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Impacts of colonialism in Native America
Impacts of colonialism in Native America
Native american life in colonial america
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Two Sides of the Coin The two articles by James Merrell and Neal Salisbury offer contrasting viewpoints on how the arrival of Europeans impacted Native Americans. The arguments presented by Merrell center around three distinct phases of change: disease, trade, and settlers. He proposed that occurrences forced natives to conform with European norms. This is an incomplete portrait of the encounter, as he described the natives as an entirely passive player, only reacting to the actions of Europeans. Neal Salisbury goes beyond this simplistic image. He examined the natives as active agents in the newly forming world. They were far more engaged in affairs than Merrell described. The article by Salisbury represents a better understanding of the …show more content…
complex nature of the encounter between Europeans and natives, especially economically and politically. Merrell states, “[N]atives throughout North America had their world stolen and another put in its place.” According to him, natives could not help but accept the imposed systems of the settlers. Never were natives a prominent player in the game, but relegated to the sideline, unable to alter or substantially influence events. Salisbury argues to the contrary; Native Americans played a significantly influential role in forming the New World. This seems to be a more complete picture. Much like the Europeans, natives during this time pursued their own interests, what they believed would be best for their people.
In suggesting this, one is not excusing Europeans of wrongdoing, or laying blame at the doorstep of the indigenous population, but recognizing that “Indians are integral to the history of colonial North America,” writes Salisbury. They adapted to the changing environment, but in certain instance would attempt to use the circumstances to their own benefit. A shortcoming of the article by Merrell is its narrow view of natives. He paints them with a rather broad brush. While he did mention, “The range of native societies produced by this mingling of ingredients probably exceeded the variety of social forms Europeans and Africans developed,”(17) he spent the bulk of his article focusing on the Indians of south piedmont. He presented a very in-depth picture of these regional cultures and involvement with Europeans, but this fails to provide an adequate examination of indigenous people as a whole. Salisbury wrote, “[I]ndigenous North Americans exhibited a remarkable range of languages, economies, political systems, beliefs, and material cultures.” The range of people scattered throughout the North American continent was as diverse as the terrain. Even as Merrell put it, there was a“broad spectrum of Indian adaptations” to European …show more content…
settlement. Merrell postulated, after trading with Europeans, “The ancient self-sufficiency was only a distant memory in the minds of the Nation’s elders”(21) While Salisbury claimed, throughout North America and in the Northeast, trade and exchange was a means to sustaining and extending “their social, cultural , and spiritual horizons as well as acquired item considered supernaturally powerful.”(28) He points out that, well before Europeans arrived, objects equivalent to quartz, shell, and other items “formed the heart of long-distance exchange in North America.”(28-29) Some groups were not self-sufficient.
For example, the non-farming Apaches and Navajos were dependent on the produce of the Pueblo tribe. This “alien” economic system was one many native took active part in. It was not entirely imposed upon them. At first, many natives wanted to trade with Europeans because of their potential they possessed supernatural
powers. More practically, Europeans brought superior technology to the table. Merrell even states, “Indians...were glad to barter for the more efficient tools, more lethal weapons, and more durable clothing that colonists offered.” Merrell, in his article, showed trade was not simply a one way street. While it would lead to changes in their culture, the natives directly sought after these technologies. They used the weapons to raid fellow Iroquoi-speaking groups. Guns were found to be extremely useful, Merrell noted their great desire to discover their methods of production. After the “good spirit” failed to unlock their secrets, “[T]hey decided to help their deity along by approaching the colonists.” This give credence to the notion of Salisbury that indigenous people were not of a timeless tradition, but people of continual change and adaptability. Salisbury wrote, “Indians as much as Europeans dictated the form and content of early exchanges and alliances.” The indigenous were highly active politically with the Europeans. Much of their action was not only in response to Europeans, but in accordance with a complex pre-existent social and political situations amongst natives. Merrell gave an example of the 1715 invasion of South Carolina by the Catawbas and their neighbors as a reaction to European settlement. This instance is far from sufficient in representing the military and political interaction between Europeans and natives. Often natives would form alliances with Europeans due to their rivalries with surrounding tribes. For example, as Salisbury mentioned, the Iroquois Nation sought a trade alliance with the Dutch in New Netherlands with the aim of using them against tribes who had allied themselves with the French. “[N]atives and colonizers...often supported one another diplomatically or militarily against common enemies.”(30) Noted Salisbury. The Iroquois were not passive, like the Europeans, they had an agenda. In hopes of establishing their own confederation they fought a sequence of deadly wars against the French and their Indian allies. Salisbury wrote, “After the English supplanted the Dutch in New York in 1664, Iroquois diplomats established relations with the proprietary governor...in a treaty known as Covenant Chain.” They desired to expand British influence and settlement, believing it would aid them in achieving their goal. They would then go on to aid the British in vacating Indians who stifled the expansion of settlers. While the enhanced presence of the British would prove fatal to the Iroquois Nation, they were clearly an active political and military force that helped shaped the formation of European dominance. The articles by Merrell and Salisbury offered very opposite views in the role that natives played in the colonization of their lands in North America. The black and white view offered by Merrell is an understandably sympathetic one, in which foreign invaders imposed a new political and economic system. However, Salisbury built upon the information given by Merrell and gave evidence for a more complex and diverse indigenous population existing in the Americas. These people were spread far, had very different goals, and experienced very distinct interactions with Europeans, in regards to their overall exchange and political issues. This broader picture shows a history in which Native Americans exerted much more influence.
To many of the English colonists, any land that was granted to them in a charter by the English Crown was theirs’, with no consideration for the natives that had already owned the land. This belittlement of Indians caused great problems for the English later on, for the natives did not care about what the Crown granted the colonists for it was not theirs’ to grant in the first place. The theory of European superiority over the Native Americans caused for any differences in the way the cultures interacted, as well as amazing social unrest between the two cultures.
6. (CC) Since Madame Loisel is the protagonist; I would say the necklace itself is the antagonist. As you can tell from the title of this short story, the necklace is the center of the conflict that is created to the Loisels. It is after Madame loses the necklace that all the trouble begins. Also, the necklace causes them misery and they end up being in debt. Madame and her husband had to work harder than they ever before to pay off the
Document 4 explains how the system was to work, “the Indians should work on the Christians’ building, mind the gold, till the fields, and produce food for the Christian’s.” This system benefited the Europeans immensely. On the other hand, many Native’s working were treated very poorly and faced brutal punishment and labor. The enslavement of Native people was another cause of the great decrease in population. The disappearance of Native people leads to the disappearance of their customs, beliefs, and way of life.
This book is complete with some facts, unfounded assumptions, explores Native American gifts to the World and gives that information credence that 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 around the world. They supplied the cotton, rubber, dyes, and related chemicals that fed this new system of production.
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).
In Thomas King’s novel, The Inconvenient Indian, the story of North America’s history is discussed from his original viewpoint and perspective. In his first chapter, “Forgetting Columbus,” he voices his opinion about how he feel towards the way white people have told America’s history and portraying it as an adventurous tale of triumph, strength and freedom. King hunts down the evidence needed to reveal more facts on the controversial relationship between the whites and natives and how it has affected the culture of Americans. Mainly untangling the confusion between the idea of Native Americans being savages and whites constantly reigning in glory. He exposes the truth about how Native Americans were treated and how their actual stories were
As children, students are taught from textbooks that portray Native Americans and other indigenous groups as small, uncivilized, mostly nomadic groups with ways of life that never changed or disfigured the land. Charles Mann’s account of Indian settlements’ histories and archaeological findings tell us otherwise. Mann often states in his book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus that the indigenous groups of North and South America were far more advanced and populous than students are taught. He focuses on many different cultural groups and their innovations and histories that ultimately led to either their demise or modern day inhabitants.
The article, “Native Reactions to the invasion of America”, is written by a well-known historian, James Axtell to inform the readers about the tragedy that took place in the Native American history. All through the article, Axtell summarizes the life of the Native Americans after Columbus acquainted America to the world. Axtell launches his essay by pointing out how Christopher Columbus’s image changed in the eyes of the public over the past century. In 1892, Columbus’s work and admirations overshadowed the tears and sorrows of the Native Americans. However, in 1992, Columbus’s undeserved limelight shifted to the Native Americans when the society rediscovered the history’s unheard voices and became much more evident about the horrific tragedy of the Natives Indians.
The process of assimilation, as it regards to the Native Americans, into European American society took a dreaded and long nearly 300 years. Initially, when the European’s came to the hopeful and promising land of the “New World”, they had no desire or reason anything but minimal contact with the Indians. However, starting in the 1700s the European colonists population skyrocketed. The need for more resources became evident and the colonists knew they could attain these necessities by creating a relationship of mutual benefit with the Native tribes. The Indians, at first skeptical, however became growingly open to the colonists and the relationship they were looking to attain. Indian furs were traded for colonial goods and military alliances were formed.
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.
Talking Back to Civilization , edited by Frederick E. Hoxie, is a compilation of excerpts from speeches, articles, and texts written by various American Indian authors and scholars from the 1890s to the 1920s. As a whole, the pieces provide a rough testimony of the American Indian during a period when conflict over land and resources, cultural stereotypes, and national policies caused tensions between Native American Indians and Euro-American reformers. This paper will attempt to sum up the plight of the American Indian during this period in American history.
In the book Warpaths Invasions of North America author Ian K. Steele attempts to show the reader a different perspective pertaining to the European invasion of North America. The book’s main focus is to re-evaluate the racial colonial version of North American history that society has become accustomed to and show that the original inhabitants were more than merely a primitive and submissive people. The author points to the European attitude that North America was inhabited by a submissive people that were no match for
When reading “Evolution” by Sherman Alexie, the plight of the Native American is clearly seen through Alexie’s choice of words. Since the arrival of European settlers to America, the Native American has suffered hardships ranging from deprivation of culture to death. Alexie signifies this using three central images, which include Buffalo Bill, the liquor store and the pawning of body parts. The following is meant to expound on these images and to make sense of what Alexie is trying to convey to the reader.
Additionally, an interesting argument of Richter’s is the fact that the relationships with settlers is able to develop in differing ways. Following this statement, one may contribute the quintessence of the general support of French over British settlers in the course of Native American history. In a review written by Nancy Shoemaker, she corroborates the authenticity of Richter’s speculations, and reflects her thoughts upon the literary work. Shoemaker praises Richter’s utilization of “Euroamericans” as an apotheosis of the exclusion of Indians from their own territory as they expanded westward, as supported by the citation, “... Euroamericans had opted to exclude Indians from the path blazed by their expansion westward” (Shoemaker
The colonists did not have the natives’ full trust, which ultimately led to painful experiences taking place in a multitude of painful experiences. In one instance, “three weare killed with the Indians going to worke in the wood” (Baldwin 126). Such an act was not unheard of as the natives, rightfully so, were unsure about the idea of colonialism throughout the lands they inhabited. Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler make the popular Native American belief clear by writing that “the natives viewed these developments with concern and distrust, seeing the English encroachment on their lands as a threat” (238). The “English encroachment” was exactly that and did not only cause trouble for the Native Americans but also presented another difficulty that had to be overcome in order to call the English colonization effort in the New World a true