claimed. The Native Americans did not. They believed that the land they lived on was theirs, while the settlers believed in payment and fences to stake their claim to the land.

The most obvious difference in the Native Americans and the early English settlers was that the Europeans saw North America as a barren land to be claimed and inhabited. Not as a land that had already been inhabited for generations. The Natives saw European settlers as invasive, taking over what they had worked so hard to

establish.
There are so many differences between the European settlers that came to a bare wilderness from a developed country and the Natives that had been living off the land for generations. Some learned to live peaceably with one another, but there was still ample resistance on both accounts.