Differences Between Europeans And Native Americans

When the Europeans landed in the Americas, they were surprised to find that other people had already populated the land. These people came to be known as Indians to the Europeans, and Native Americans to us today. They were called Indians due to the fact that the Europeans at first thought that they were in India, as they stumbled across the Americas whilst looking for a quicker shipping route to India, not knowing the fast land masses that separated Europe and India. Eventually though they discovered that they were not in India and they were in a previously undiscovered land. They began to settle there. The Europeans did not come alone, however. With them they brought many strange diseases that were foreign to the Americas and the native
people there. The Indians were not immune to the diseases as the Europeans had been, so almost immediately after the European’s arrival, many Indians died from sickness. Some of the many diseases that the Europeans brought were smallpox, measles, bubonic plague, influenza, typhus, diphtheria, scarlet fever. Huge epidemics were caused by these diseases. Eventually, the Europeans started fighting over these new found lands. In order to expand, the Europeans would come through Indian villages and burn them down, kill innocent people, and otherwise completely destroy them. Because of this, many Indians felt the need to side with the Europeans, for their own protection. The Indians started to help the Europeans fight their wars. Even though they sided with the Europeans for their protection, many lost their lives in the battles. Even though the risks were large, Indians stayed allied to the Europeans as long as they were promised to be taken care of for long term. Eventually many of the Indians were forced out of their land and up North, onto small reservations scattered around Canada. The Europeans had control over the Indians, so they decided to force Indian children to attend residential and industrial schools. The residential school was set up to educate Indian children on how to live a civilized life. The main reason the Europeans wanted the land for themselves was because there were huge deposits of gold and silver in the New World, deposits that would not be found in Europe. Europeans also used the lands for farming corn, potatoes, pineapples, tomatoes, tobacco, beans, vanilla, and chocolate. Many innocent Indians died from the Europeans hunger for more land. Their lives all changed dramatically once the Europeans landed, most of them not for the better. Where the Europeans benefited, the Indians did not.