Native American Imperialism

Before the discovery of the Americas, the world was thought to be just Africa, Asia, and Europe. Christopher Columbus, an Italian sailing under the spanish flag discovered the Americas in 1492 while trying to make a voyage to Asia. When first arriving they settled in what is now known as “Hispaniola” with hopes of converting the Natives to christian faith. The natives were living on these lands for thousands of years before the explorers came over and invaded their homes. The ways in which the Spanish Explorers viewed these natives was different from the way in which the French viewed them. The spanish were much more harsh and cruel with their thoughts and in their interactions with the natives than the french were. Bartolomé and Ragueneau both wrote about their experiences and the things they witnessed while in the Americas.

Throughout early history, beginning with 1492, exploration was well on its way. European nations began heading west towards the New World in search of new trade routes to the East Indies. With support from kings through financial aid and moral guidance, a new peak was reached upon the arrival of Columbus in the Caribbean islands off the mainland of the Americas. Such an extraordinary event, future voyages were sent off to explore the rest of the New World by Spanish, French, and English ships and explorers. During these times of exploration, traveling nations encountered the Natives among the lands where they would then determine their future through alliances and conflicts. The settlement patterns, along with the attitudes of the American Indians that were encountered with by the Spanish, French and English exploration, can be compared and contrasted through the goals of these nations culturally and socially, and even through the opportunity for economic growth .

Imagine you are a Native American who is living in 1492 when these brutal people walk in, and they attack you with fierce weapons that you have never encountered before. These people take you prisoner, forcing you to labor and do activities you strongly dislike. This is what the Native Americans experienced when Europeans discovered and explored North America during the Age of Exploration. Columbus, a European explorer, first discovered North America in 1492. He earned the native people’s trust before forcing them to work hard and encounter many horrific times that threatened their population.

The Spanish war gave the United States an empire. At the end of the Spanish war the United States took Spanish colonies such as Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and many other islands. The creation of the American Empire leads to the end of the Spanish Empire. The United States wanted to build up the countries so that markets would open up and purchase American goods and to improve the American economy.

The “new world” that Columbus boasted of to the Spanish monarchs in 1500 was neither an expanse of empty space nor a replica of European culture, tools, textiles, and religion, but a combination of Native, European, and African people living in complex relation to one another. »full text

Imperialism is when a larger, more powerful nation takes control of smaller, weaker nations. The American idea is for freedom. As a nation the United States promotes the freedom of itself and other countries. America once fought for the freedom from a larger, more powerful nation, so why would the government want to go back on what this country was started on, which was freedom.

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

I think there were multiple reasons for the Native Americans were vulnerable to conquest. Economic, social structure, militarily, and medicinally. They were also already in a period of population decline prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Cahokia’s, Aztec’s, Inca’s and Mayans’ population where no were near the size they had been or almost completely nonexistent.

Native Americans lived on the North American continent centuries before the arrival of Europeans. These native groups developed and preserved cultural traditions. Many European explorers traveled to the New World around the 1500s in search for God, gold, and glory. This brought them into contact with the Native Americans, and led to a complete change in their lifestyle. Europeans brought the Natives diseases, forced them to relocate, and altered their cultures. All in all, the Europeans left a devastating impact on the Native Americans.

When Europeans colonized North America, they came with the belief that all people want to and should live the same way as them. As Renato Rosaldo says in Culture & Truth: The Remaking of Social Analysis, this civilized nations job is to uplift the lives of the so-called savages of North America, Native Americans. This concept is referred to as the “white man’s burden” and was evident as Europeans expanded west and colonized North America. As they spread west they began to change and diminish the power and lands that Native American tribes around the country previously controlled. Native American tribes had to now conform to many new social norms and laws.

The long history between Native American and Europeans are a strained and bloody one. For the time of Columbus’s subsequent visits to the new world, native culture has

What we call America today was once a land whose name was only known its natives. A land that was in essence untouched and pure. A land where people thrived and did not go without, where life was valued and preserved but would be forgotten. European explorers were the first civilized culture to discover the New World and name it America. This would forever change the lives of Native Americans and their generations to come. The Europeans valued conquest with no regard for the native tribes, they sought to colonize and establish themselves and their form of government. As more Europeans arrived, the Native Americans were forced to leave or adapt to the ways of the Europeans. Many old lineages of native people were erased from existence, families

In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the new world; the Native Americans lives were altered through the introduction of the Columbian Exchange, Cultural changes and loss of their homeland. Columbus's discovery of the new world sparked colonization of the Americas. There was an ample amount of vast, arable land thus creating economic opportunity for the wealthy and the common-man. The people longing for this opportunity intruded on the Native American's land and completely changed their way of life.

Rudyard Kipling stated, “East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet” (Velgen 240). One of the main questions posed by this novel, as asked by Mahmoud Ali and Hamidullah, is “whether or not it is possible to be friendly with the Englishmen.” The book serves as an example as to how difficult it might seem to achieve unity when there’s diversity already present. This question is answered through discovering the personal relationships among the main characters in the novel and analyzing the effects of imperialism on the exploitation of those personal relationships. Set in British colonial India, the novel explores cultural, religious, and political barriers and the hostility between the subjects and the ruling class. India, a country already known to be diverse within itself and containing innumerable groups formed by social hierarchy and distinct traditions, was unaware of a society in which people of different backgrounds live in unity. This book created much controversy because many critics believe that E.M. Forster, the author, was being impartial to the Ango-Indians and advocating more for the native Hindus.

During the early exploring of the American continent in the 1500s and 1600s, the New World seemed to be untouched land only inhabited by native, primitive people. It was believed to be the literal Garden Eden, a world without human sins, and the perfect balance between humans and nature. However, when the English first started to settle along the East coast, the reality of this New World appeared to not be as perfect and utopic as they thought: Attacks and conflicts between the natives and settlers, the lack of civilization, and dangerous winter conditions surfaced. Nevertheless, for many settlers, the new land was promising and gave those a chance who were unable to live a happy life in Europe.