Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Effects of colonialism in america on indigenous population
Effects of colonization on indigenous people
Effects of colonialism in america on indigenous population
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Effects of Colonisation on North American Indians Since the Europeans set foot on North American soil in 1620,they have had a devastating effect on the native population. I will be discussing the long term effect of North American colonisation on the Native Americans, focusing on such issues as employment opportunities, the environment, culture and traditions, health, as well as social justice. I will begin with the important issue of employment opportunities. The unemployment rate for Native Americans is a staggering 49%. The following reasons state why the unemployment rate is so high. To start with, Native Americans have been portrayed by the media (such as movies) as primitive and hostile when in fact it is quite the opposite. This created a negative image of Native Americans to American society which obviously decreased their chances of finding employment. Another reason is the discriminatory issue, which occurs not so much now, but in the past, many employers were reluctant to employ a Native American person because of their skin colour as well as their culture and beliefs. Also, most Native Americans have a much more cultural yet different skill base, therefore they have not acquired most of the skills necessary to work professionally in western society. Native Americans have always had an immediate and dependent relationship with their surrounding environment. Prior to European contact, the pristine environment was used by Native Americans as a food source as well as a traditional place for healing. They cultivated land, were expert hunters and fishermen, skilled craftsmen, and created and sustained self-sufficient communities. All of this was occurring centuries before the Europeans arrived. Since colonisati... ... middle of paper ... ...life but also take it. Today, Native Americans are dying of diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis, suicide, and other health problems at shocking rates. Compared with Anglo Americans, they have a much higher death rate and the situation is not improving. Native Americans are amongst the most disadvantaged and poorest. They suffer the worst health conditions, receive the least educational and employment opportunities, treated unjustly by society, had their culture and traditions significantly ruined and have their much loved environment destroyed. This is the result of colonisation, disease and removal from their homeland by the European settlers. It took only three centuries for them to destroy a culture that had been in existence for more than 20,000 years, and although many groups are attempting to regain their cultural identity, it will never be the same
Modern day Native American are widely known as stewards of the environment who fight for conservation and environmental issues. The position of the many Native American as environmentalists and conservationists is justified based on the perception that before European colonists arrived in the Americas, Native Americans had little to no effect on their environment as they lived in harmony with nature. This idea is challenged by Shepard Krech III in his work, The Ecological Indian. In The Ecological Indian, Krech argues that this image of the noble savage was an invented tradition that began in the early 1970’s, and that attempts to humanize Native Americans by attempting to portray them as they really were. Krech’s arguments are criticized by Darren J Ranco who in his response, claims that Krech fails to analyze the current state of Native American affairs, falls into the ‘trap’ of invented tradition, and accuses Krech of diminishing the power and influence of Native Americans in politics. This essay examines both arguments, but ultimately finds Krech to be more convincing as Krech’s
The Native American’s way of living was different from the Europeans. They believed that man is ruled by respect and reverence for nature and that nature is an ancestor or relative. The Native American’s strongly belie...
In the 1830's the Plains Indians were sent to the Great American Deserts in the west because the white men did not think they deserved the land. Afterwards, they were able to live peacefully, and to follow their traditions and customs, but when the white men found out the land they were on were still good for agricultural, or even for railroad land they took it back. Thus, the white man movement westward quickly begun. This prospect to expand westward caused the government to become thoroughly involved in the lives of the Plains Indians. These intrusions by the white men had caused spoilage of the Plains Indians buffalo hunting styles, damaged their social and cultural lives, and hurt their overall lives. The lives of the Plains Indians in the second half of the nineteenth century were greatly affected by the technological development and government actions.
... many setbacks and problems for the Natives, including poverty, alcoholism, and underperformance in education. With better acceptance of the Native culture, and aid from America as a whole, the Native American idea of freedom to self govern, roam freely, and preserve the Native culture can greater be aligned with that of American Freedom.
suffering the Native Americans are plagued with as a result of the lack of acceptance towards
The author starts the chapter by briefly introducing the source in which this chapter is based. He makes the introduction about the essay he wrote for the conference given in at Vanderbilt University. This essay is based about the events and problems both Native Americans and Europeans had to encounter and lived since the discovery of America.
In his essay, “The Indians’ Old World,” Neal Salisbury examined a recent shift in the telling of Native American history in North America. Until recently, much of American history, as it pertains to Native Americans; either focused on the decimation of their societies or excluded them completely from the discussion (Salisbury 25). Salisbury also contends that American history did not simply begin with the arrival of Europeans. This event was an episode of a long path towards America’s development (Salisbury 25). In pre-colonial America, Native Americans were not primitive savages, rather a developing people that possessed extraordinary skill in agriculture, hunting, and building and exhibited elaborate cultural and religious structures.
American Indians have had health disparities as result of unmet needs and historical traumatic experiences that have lasted over 500 hundred years.1(p99) Since first contact American Indians have been exposed to infectious disease and death2(p19), more importantly, a legacy of genocide, legislated forcible removal, reservation, termination, allotment, and assimilation3. This catastrophic history had led to generational historical traumas and contributes to the worst health in the United States.2 American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) represent 0.9 percent of the United States population4(p3) or 1.9 million AI/AN of 566 federally recognized tribes/nations.5 American Indians/Alaska Natives have significantly higher mortality rates of intentional and unintentional injuries, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease and chronic lower respiratory disease than other American.6
Historical trauma has brought psychological effects on the Native American community. Many suffer from alcohol and drug abuse, depression, and poverty. I wondered why they do not get help from the government and after watching the documentary California’s “Lost” Tribes I began to understand that in any reservation the tribe is the government, so they do not have the same rights as a city outside the reservation. Many of the the reservations were placed in areas where they could not do any form of agriculture, so they did not have a source of income. Many of this reservations have to find ways to get themselves out of poverty and many of the reservations within California have found a way to get out of their poverty by creating casinos
Native Americans were abused by Spanish officials when the Spanish invaded their lands. In an attempt to control the attacks of the Native Americans, they enlisted fear into the minds of the Indians.
Even though the major catastrophe for Native Americans was a long time before the foundation of the United States, the last calamity was brought about somehow by Jefferson’s concepts that land and agriculture are the bases of a civilization. Today, Native Americans live in reservations with hard conditions, similar to those of the Third World countries, in terms of employment, accommodation, and health. Many young people do not have jobs, and those who work earn less than the minimum wage. Thousands of people are homeless, the rest of them live in houses some of which lack the essential services such as electricity, telephone, sewers. Native Americans also suffer from several chronic diseases such as diabetes, and cancer without having adequate supply of health care (Living
This triggered the largest population decline in all recorded history. Fifty percent of the Native American population had died of disease within twenty years. Soon after, Native Americans began to question their religion and doubted the ability of the shaman to heal. This was the first step towards the destruction of Native cultures. The Native Americans had never experienced anything like these deadly diseases before, and they came to believe that Europeans had the power to kill or give life.
Many people believe that Native Americans are a disadvantaged group of individuals in many ways. Culturally, in that many of the cultures of the various tribes across the Americas were taken from them by Europeans and their descendants. Socially, in that they are unlike other minorities in the United States because of their extra-constitutional status; and even medically, stemming from the general belief that Natives are at a higher risk for disease than other ethnicities due to tobacco and alcohol use, especially when used together (Falk, Hiller-Sturmhöfel, & Yi, 2006).
Contrary to popular belief, discrimination of Native Americans in America still widely exist in the 21st century! So you may ask, why? Well, to answer that one question, I will give you 3 of the countless reasons why this unfortunate group of people are punished so harshly for little good reason. So now, let’s get into it, shall we!
Since Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean in 1492, Native Americans have suffered at the hands of foreign invaders. Sometimes it was overt oppression (Spain would force Natives to “submit to spanish authority”) while other times, it was more subtle, such as when their children went to boarding schools for “better education” (Hurtado et. al. 63, ). Whatever the method, Native Peoples would continue to experience hardship even into the present day.