Europeans Came To The Americas Research Paper

In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed west and found himself on the shores of a new world. His mission was to secure new land for Spain. Other European countries heard of his findings, they too crossed the ocean in hopes of securing new opportunities in this newly discovered land such as fur trading and gold mining. Little did they know that a community of indigenous people had already settled in this land thousands of years before. The Europeans decided to negotiate with the natives in order to set up their own communities in the land but the Native Americans held beliefs about society and religion that were far different from their European peers. Europeans thought the Indians to be “Noble Savages, gentle and friendly, but uncivilized, brutal, and barbaric” (citation). They could not see past their own

Before Europeans ever ventured to North America, the land had been populated by Native American nations that had their own distinct cultures and social structures. Native Americans had trade routes and established complex relationships between tribes. They were not merely heathens waiting to be civilized by the Europeans. Yet, Europeans would use those justifications to lay claim on their land.

The discovery of America opened up the door for many people to find a new home and also a new identity. The European explorers of the late 15th and 16th centuries did not discover America; the native people had already lived and flourished there for many years. The European exploration of America is notable because it is the start of the mentality among Americans the fuels the need to travel from home in order to find oneself. Since the beginning, the settlers in America have been people who left home to find a new life where they could live successful lives. While this is a theme in all types of literature, it is one that is especially prevalent in American literature because the settlers were an entire people who left their home in search of something better. Some of those people left to find themselves in their religion or to find new ways to make money, but all in all the discovery of America was also the discovery of a new people. The sensation of discovery fueled the early explorers, the settlers, the revolutionaries, the transcendentalists, and American people to this day. The beginning of this trend in American literature was when the first Europeans found the Americas.

The Europeans visiting the America’s was the best foot forward. There are a couple downfalls to such a successful voyage. The downfalls were disease and warfare. The successful things do outweigh the bad. Without the European exploration we would not be here right now. Spain, England and France all contribution to exploration of North America.

Before Europeans had ever set foot on North America the continent was a vast land made up of various Native American nations that had their own distinct cultures, history and social hierarchies. The Natives here possessed all of the aspects that human beings all over the world incorporated into their societies. They had social structures, trade routes and relationships between various Native groups and were by no means a cluster of heathens waiting to be discovered by white Europeans who would come to claim the land they have lived on for thousands of years. Upon their arrival on the continent that was often tagged as The New World and their affairs with Indians in the ways they had. The country

long before the Europeans arrived the first nations people had been active traders and had well established trading patterns and alliances through north America.

The Europeans thought that the Native Americans were a savage people who didn't deserve to be the true inhabitants of the New World. They seemed to have twisted every good action that the tribes performed and make them sound undeserving of a great status, even if it meant bathing or giving presents to the Europeans. The truth is, the Europeans weren't tolerant to the different cultures and practices of the Americas.

Prior to the discovery of the New World, vast numbers of indigenous people lived for centuries without knowing that they were lost. These civilizations touted political and family hierarchies, established forms of trade and currencies, agricultural developments, medical knowledge and various well-developed spiritual beliefs. Europeans, with their complex history of international political intrigue and Catholic-Protestant schisms, were quick to judge the varied American cultures they encountered as inferior.

Throughout history, Europeans have been given credit for the discovery of the New World. For many years, thousands of Indians had been settled in North America long before the European voyages sailed across the Atlantic. When the Europeans came looking for religious freedom, societies and traditions were soon to be changed by the newcomers. The Europeans considered the Indians as savages and uneducated. There were many different tensions between the Indians and Europeans, but natives soon learned that they could benefit from one another.

The fifteenth through seventeenth century was a time of great change. Europeans had discovered the far-reaching lands of the Americas and their immense amounts of resources. The riches of these lands lured people from many different European countries to try and exploit the resources to become rich and powerful. Others preferred to gain their wealth through other ways, such as conquest.

The Europeans arrived to the Americans for the freedom both religious and from overpowering monarchies of their native lands back in Europe. In the European cities there were also overpopulation which destroyed the cities and towns with diseases. In the Americas the Native Americans were the first to inhabit the land; the Native Americans were peaceful people who relied on the land and its resources to survive. As the European settlers arrived and started to colonize the Native Americans tried to live amongst them but then they were forced to migrate west. Europeans influenced the Native Americans trying to “civilize the savages” but in reality the Europeans were just destroying a culture.

After Columbus sailed the blue ocean in fourteen hundred ninety-two, the New World encountered catastrophic epidemics from the European conquest. The spread of diseases between Europeans and Native Americans led to a demographic calamity. The earliest explorations from European countries introduced a plethora of diseases; these diseases hindered the Native’s population and way of life. Not only early explorations of European countries impacted the indigenous people, but the settlement and encounters with Europeans in the twentieth century did as well.

In the early Americas there was remarkable exploration from European explorers. This had all started with the Spanish and their conquests in the south, in Mexico. This would lead to many others to pounce on the opportunities for land and treasures, such as gold and silver. Many European powers came to the New World in order to colonize and to leach off the untapped resources. The conquest for prosperity was to begin with this.

They showed no threat to the Europeans providing these new dwellers with food, clothes, and shelter. Teaching them how to use the land they grew up on and showing them the steps found in hunting. When the Christians arrived they were unsure of them but believed they could have been delivered from heaven, after months of pain and agony they came to the conclusion that these men were no angels. Treated as less than because they did not come from the same place or look similar to the Europeans, did not speak the same language , dress in the same manner or serve the same God. Native American history was demolished when they were taken from the land they truthfully owned first , and enslaved without warning. The Age of exploration was the death of a large amount of Native American culture that can never be

The advent of the Europeans to North America in the late 15th century had changed the whole landscape of American social order in the subsequent four centuries. The Europeans not only forced the native Indians as servants, but also began a trans-Atlantic trade of African slaves to America. In order to exploit the richness of the land, they needed a large working force and hence maintained indentured servants from England as well as few of the native Indians and Africans. Over a period, the importation of African slaves increased dramatically and racial slavery system consisting of the African slaves evolved. Initially the Africans were not all defined as slaves; many factors like the local hold of the native tribes, threats to the property