Essay On Native Americans

In the wake of Europe’s Age of Exploration, explorers roamed different parts of the ocean in search of a faster water route to Asia. Along the way, Europeans explorers discovered a whole new continent, America. Thinking that he was in India, Christopher Columbus, an Italian sailor, called the indigenous Native Americans he met “Indians,” a misnomer that is still used frequently even up to this day. Europeans soon shifted their attention away from the water route to Asia but toward the colonization of the New World. With a desire to have a new life different from that of the Old World, many Europeans landed on the shores of the new continent and settled in communities. However, almost all kinds of European colonization faced this

Native Americans, or Indians, as they were mistakenly called, have been the “pathetic footnotes to the main course of American history” (Axtell 981). But James Axtell, the author of Colonial America without the Indians: Counterfactual Reflections, would beg to differ. He says that instead, Indians played a key role in making America great. James Murray gives another term to describe America’s greatness: America’s “exceptionalism.” Throughout his article Axtell makes many points as to why Indians played a vital role in “American Exceptionalism”. He even says that America wouldn’t have been colonized nearly as soon if the Indians were gone, because Columbus would know he was not in the Indies and move on. So because they simply existed in the first place, Axtell says they were significant in the history of our country. Furthermore, he says Indians specifically played a vital role in the exceptionality of America’s early economy, culture, and historical events and places.

Grade school and even beginning level college history classes have taught early American exploration from a largely one sided view of the conflict between early explorers and Native Americans. The traditional image of the Native Americans as the sole victims, is an oversimplification of the conflict that existed between early explorers, settlers and Native Americans. Through the readings from Columbus, Bradford and some selected Native American writings, the traditional view of the Native American victim will be challenged and a broader view of the conflict will be presented.

The Native American’s way of living was different from the Europeans. They believed that man is ruled by respect and reverence for nature and that nature is an

Current American society is constantly affected by events from the past, but sometimes what society thinks is in the past is not so far behind. The way Native Americans were treated historically continually plays a part in current American society. Due to the racism and stereotypes carried throughout society the Native American cultural circle is constantly under fire.

Popular culture has shaped our understanding and perception of Native American culture. From Disney to literature has given the picture of the “blood thirsty savage” of the beginning colonialism in the new world to the “Noble Savage,” a trait painted by non-native the West (Landsman and Lewis 184) and this has influenced many non native perceptions. What many outsiders do not see is the struggle Native American have on day to day bases. Each generation of Native American is on a struggle to keep their traditions alive, but to function in school and ultimately graduate.

During the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, the Europeans decided to embark on many journeys that would change their way of life forever. These journeys and the exchange of people, ideas, animals, food, and diseases between the two groups shaped history for the next five hundred years. When the Europeans arrived at this new-found land, they discovered what they considered to be an entirely new species of humans, the Native Americans. These two newly encountered groups of people had a few of the same characteristics and way of living, but overall the differences between them were extremely immense.

From as early as the time of the early European settlers, Native Americans have suffered tremendously. Native Americans during the time of the early settlers where treated very badly. Europeans did what they wanted with the Native Americans, and when a group of Native Americans would stand up for themselves, the European would quickly put them down. The Native Americans bow and arrows where no match for the Europeans guns and cannon balls. When the Europeans guns didn’t work for the Europeans, the disease they bought killed the Native Americans even more effectively.

What if everyday in America there was not an action someone could take because someone of an opposite race sexually assaulted or domestically abused that person? Often news outlets only focus on major even in cities or towns, but never the reservations. With the lack of awareness of the number of rapes and domestic abuse victims on reservations, at large society is saying America doesn’t care due to reservations having sovereignty. Even with new laws signed into place by President Obama to deal with the rape and abuse problems to Native American women, that come from non Native Americans, the problem with this is it’s a pilot only on three tribes (Culp-Ressler,1).It is said it will expand soon, but how soon? America is not known for being

People have been living in the Americas for thousands of years. Only fairly recently, the past few hundred years, have foreigners begun to arrive and drastically disrupt the way of life of the aboriginal population. The situation has become so severe that a population that was one believed to be numbered in the millions, was at one point reduced to as few as 220,000 in 1910, and entire tribes have been either irretrievably warped or have disappeared altogether. While Native American Indians have almost completely recovered population-wise, they will never catch up to the rest of the world, and their culture can never fully recuperate. At the time the United States was settled by Europeans, it was abundantly populated by dozens of

The Native Americans had settled in the land years before the arrival of the Euro-Americans. Hundreds of Native American groups occupied the land, each tribe with its separate culture, language, and spiritual way-of-life. Despite the many differences, “there was also considerable interaction and dialogue among tribes about spiritual concepts. Through the common language of sign-talk, ideas could be shared and compared among Indian tribes including the spiritual concepts that are an intricate part of the Indian’s everyday experience” (Treat). The Native American culture was primarily oral. Almost all tribes believed in a cosmology or creation myth regarding how this world and the things inhabiting it came to be. Most native peoples worshiped an all-powerful, all-knowing “Master Spirit.” They also revered and placated a host of lesser spirits in hopes of receiving assistance in their daily interactions with the world around them. Often times shamans, who were believed to have supernatural powers through visions, were called upon to communicate and implore the spirits to ensure a good harvest, or victory in warfare, or healing, or interpreting dreams, or other matters of great

Prior to the arrival of colonial settlers “all but the simplest indigenous cultures in North America had developed coherent religious systems that included cosmologies—creation myths, transmitted orally from one generation to the next, which purported to explain how those societies had come into being” (NationalHumanitiesCenter). Most Native Americans worshipped a single all-knowing all-powerful creator that would take on a variety of forms and roles. Tribal creator gods varied by region, but the Great Spirit was worshipped in several areas by many tribes. Native Americans, unlike their Christian counterparts tended to believe in multiple gods which had control on other aspects of their lives. Native ceremonial traditions varied by differing

Minority groups are defined as alien residents of nations who no longer have rights to their land. Ordinarily due to colonization. Minority status is the result of adverse discrimination some of the defining elements of these groups are commonly long-term occupation of land, common ancestry, traditional culture, language or formal membership. In the United States, Native Americans, also known as American Indians or just simply Indians are considered to be people whose pre-Columbian ancestors were indigenous to the lands within the nation’s modern boundaries. These people were composed of numerous distinct tribes, bands and ethnic groups. Custer Died for Your Sins is a 1969, non-fiction book by the lawyer, professor and writer Vine Deloria. This was noted primarily for its relevance to activist organizations like the American Indian Movement. The book consists of eleven essays and is critical of aid organizations, for their efforts to so called “help” Native Americans. The author shows readers that instead of helping they were stopping the progress. Deloria 's book discussed and offered many types of solutions in helping Native Americans.

During the late 1400s and early 1500s, the Americas were found and the Age of Exploration started. The Age of Exploration an era when the Europeans found new places and new trades. New items affected Native Americans in different ways. The natives were put into slave labor which harmed the Native Americans. Lastly, Native Americans were destroyed due to different diseases.

When the Native Americans lived in the Americas on their own and inhabited the land all to themselves, it required them to put a lot of effort into making life as easy and efficient as possible. Many tribes decided to travel to different parts of the region and start a life there so they could correctly adapt to their surroundings, while still having their own areas to call home. The land is now divided into different regions based on the climate and weather of them called the Arctic, the Subarctic, the Northeast, the Southeast, the Plains, the Southwest, the Great Basin, California, the Northwest Coast, and the Plateau. As different tribes took control of each area, their lifestyles changed and they developed a new culture that would be their