Difference Between Europeans And Native Americans

The arrival of Europeans in America greatly disrupted the life of the Natives. The natives had their own culture in America with their own special beliefs. When Europeans arrived they tried to alter the way Native Americans lived their lives to resemble their way of living. The Natives did not respect this because they had previously built a lifestyle in America that they wish not to be transformed. The two cultures had different opinions about government, religion, land, and society. Due to the many differences between the Native and European people, it was unfeasible that there would be no conflicts between them.

The Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida, they inherited all of these lands from their ancestors who cultivated for generations. According to Elias Boudinot the natives considered themselves to be just as equal as the Whites, he states, “What is an Indian? Is he not formed of the same materials with yourself?” (Boudinot, 1826) The natives saw themselves to be no different from the Whites, in fact they cared for one another as a whole, they lived in kinships, where there was never an Indian left alone without a family. They followed a society based off of the concept of interdependence, they had in their mind that everything is dependent of something. The Indians were very advanced, and were able to prosper in their society, although the Whites believed otherwise, and believed that the natives were uncivilized.

The Native Americans, at the time of the first encounter, were still very culturally and socially primitive compared to the Europeans. They moved a lot, lived mainly of fishing and hunting, spent their time cultivating and used primitive tools and equipment in their daily activities.

In the 16th and 17th century, the Americas was being explored by Spain, Britain, and other countries. Many of these countries set up colonies in the Americas where Native Americans were living. Europeans moved into colonization of the Americas and brought changes to the land and its people. Europeans traded, hunted to warfare and personal property. As Europeans established their colonies, their societies also became segmented and divided along religious and racial lines. Most people in the societies were not free. They labored long hours as servants or slaves to produce wealth for others. As more Europeans came to settle the land in the Americas, their presence had a tremendous effect on the native peoples who were living in the Americas. The Native peoples’ life in the Americas provided lots for the Europeans to use. They traded cattle, chickens, horses, pigs, sheep, sugarcane, and wheat, for chocolate, pineapple, potatoes, pumpkins/squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and tobacco. The diets of the Natives and Europeans widened as different food types was being traded. The Natives were very open to the Europeans as they came into their land and communicated with the Natives. Over time, the landscape changed as more European communities increased. The Europeans held on to their idea of land ownership while the Natives idea of the land was for the person that need it. Also, the Europeans hoped to change the Natives to Christianity but also trick them into being slaves for the

The interactions between Europeans and Native Americans have not always been positive. There are numerous difference that interactions between the two groups. Europeans were known as a group that during the 16th and 17th century, made a great deal of change with their religious views. They were once without religion, but were known to turn to sects like Christianity and Puritanism. The Native Americans were a group known to be without religion. These people did not believe it one God and a book to follow. They believed in various higher beings that oversaw things like hunting, crops and sacrifices. These spirits didn’t represent a sense of hope or something to look forward as did being a Christian. William Bradford and Mary White Rowlandson were two religious people who came from England to the new world in order to seek new opportunities in their religious pilgrimage. Upon their arrival to Massachusetts, they lived in settlements were next to Native establishments. Both women told stories of the horrors that the Natives put upon them.

Introduction: When the Europeans arrived to the Americas, they became confused as they saw the Native Americans. The Europeans noticed that the Native Americans had tools that were primitive to them, saw that the Natives’ architecture was bad based on their society, and that Natives had different spiritualities that them.

It is important to remember this was not a New World to the Indians. The Native Americans felt as if their whole world had been taken away by aliens of an alien culture. Not only did the Native Americans have to change for one group, but many different settlers coming to this new continent. Many European groups of different nationalities defined the New World through conflict from differences of opinions. European colonists of different nationalities interacted with the Native Indians in different ways.

They relied on the natural resources given to them by “Mother Earth” herself. The Native Americans knew their surrounding areas like the back of their hand. They were excellent hunters and foragers. The Powhatan Indians had to travel far distances to trade with other tribes in different areas. According to the Virginia Department of Education, “The Powhatan Indians depended on the rivers and the Bay to provide a means of traveling to other villages.”

The relationship between the Native American population and the Europeans was met with war and bloodshed. Native Americans were looked upon as a restraint of the expansion of the British and Spanish Empires moving through the Americas. The Native Americans helped the Europeans before a war and rebellion broke out. They helped show the colonists the potential of the land and what the natural resources could be used for. It states,” Although Native Americans were often regarded as a direct threat to the expansionist aims of the British and Spanish Empires, they played an important role in introducing European colonists to the landscape and environment of North America. In teaching the colonists their methods of subsistence, Native Americans revealed the vast economic potential of the continent's abundant natural resources.”

The Native Americans and Europeans had very different ways of life and with the Europeans' arrival, the natives' way of life was altered. They were forced to coexist with European lifestyles and were not able to use the land as they had before. From the time they came to what we call America, 12,000 to 15,000 years ago, the Native Americans have depended on the land to support themselves.  They would move around according to the seasons, and they had very few possessions which eased the effort of moving (p. 38).

Eventually, the Europeans and Native Americans learned many things about each other’s cultures as time continued. As more and more European explorers arrived to the New World in the sixteenth century, their general attitudes and beliefs of the Native Americans evolved from ignorant, to impressed, to surpassed in society and culture.

The European settlers are far different from the Native Americans. They did not understand how someone could be entirely content with so little. The Europeans are all about trying to find the latest thing and truly believed that they are more important. The Native Americans would only use resources when needed. Such as building houses from poles found in the woods and bark off of trees. Instead of using more sturdy material as the Europeans did. Using nature to comply with needs, using hides of animals to stay warm with. If a stranger was to come they would be greeted warmly and be told to lie on a fur rug such as the natives did. These people may not have had much, but humanity was all that was needed. If someone was hungry, they would be fed. The Europeans on the other hand, were far more selfish and only cared about getting ahead.

Throughout history there has been a constant conflict between viewing the interactions of the Europeans and Native Americans as a moral question rather than historically. Many people view this topic as something that is very controversial due to the history between the two groups. The fact that the Europeans practically re-wrote history by arriving in North America is something that should be undisputed when mentioned as a historical matter, instead of the spreading of diseases being viewed as a moral matter. The Europeans coming in contact with Native Americans brought many changes to both Europe and North America that would have never happened if they did not set sail for North America. These changes include the spread of agriculture in both North America and Europe, new trade routes in both North America and Europe, and the spread of Christianity to the Native Americans. Although the treatment of the Native Americans by

The United States saw themselves superior to the Native Americans in all ways. One of these superiorities included the social stance between the whites and the Indians. In the winter of 1811 Tecumseh preached to the Osages, “The white men despise and cheat the Indians; they abuse and insult them; they do not think the red men sufficiently good to live.” The Natives begin to realize that they have always been mistreated by the whites and understand that they are seen as inferior towards the whites. This is similar to John Ross’s experience; he was once liked very much by many white men, until after he married a white woman. Their marriage aroused harsh anger and he soon became disliked by the white man for taking a woman of their race. The riot

According to the text, the author believes that the enmities between European settlers and Indians are unavoidable even if they seem to be friendly to each other at first. In my opinion, I agree with the author’s argument because from the historical events and trends, we can tell the excessive conflicts, especially beliefs on certain issues, lands and religion especially, and the external diseases, which reveal a radical age.