The Collision Of Native Americans

The collision occurred in 1492 on an island off of two large, vast continents. Millions of years ago, the northern portion of the continent was covered in thick sheets of ice. This provided the passageway for nomadic hunters from Asia to cross over from Siberia (Kennedy and Cohen 5). The descendants of these Native Americans were met with Christopher Columbus, who believed that he had reached the Indies. Columbus called these people “Indians” and the misnomer stuck (Kennedy and Cohen 14). Countless explorers delved further into the continent after Columbus, who made one of the greatest blunders in history. Although Columbus did not actually find a faster route to the Indies, he did spur Europeans from the Old World to venture westward into the New World (Kennedy and Cohen 14-20). The people of both worlds
It is controversial whether or not it was a good thing that the European culture prevailed, due to the heavy tolls that Europeans placed on the Native Americans.
The invading Europeans had both negative and positive impacts on Native Americans. According to the Columbian exchange, Europeans released horses, cows, and pigs. These horses led natives of the Great Plains to become “wide-ranging hunter-warrior societies.” The horses were a positive effect on some tribes due to their increased mobility. It made the hunting of buffalo and the dominion of unmounted tribes much easier for tribes