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Colonial Americas without the Indians

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Colonial Americas without the Indians
One may believe that the information in one’s history textbook is accurate, but this is not always the case. The definition of history is the study of past events, “the branch of knowledge that records and analyzes past events”, according the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. One may “regard the native Americans-if we regard them at all-as exotic or pathetic footnotes to the main course of American history”, according to Axtell. (Axtell, James.981) One may believe this because of what textbooks say. When mentioning Indians, History textbooks often infer the Indians do “nothing, resist… [or make] obstacles to the white settlement [and or] victims of oppression”. The truth is the Indians play a huge part in American history regardless to what most textbooks say. The numbers of scholars that believe the Indians were a crucial piece to American history in increasing. The mines of the Caribbean, Central and South America would not have been the same without the Indians. History itself would be dissimilar in Colonial America without the Indians. There is a probably chance that slavery would have gained popularity quicker if there were not any Indians. History today would not be the same without the Indians. The Colonials learned guerilla warfare fighting from fighting against the Indians. Also the because of the existence of the Indians farming grew in the colonial Americas. The Indians did more than one may give them credit for. Of course it is impossible to know exactly how the colonial Americas would have been without the Indians, but one can see what the Indians left behind. There are still places named after Indians to this day. The Indians gave the colonial lasting ideas to strive in the everyday life. They had experience, traditions; ideas essential knowledge to survive that most definitely assisted the Colonial Americas in one way or another. When studied in more depth; one may realize just how much of an impact the Indians truly had on the Colonial Americas.


Bibliography: Axtell, James. “Colonial America Without the Indians: Counterfactual Reflections” The Journal of American History.Vol.74 (March 1987), 981-996
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