Essay On Native American Colonization

615 Words2 Pages

The ancestors of the American Indians were the first settlers in North America. It is believed that they immigrated over a land bridge which connected North America to Eurasia about 16 000 years ago. They came in groups and the different groups evolved into different tribes with different cultures and traditions. Scientists estimate that the pre-Columbian population was between 10 and 50 million. After Europeans arrived in 1492, the indigenous were subject of a genocide. On the picture above, you can see where different tribes lived before European colonization.

The European colonization of North America changed the indigenous population’s way of life and their culture. They caught illnesses they were not immune too, like chickenpox and measles. They did not have any
The government sought to purchase Native American land to satisfy the land hunger of the new immigrants. President George Washington believed the Native Americans to be equals to the white population, but their way of life were inferior. Therefore, he formulated a civilizing process, which was a way of assimilating Native Americans into society. The government did this by sending Indian American kids to boarding schools founded by Christian missionaries. The Christians forced them to give up their language, religion and identity. A majority of the kids experienced sexual, physical and mental abuse while at these schools.

Not until 1924 did the Native Americans receive an American citizenship. Today several laws protect them and they have all the rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution, like the right to vote and the right to run for office. While they have the same rights, they still experience problems, such as poverty, racism, drugs, unemployment and violence. Indians also have problems with alcohol and alcohol related deaths are four times as common as in the general US

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