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Colonialism affected native americans
Impacts of colonialism on the Native Americans
Native Americans and colonists relations
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America was found by European explorers, and as they began to explore they found the native people of these new lands. The Europeans began to influence the Native Americans by turning them into Christians and educating them. Although some agreed to be influenced, others didn't causing the relationship between the Native Americans and Europeans to be lopsided, unequal, and untrusting. The Europeans believed that they were superior to the Native Americans, therefore their relationship was lopsided. In the short story "Of Plymouth Plantation", the Europeans make a peace treaty with the Indian Chief Massosoit and his people. One of the terms in the peace treaty states that the Chief and his people are to not hurt any of the Pilgrims. This term does not include the Pilgrims do the same with the Indians making it one sided. The second term also excludes the Pilgrims as it states, " If any of his did hurt to any of theirs, he should send the offender, that they might punish him." These two terms made …show more content…
the Pilgrims create the impression of superiority in comparison to the Indians. After many Europeans established settlement in America, many Indians were taken as personal slaves. In the short story "La Relacion," there is a painting that shows the Spanish invaders and the Indians. The information that we are given next to the painting is ," Indians forced to carry baggage and supplies of the Spanish invaders," telling us of the amount of inequality between the Europeans and the Indians. While the Indians were put to work, the Europeans would relax and punish those who wouldn't work. This lead to the Europeans being unable to be trusted Along with their relationship being lopsided and unequal, they were also untrustworthy.
As Red Jacket answers to Reverend Cram, the reading gets examples of why the Europeans were so difficult to trust. "Tidings were carried back, and more came amongst us. Yet we did not fear them. We took them to be friends. They called us brothers. We believed them and gave them a larger seat," the Indians felt sympathy towards the Europeans therefore they believed them but as soon as more and more Europeans came the more land they wanted. Red Jacket says this because he wants Reverend Cram to know that the Indians do not trust them due to past experiences. Some Indians were submitted into being influenced by the Europeans while others refused due to their relationship being lopsided, unequal, and untrusting. As we begin to look at what the Europeans did with the Indians we begin to realize that the only ones that aren't educated are those who came in and took from the
innocent.
In Jamestown, the settlers had to deal with the Powhatan Indians. The relationships with them were unstable. John Smith, whom was the leader of Jamestown, was captured by these Indians while he was on a little trip with some of his men. As he left two of his men, he came back to find them dead and himself surrounded by two hundred members of the tribe, finding himself being captured. “Six or seven weeks those barbarians kept him prisoner…” 87). After this event, the relationship only grew worse and there was constant fighting between the settlers and Indians. The Indians practiced many methods in capturing settlers such as “scalping” and other dreadful techniques. The settlers did many negative practices also which is the reason they fought so many wars and battles against each other. Later on, the Indians killed the English for their weapons that were rare to them. In contrast to the Plymouth colony, these settlers dealt with the Pequot Indians and the relations were much more peaceful for a certain time frame. At one point, one Indian was brave enough to approach them and spoke to them (in broken English). He taught them the ways of the land, and developed a peace with the man. The settlers from the Plymouth colony learned many ways to grow food from these Indians. “He directed them how to set their corn, where to take fish and to procure other commodities, and was also their
In the 17th Century, widespread colonization of the new world was constantly changing the face of the Americas. European power-houses like England, France and Spain were building colonies on every coast line of the new world. The Native Americans were being forced from the lands they called home for many years, and those that wished to stay were being converted to Catholicism or other religious practices. In some parts of the Americas Native Americans were even being pressed into slavery.
Cronon raises the question of the belief or disbelief of the Indian’s rights to the land. The Europeans believed the way Indians used the land was unacceptable seeing as how the Indians wasted the natural resources the land had. However, Indians didn’t waste the natural resources and wealth of the land but instead used it differently, which the Europeans failed to see. The political and economical life of the Indians needed to be known to grasp the use of the land, “Personal good could be replaced, and their accumulation made little sense for ecological reasons of mobility,” (Cronon, 62).
People know about the conflict between the Indian's cultures and the settler's cultures during the westward expansion. Many people know the fierce battles and melees between the Indians and the settlers that were born from this cultural conflict. In spite of this, many people may not know about the systematic and deliberate means employed by the U.S. government to permanently rid their new land of the Indians who had lived their own lives peacefully for many years. There are many strong and chilling reasons and causes as to why the settlers started all of this perplexity in the first place. There was also a very strong and threatening impact on the Native Americans through the schooling that stained the past and futures of Native Americans not only with blood but also with emotion. It was all a slow and painful plan of the "white man" to hopefully get rid of the Indian culture, forever. The Native American schools were created in an attempt to destroy the Native American way of life, their culture, beliefs and tradi...
Many colonist viewed the Native Americans as spawn of the devil. In Thomas Morton’s writing he said “if we do not judge amiss of these savages in accounting them witches,… some correspondence they have with the Devil out of all doubt.” (Foner 5) An example of historical content is the Metacom’s War by the year of 1675. The Indians in southern New England didn’t like the new settlers pushing on new religion and harsh treatment. Some of the Indians “converted to Christianity, living in protected ‘praying towns.’” (Jones, Wood, Borstelmann, May, and Ruiz 68) The Indians were ok with the conditions until “a white man shot and wounded a Native American.” (Jones, Wood, Borstelmann, May, and Ruiz 69) Colonist began to even distrust the Indians that were willing to convert to Christianity and moved their “praying towns” to “Deer Island in Boston Harbor” (Jones, Wood, Borstelmann, May, and Ruiz 69) This historical content shows that the colonist didn’t truly trust the Indians even when they were of the same religion, like Morton’s writing said “they have with the Devil out of all doubt” (Foner
Each European country treated the Native Americans distinctively and likewise the diverse Native Americans tribes reacted differently. The vast majority of the tribes didn’t wish to overtake the Europeans, but to rather just maintain their status quo. Moreover, Axtell mentions that during the inaugural stages of the encounter, the relationship between the two parties was rather peaceful since the Europeans were outnumbered by the natives. Axtell depicts that unlike the Europeans, the Native Americans treated the strangers equally or superior to themselves. The Indians would welcome the Europeans into their towns and shower them with gifts and blessings. The relationship between the two factions was going serene until the cultural differences became a burden on both
They thought they had a debt to pay to the gods because they were created and chosen. Europeans Take Over In 1828 the Europeans took over the Indians land and killed a lot of the Indian population. This was also the time the Trail Of Tears took place. The trail of tears was caused by the Europeans.
In 1608, a group of Christian separatists from the Church of England fled to the Netherlands and then to the "New World" in search of the freedom to practice their fundamentalist form of Christianity (dubbed Puritanism). The group of people known as the Native Americans (or American Indians) are the aboriginal inhabitants of the Northern and Southern American continents who are believed to have migrated across the Bering land bridge from Asia around 30,000 years ago. When these two societies collided, years of enforced ideology, oppression and guerrilla warfare were begun. The great barriers of religion, ethics and world-views are the three largest factors which lead to the culture clash between the Puritans and the Native Americans.
American Indians shaped their critique of modern America through their exposure to and experience with “civilized,” non-Indian American people. Because these Euro-Americans considered traditional Indian lifestyle savage, they sought to assimilate the Indians into their civilized culture. With the increase in industrialization, transportation systems, and the desire for valuable resources (such as coal, gold, etc.) on Indian-occupied land, modern Americans had an excuse for “the advancement of the human race” (9). Euro-Americans moved Indians onto reservations, controlled their education and practice of religion, depleted their land, and erased many of their freedoms. The national result of this “conquest of Indian communities” was a steady decrease of Indian populations and drastic increase in non-Indian populations during the nineteenth century (9). It is natural that many American Indians felt fearful that their culture and people were slowly vanishing. Modern America to American Indians meant the destruction of their cultural pride and demise of their way of life.
The Americans settled all over the United States and in the 1820s began showing interest in the West because of trade with Asia. Certain leaders were sent out on missions' to "help" better the lives of the Indians and Mexicans. When the white settlers first came to West they viewed the Indians and Mexicans as savages. They did not think of them as human because their lifestyle was unsuitable, or rather different then their own. The only way that they could tolerate them was to try and change their way of living. They attempted to convert them into the Christian religion, to change the way they ate, what they ate, how they ate it, the way they dressed, teach them English, etc. "The object of the missions is to convert as many of the wild Indians as possible, and to train them up within the walls of the establishment in the exercise of a good life, and of some trade, so that they may be able to provide for themselves and become useful members of civilized society."1
The European explorers and colonizers and Native Americans had varied relationships during their encounters in the New World. They both feared and misunderstood each other. This fear led to the two groups often mistreating each other. However, there were always times where they depended on each other’s kindness and treated each other with care. There are examples of both in the following narratives: In the letter by Christopher Columbus, he talks about the natives being timid and how he uses them to help him. In “from Richard Frethorne, to His Parents”, Frethorne tells about the Indians destroying crops and killing people. In the Soveraignty and Goodness of God by Mary Rowaldson, the author tells about her eleven weeks in captivity by the Indians. At times, they behaved as lawless savages. At other times, they showed her kindness and care.
Many things were influenced when the Native Americans and Europeans encountered one another for the first time. There views on humankind’s relationship to nature, the relationship of men and women to each other, and the relationship between different groups of human beings were influenced. They were influenced by the stories that the Native Americans passed down from generation to generation, the story that the Europeans believed from the Bible, and the views of Aristotle.
Many tribes had reigning governments and tribal counsels as a way of life. With westward expansion brought changes. Many Americans were killing their livestock, the food they ate, and Americans were settling more and more on the Indian lands. In time, Indians began to fight back and take what had been theirs. Once this happened, the Americans decided to make the Indians like Americans, so we took their land and tried to make them Americans.
Historically, the black American solution to racially imposed loneliness and homelessness was to embrace the structure of family. White characters in the novel appear without families, for whatever reason. However, black Americans were compelled to come together as a people despised by others, to shelter and protect, even to the point of the creation of extended families, much as George assumes a protective all four. Significantly, Crooks does not receive an invitation to join George, Lenny, and Candy on the farm, even though he broaches the subject. Racial and ethnic minorities in America in the 1930s understood the importance of this strategy for survival because otherwise they would not have survived. Crooks gets described by Curley’s wife as “weak” because he is crippled and a Negro, two conditions which Steinbeck conflates into being synonymous in the novel. He functions in the role of a victim-savant. Acting as an insightful thinker and clarifying the meaning of loneliness for the reader, he remains an “outsider,” someone for whom the reader feels more pity than respect.246 By remaining on this ranch, experiencing unfair treatment, Crooks chooses his own racial victimization each and every day.246
Native Americans had inherited the land now called America and eventually their lives were destroyed due to European Colonization. When the Europeans arrived and settled, they changed the Native American way of life for the worst. These changes were caused by a number of factors including disease, loss of land, attempts to export religion, and laws, which violated Native American culture.