Differences Between Native Americans And Europeans

In 1450, North America and Europe were each home to complex societies with their own distinctive cultures. (Textbook, pg.2) Native Americans and Europeans were similar in many ways, though still having differences among themselves; their distinctive ideas on gods and the spirit world informed their political systems and animated their approaches to trade and warfare. (Textbook, pg.2) Horticulture societies allowed for a more sedentary lifestyle, which in turn led to greater social, political, and religious development. (Farless, lecture 1.11)
Before the arrival of the Europeans, most Native Americans believed and claim the Americas as their own. Native Americans’ economic and social system were adapted to the ecosystems they inhabited. Most
were farmers, hunters, gather, or fisherman. The Indian farmers raised many different varieties of maize (corn), beans, squash, and tobacco. Village leaders assigned plots of land to use per season, tribes claimed specific areas for hunting, and unclaimed land was free for anyone. Tribal leaders were men and Indian women owned dwellings and tools. Native Americans owned rights to land usage, but did not own the actual land. The land was a common resource not economic commodity. Wealth barely mattered-the Algonquin people were generous, and gift giving was important.
Among the Natives Americans premarital sex was not permitted. Wives were able to field for divorce. Matrilineal centered on clans, in which children became members of the mothers’ family and not the fathers’. (Farless, lecture1.20) Spiritual power suffused the world. Sacred spirits could be found in all kinds of living and inanimate thing, also known as animism. Rituals and ceremonies to engage the spiritual power of nature to secure abundant crops or fend off evil spirits. The use of shamans, medicine men other religious leaders were respected and had authority.
When the Europeans arrived there was approximately 60 million people occupied the Americas. (Textbook, pg.7) The English colonists sought to expand English rule, English laws and English government over the Indian nations, which they encountered. With European Contact populations dropped in some places by 90%. (Farless, lecture1.13) When Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492, for what he believed was in route to Asia, he came across an encounter of greater value, The Americas. (Henretta, pg.6) The Spanish funded Columbus with grants for his expedition where he was to establishing land in the northeast the English where establishing plantations and colonies and on the search for gold and spices. (Henretta, pg.6) There he encountered the Algonquin people and describes them as weak and not as developed as Europe. Thought Indians lacked religion, Christianity was practiced by European churches. True religion was said to promote progress of civilization. Married man controlled family’s property. The wife had no legal independent; this was by the English law. Owned land meant freedom and liberty to Europeans. it was an economic commodity. Accumulation of wealth and material goods affected status. Land was not distributed equal among their people. People with money and status own land.
Many Europeans strongly endorsed the colonization of the Americas, pointing to the manifold advantages available to those nations that planted settlement there.
(Henretta, pg.75) European figured it would be easier to befriend the Native Americans, instead of killing and going to war, because the Native American were seen as weak and not advance in technology and weapons in the eyes of the European. (Henretta, pg.7) With European people thinking they could just enter the Americas and take over, they did bring goods to the table. The European people brought over live stock, like horses, and other types of spices and grain that the Native American people had never encountered. The Europeans traded valued products to be on good terms with the Natives, even when the Native products weren’t equal in value. (Henretta, pg.53) The Europeans even coerced the Natives into learning and practicing their customs. (Henretta, pg.7) The European where taking advantage of the natives, by taking their land and also forcing them to move westward, upsetting many in the process, the Native Americans had enough. European conquered and coopted Native American empires with relative ease, but smaller and more decentralization polities were harder to exploit. Mobile hunters-gatherers appeared politically amorphous, but they became especially formidable opponents of colonial expansion. (Textbook, pg.2) European colonization triggered a series of sweeping changes in history. The Columbian Exchange
introduced many plants, animals, and germs. Conflict and outright warfare with Western European newcomers and other American tribes further reduced populations and disrupted traditional society. Invading Europeans enslaved Native Americans and drove them into exile. The demand of plantation agriculture led Europeans too import slaves from Africa. (Textbook, pg.32)
Native Americans and Europeans were similar in many ways, though still having differences among themselves.
There different perspectives of land use, religion, and gender complicate these encounters and relationships. Both the Native Americans and the Europeans exchanged things with each other’s for mutual benefit, especially privileges granted by one country or organization to
another.