Biological and Cultural Consequences of European Contact with the Native Americans

Illnesses such as smallpox killed the majority of Native American populations significantly weakening the Naive Americans allowing for Europeans to more easily conquer them. The transfer of crops from the Americas to Europe allowed for a more population growth and shaped their cuisine to this day. Potatoes and native to the Americas yet they are and were a staple of European diets, most notably the Irish. European discovery of resources in the Americas led to millions of African slaves being shipped to the Americas to work in mines or plantations. This widespread slave trade has influences race relations to this day.

From the very first interaction, the social and political relations between the Native Americans and the Europeans had begun with much tension. Many Europeans came to the Americas with the intention of discovery. However, when it became apparent that these new lands were inhibited the motives changed, and then the natives were colonized, abused, and in many cases killed. From then and throughout the impending periods of time, the relations between the natives and the Europeans had a few points of mutual peacefulness, but were overall negative.

One extreme change for the Indians was the arrival of Anglo-Europeans. Native peoples’ lives were changed at the blink of an eye while new ideas, practices and beliefs were shown to them. The arrival of the Europeans changed the way the Indians viewed their world and manipulated their resources. This new change could be viewed as positive as well as negative, for while some tribes entered into trade relations with the Anglos, others were used as slave labor and all were subject to disease brought on by the European newcomers. However, despite all the advantages and disadvantages, no other introduction changed the lives of the Indians more than firearms and horses. West outlines one of the most important evolutions for Native life and how it represented a new way to harness resources and gain power. In just a few chapters, we are able to see the great advancements the Indians made in hunting and trade due to these new technologies and how they allowed the Cheyennes to rise to a new purpose as the Called Out People.

Throughout the course of history there have been numerous accounts regarding Native American and European interaction. From first contact to Indian removal, the interaction was somewhat of a roller coaster ride, leading from times of peace to mini wars and rebellions staged by the Native American tribes. The first part of this essay will briefly discuss the pre-Columbian Indian civilizations in North America and provide simple awareness of their cultures, while the second part of this essay will explore all major Native American contact leading up to, and through, the American Revolution while emphasizing the impact of Spanish, French, and English explorers and colonies on Native American culture and vice versa. The third, and final, part of this essay will explore Native American interaction after the American Revolution with emphasis on westward expansion and the Jacksonian Era leading into Indian removal. Furthermore, this essay will attempt to provide insight into aspects of Native American/European interaction that are often ignored such as: gender relations between European men and Native American women, slavery and captivity of native peoples, trade between Native Americans and European colonists, and the effects of religion on Native American tribes.

The European and Native American warfare equipment and tactics differed greatly. The European were a more developed and established organization with a developed and established method of warfare and tactics. The European used prescribed military tactics to fight and defend, they used methods such as raids ambushes and unit formations to invade, surprise and defend against the enemy. The European also used a prescribed military battle doctrine or what’s know today as field manuals (FM’s), they also fought in small unit and moved tactically in formations. The European used weaponry far more advanced than the Native Americans. They were armed with weapons such as matchlocks, pikes, swards and armor. The small organized units were strong enough to defended gained ground regardless of the number of casualties taken.

Europeans implemented their military might when conquering Native Americans. The European technology of weaponry included guns and cannons that were far more advanced than the typical bow and arrow and tomahawks used by Indians. Over the years, colonists used weapons along with other tactics to intimidate natives into conversion or ceding land. With the lack of advanced armament, along with modest numbers, natives were unable to defend themselves from impeding colonial attacks. The invaders were infamously renowned as “mechanical, soulless creatures that wielded diabolically ingenious tools and weapons to accomplish mad ends.”

The first effect of European and Native contact is the spread of diseases. Since the Native Americans had been isolated for centuries, they did not have immunity to European and eventually African diseases.

Native Americans had inherited the land now called America and eventually their lives were destroyed due to European Colonization. When the Europeans arrived and settled, they changed the Native American way of life for the worst. These changes were caused by a number of factors including disease, loss of land, attempts to export religion, and laws, which violated Native American culture.

On 1492, Christopher Columbus was the first person who found North American. After that, European people increasingly started to go North American and they tried to survive in the new world. But North America still had many native Americans to live there. So in my opinion, when Europeans found native Americans and Europeans began to comprehend native American’s living habits. But Europeans came to America that had positive impact and also still had negative impact to native Americans.

Ruth Cuthand’s Trading series also shows how contact impacted Indigenous lives and cultures. As the explanation on her website states, “Trading examines both sides of European trade. Trade brought new items that revolutionized Native life. . . The downside was the decimation of many tribes through disease. Diseases quickly spread, arriving even before Europeans” (Cuthand). While the Indigenous and non-Indigenous people may have been trading goods, they were also exchanging diseases that the other party had never been exposed to before. Although the Europeans may not have intended to expose Indigenous people to diseases that would prove deadly, it was a devastating consequence of contact and presently, is only one of the many negative consequences that occurred due to colonialism.

Conquest and disease are often the primary negative factors analyzed when discussing European interaction with Native Americans in the Americas. However, with the use of bioarcheology, Historians particularly Clark Spencer Larsen, have been able to learn more about the lifestyle and diet of mission Native Americans in Florida from remains which paint a broader picture than traditional European sources. The mass introduction of corn and hard labor into the diets and lives of Plains Native Americans had a detrimental effect upon the wellbeing and health of those living under Spanish rule. These effects become much more pronounced when compared to the distant ancestors of the Native Americans.

The Native Americans sustained and took care of their home, while the Europeans pushed and pulled for more money to fall from it. This caused the land to lose a lot of its density and eventually the Europeans’ wealth as well. Things that were lost were proper farming grounds, culture of the Native Americans, and wild life. Different views of the Europeans and Native Americans caused a lot of conflict. The Europeans’ views on the Indians’ way of life became critical once they saw and felt as if their society was not controlled

To better understand the conflict between the Europeans and the Native Americans, one must closely examine the state of Europe’s economy at the time. Europe struggled with difficult conditions. This included poverty, violence and diseases like typhus, smallpox, influenza and measles. There were widespread famines which caused the prices of products to vary and made life very difficult in Europe. Street crimes and violence were prevalent in cities: “Other eruption of bizarre torture, murder, and ritual cannibalism were not uncommon”.2 Europeans

The introduction of weapons, alcohol, and other European things and ideas also great and unpredictable effects. The Europeans encountered many sophisticated Indian cultures and some owe their survival to the Natives. The Europeans introduced the idea of “ownership of the land” to the Indians. Of course, tribes fought over territory to hunt, fish and occasionally practice agricultural on, but the idea of “ownership” of land was something they didn't comprehend. For some Indians the land was considered sacred, the idea of agriculture was thought of as insulting to the Earth, and many aspects of nature. For the Indians, things in nature like rivers, ponds, and even rocks, were like the saints in Christian cultures. Even after they had made deals with the Europeans for the purchase of land, they didn't understand what they had done and that led to further conflict. Europeans also changed their barter system. They had built complex economic relationships with other tribes and understood commerce as it existed in their barter and exchange system. Europeans had a destructive impact of this trading culture, trading different things than the Indians were used to and also through the use of currency.

Since the Europeans set foot on North American soil in 1620,they have had a devastating effect on the native population. I will be discussing the long term effect of North American colonisation on the Native Americans, focusing on such issues as employment opportunities, the environment, culture and traditions, health, as well as social justice.