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European colonization and its effects on Native Americans
An essay about spanish conquest
Contrast Native Americans and the European colonizers
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Throughout history, the phrase “Is the price of progress worth it” has been the critical foundation of the topic of European Exploration including the perspective is it worth it if it meant total obliteration towards other civilizations. Ignition for European Exploration by British and Spanish was fueled by various purposes, such as wealth, expansion of land, the spread of the religious faith, economic opportunities, mercantilism, and more. While in treacherous exploration, Europeans endeavored an abundance of hardships, and vanquished Native American civilizations, by treating them with such cruelty and brutality, all for the price of progress. Due to the long-lasting impact of a decrease in the Native American civilization, because of European Exploration, the price of progress isn’t worth it if it means the destruction …show more content…
One explorer, in particular, was Hernando de Soto's expedition began in the Southwestern corner of Georgia in 1540. Although, Native Americans in the area where convivial, and shared resources like food with the Spanish, de Soto, and other Spanish conquistadors dealt with them cruelly. One of his expeditions in Alabama sparked a war with the local natives, however, they were not a match for the technologically advanced weapons the Spanish had, killing thousands of their people. Additionally, de Soto and his men were thought to be the first European peoples to discover the Mississippi River, but he soon died from a fever. Throughout the years following de Soto’s exploration, they found no riches and returned to Spain with only their lives, European disease had a major impact on the Native Americans. Over time the Native American civilization began drastically and dramatically decreasing due to the European diseases, such as measles and chickenpox, that they had no immunity to, henceforth showing this cost has a superior
From a proud Conquistador, to a castaway, a slave and trader, and then medicine man, Cabeza de Vaca was the first European to explore much of the southern coast of Texas. Cabeza was a 37 year old military veteran in 1527 when he left on the Narvaez Expedition to find gold and colonize the Gulf Coast. He was the expedition’s treasurer. Cabeza de Vaca was enslaved by Indians in 1528 when one of the rafts the crew made crashed on present day Galveston island, he then escaped in 1530 and joined/was enslaved by another tribe called the Charrucos until his escape with 3 other survivors in 1534. He then walked to Mexico City. Cabeza survived this ordeal because of the incredible patience he had, his skills of diplomacy and goodwill, and his amazing wilderness survival skills.
This book is complete with some facts, unfounded assumptions, explores Native American gifts to the World and gives that information credence which really happened yet was covered up and even lied about by Euro-centric historians who have never given the Indians credit for any great cultural achievement. From silver and money capitalism to piracy, slavery and the birth of corporations, the food revolution, agricultural technology, the culinary revolution, drugs, architecture and urban planning our debt to the indigenous peoples of America is tremendous. With indigenous populations mining the gold and silver made capitalism possible. Working in the mines and mints and in the plantations with the African slaves, they started the industrial revolution that then spread to Europe and on around the world. They supplied the cotton, rubber, dyes, and related chemicals that fed this new system of production. They domesticated and developed the hundreds of varieties of corn, potatoes, cassava, and peanuts that now feed much of the world. They discovered the curative powers of quinine, the anesthetizing ability of coca, and the potency of a thousand other drugs with made possible modern medicine and pharmacology. The drugs together with their improved agriculture made possible the population explosion of the last several centuries. They developed and refined a form of democracy that has been haphazardly and inadequately adopted in many parts of the world. They were the true colonizers of America who cut the trails through the jungles and deserts, made the roads, and built the cities upon which modern America is based.
Beginning in the fifteenth century with the arrival of Columbus, natives of the Americas were infected with European diseases that proved to be deadly to the Indians. The population in northern Mexico suffered an immense decimation of 2,500,000 peoples to less than 320,000 by the end of the sixteenth century (Vargas, 30). The Spaniards’ cruel treatment of the natives aided this vast reduction in the Aztec and Mexican population, enabling the Spaniards to conquer the lands of the Aztecs and other native tribes. By the end of the sixteenth century, the Spaniards had expanded their conquests into the southwest region of what is now known as the United States of America.
The essay starts with the “Columbian Encounter between the cultures of two old worlds “ (98). These two old worlds were America and Europe. This discovery states that Native Americans contributed to the development and evolution of America’s history and culture. It gives the fact that indians only acted against europeans to defend their food, territory, and themselves.
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 Europeans colonized most of America because they saw the land they had available where they could expand their influence on the world. Also, they were able to establish colonies that sent raw materials home which would make them money. Through the analysis of Jared Diamonds video Guns, Germs, and Steel, this essay will show that the Europeans were able to conquer the Native American’s so easily because of their geography, weapons, and diseases.
When the European and Spanish Empire came to America to seek land, they brought more than just diseases, people, and conflicts. Their hunger for wealth and power forced them to set sail in search of new land that they can call their own. Although they believed to have discovered a ‘New World’, they discovered a land that was already dominated by the Native Americans. Colonialism brought great trauma which heavily impacted the foundation of the culture and events that took place during this time.
Hernando De Soto was a Spanish explorer and Conquistador. He was born on October 21, 1496 in Extremadura, Spain. Hernando led the first European expedition deep into the territory of modern-day United States and he was the first documented European to have crossed the Mississippi River. Hernando De Soto’s expeditions were carried out order to discover and search for gold, silver and a passage to China. One of Hernando’s most extensive trips was a vast North American expedition, which went throughout the Southeastern United in search for gold and silver. In 1530, Hernado became a council member of Leon, Nicaragua. With his men, he led expeditions up the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in search of a passage through the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Hernando embarked on a
During the European expedition in America, they founded colonies in North America that attracted thousands of settlers. The Europeans tried to get rid of the Native Americans in order to get what they wanted, which was economic wealth, landowning, slave trade, property ownership, and tobacco. M. Zylstra writes about “Colonization of History”, hybridization of history, and what the colonization of the natives by the Europeans lead to. Zylstra states.
The encounter of early explorers with the people of the Americas would ultimately set in motion the destruction of long existing Native American life and culture. Engrained into the minds of the Europeans were prejudiced images and stereotypes of the Native Americans, which we struggle still today to eradica...
Being from Mexico and learning how the Spanish conquistadors arrived and blended immediately with the Indians into a mestizo culture, it is extremely interesting how in North America European Americans and the indigenous people by no means would coexist peacefully and merge into a new culture. I have now learned about the conquering of the new world both north of the Rio Grande and south of it, and I have concluded that north of the US-Mexico border the indigenous population had no chance at all for survival or establishing an independent nation. Thousands of years without exposure and inexperience at war or epidemic diseases led to evolving disparities, which caused the downfall and conquest of the indigenous people at the hands of the European Americans. Other factors such as inferior technology, ideological and moral differences, tribal disputes, and American land policies had a profound effect on the Native Americans on their attempt to maintain or establish an independent nation.
Capital punishment has been a major debate in society of whether it should be administered to criminals or abolished. It is a source of controversy because of the effectiveness and morality of taking one’s life. People have argued it should be implemented because it is wrong to allow a malefactor to live, while others reason that too many innocent people are executed and therefore it should be removed. However, when taking all the positive and negative effects into consideration, it is clear that the death penalty is necessary because it deters future crimes from being committed, is a justified punishment for those who have murdered, and is carried out by a fair system that does not have racial disparities.
Throughout the course of history, a civilization may gain benefit from the demolition of another. This course of action was the driving force of the Age of Exploration. What the Spanish called ‘discovery’ was really the downfall and pilagement of a thriving civilization, only to be rebuilt for the use of trans-continental trade in the form of colonization. The survivors would be enslaved and their neighbors would soon follow. The Age of Exploration can be remembered as a time of new discovery, trade, and prosperity, but only the Europeans experienced the brighter side of things. The natives/mesoamericans had their Ancient cities and civilizations destroyed and left disease ridden, while the rest were enslaved and worked for the economic benefit of the Europeans. The Europeans were also benefited, by spreading not only territorial power for political aims, but christianity and other religions to convert the defenseless tribes to a European lifestyle. Overall, the
...ed Okonkwo, “[The white man] says that our customs are bad. But how can he understand our customs when he does not even speak our tongue?” This powerful line from the book Things Fall Apart, captures the very essence of the negatives of colonialism. The Europeans did not see the cultures that once flourished or the ancient traditions embedded in the local tribes. They did not see the sense of community and belongingness that their victims once shared. Instead of taking their differences as unique, the Europeans saw them as a threat to their economic progress. They took so much away from the civilizations that will never be regained, simply for their own imperialistic, monetary purposes. European nations may have reached an all time high in terms of economic prosperity, but it was not and will never be worth the loss of humanity and morality necessary to achieve it.
The age of exploration started with one Spanish man by the name of Christopher Columbus from 1460-1521. He stormed the Americas claiming lands in the name of Spain, God, and gold. Columbus when first exploring reached the Americas thinking he had hit the East Indies. Instead he reached a Caribbean island and named the natives Indians. These ‘Indians’ were defenseless against everything the Europeans brought because everything they brought was bigger and better than what the Natives had. Although the Spanish Crown had instructed to use diplomacy before force the explorers and their armies were very aggressive. Occasionally the Europeans had brought big dogs with them to fight off any unfriendly Indians. “Native villages were plundered, women raped, and people taken into slavery. One tactic was to lure the tribal chief into the Spanish council and hold him hostage until their demands were met.”(Gale) These tactics often would the explorers up in situations where they were at war with the Natives. This almost ensured that exploration of the Americas was going to have negative effects.