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Discuss The Effects Of European Colonization On Native Americans

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Philip Compton Professor Ozanne & TA Christy HIS 315K 4 March 2024 The Effects of Colonization on Native Americans (Question 1) In hopes of finding prosperity in North America through land and materials, European colonization was rampant from 1492 to 1783. However, these actions had immense effects on the Native American population. These effects, both positive and negative, had lasting impacts on various tribes all throughout North America. From 1492 to 1783, European colonization altered Native American lives through cultural developments and trade, through the acquisition of land and destruction of civilizations, and through religious conversion attempts and annihilation or enslavement of populations. First, European colonizers altered Native …show more content…

While they converted some Natives, their “conversion” tactics proved to be less than ideal, such as how they were “burning Native sacred objects and threatening Native religious leaders, [thus alienating] far more Indians than they converted.” Through acts like these, European colonizers disrespected Native Americans and their distinct identities. For those Native Americans who did not comply with the conversion tactics of the Europeans, horrible fates awaited. Spanish Dominican priest Baratolomé de Las Casas detailed the cruelty of the Spanish colonizers, citing how the Spanish have “inhumanely and barbarously butchered and harassed” Native Americans. Thus, Native Americans' identities and lives were altered by European colonizers through the attempted (and sometimes successful) conversion to Christianity and through death and enslavement. In totality, Native Americans’ lives were upended and undoubtedly changed with the arrival of European colonizers in North America. Prior to their arrival, Natives lived within their own distinct groups and operated with their own power dynamics. Their livelihoods were altered through cultural developments, such as shifts to these power dynamics, and through relations and introductions to new goods through trade. European colonizers, looking to conquer and claim land, saw Natives as inferior savages who needed conversion to Christianity. Thus, they used inhumane methods to claim their desires. Native settlements and cultures were altered through the acquisition, or in some cases destruction, of land and homes. When these methods were not enough, Europeans looked to kill and enslave Native populations, so that they could conquer the area with ease. Thus, while European colonization brought new goods through trade and cultural developments to Native societies, their lasting impact proved to be overwhelmingly negative, as settlements were overtaken, cultures were destroyed, and those who fought back were

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