Mistreatment Of Native American Essay

The colonization of the Americas began in the year of 1492, when Christopher Columbus and his band of explorers arrived off the coast of the Bahamas. This new “discovery” for Europe would have drastic effects not only on the settlers themselves, but on the natives and their environment. It is without a doubt that the appearance of these explorers placed the Indians on a dangerous trajectory. Now, it is currently understood how the colonization of the American continent brought disease, war and ultimately death for many of the natives. Early exploration, conquest and settlement brought about new economies for the Europeans, new religious freedoms, and knowledge of the world and of exploration, producing great benefits for the colonists. Although the settlers did face risks and sometimes death during their conquest, they undoubtedly benefitted from this expansion. The Indians, however, were dealt a different hand. The culture that they had developed and the immense civilizations that had evolved were ultimately destroyed as the spread of epidemics, constant war, and brutal exploitation brought these prosperous and hospitable peoples to their knees.

This section highlights that history has created a false narrative depicting the natives as a victimized people, which they were to some extent but only in the fashion that they did not possess the same technology for warfare, immunity of communal diseases transmitted, and they were not anticipating combat. All other factors considered, the natives stood to be a potential threat. In regards to knowledge obtained by Spaniards prior to arrival and knowledge gained from observation, it would be remiss had they not prepared for battle. This argument is not to be misconstrued in approving their actions; I do recognize colonization as an evil for both the reasons employed and its damaging effects, but rather to change the narrative surrounding that of the native people. While they did experience a tragedy, I feel that it is erroneous to write them into history as being incompetent resulting from their

There is also a huge spread of diseases brought between the new world and old world. The old world brought over cholera, influenza, malaria, measles, and smallpox. The Europeans considered illness as a consequence of sin. The Indians whom were non-Christian were often considered sinners because they constantly getting sick. Those who were ill often were punished. The Native Americans had no natural resistance to the diseases and the population declined over centuries. The Inca Empire decreased by millions in 1600s. This caused for Europeans to look to Africa and began importing African slaves to the Americas. Once the African slaves began coming to the American they brought over malaria

Before Europeans landed in the Americas, Native Americans lived within various complex societies across modern day North and South America. Two of the greatest empires that existed at the time were the Aztecs located in modern central Mexico or at the time it was called Mesoamerica and the Incas located in modern Peru, these societies were unique because they were ruled by kings, nobles and warriors whereas most North American Natives were ruled by chiefdoms. North American Native’s religion consisted of animist quality- a belief that the natural world had spiritual powers. They applied this belief to everyday life- praying to be exempt from disease, good crops, and plenty of food. Some societies amongst many North American Natives were matriarchal for example in the Iroquois society power and possessions were passed down through the female line of authority. Most women were gatherers and watched over the towns and men hunted for food for their families, maize agriculture was popular amongst the Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes Natives. The Native Americans traded extensively before the Europeans arrived, for example there were annual trade fairs between the Navajos, Apaches and the Pueblos. In 1521, Hernan Cortes arrived in Mesoamerica and quickly overcame the Aztecs, not only by force but also disease. Europeans unknowingly brought many diseases, such as smallpox, influenza and measles, that the Native Americans were never exposed to and it was one of the biggest killers of the Natives. At first, Europeans forced Native Americans to be slaves and work on their plantations but soon they were replaced with the African slave.

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

These epidemics occurred in areas with extensive Spanish contact and slaving networks (pg. 14). Reséndez credits the conquest of the native tibes and the Indian slave trade with the depopulation of the Caribbean and the introduction of European diseases to the New World (Reséndez, conversation in HIST 900, 2017). The Spanish were the devastation that all but wiped out the native populations in the Caribbean and along the Caribbean costs of North America. They were the epidemic that depopulated the New World.

One of the weaknesses of this book was the way in which a strong opinion of the author frequently came to the surface. The impression given when reading was one of bias in that the Spanish were wrong to come in and refine everything. This was reflected in the fact that periodically within the book, when the Spanish conquistadors did something to the Indians, it was pointed out how inhumane it was. Yet, when the Indians retaliated in some way, it was quickly pointed out how justified they were. The mentioned advantages that the Indians gained through the Spaniards were infrequent and underdeveloped.

When the Europeans arrived in the New World, they brought along a host of diseases which were devastating to the Native American population. Due to the adaptations that the Native people had undergone to adapt to North America, they no longer had any natural defense towards these diseases. Because of this, about ninety percent of the Native American population was wiped out, with much of them never meeting a single European. The elimination of so many Natives would benefit the Europeans by eliminating any potential resistance towards their eventual conquest of America. In addition to disease, the Europeans also subjected the Native Americans to slavery, in attempts to “Christianize” them. Both of these contributed to the “black legend” attributed to the Spanish explorers, which detailed a “legacy” of misery and destruction. With so many accounts of torture and murder, this black legend fit the Spaniards well. Though they did provide many contributions to their new lands, the amount of human life that was lost in order for the Spanish to take control of said lands outweighs their contributions. Even though a whole new culture of people may have been created, multiple cultures were lost in the process. The amount of death and destruction caused by the Spaniards outweighs their final contributions, which shows that the Spanish did deserve being part of the “black legend”.

For more than 300 years, since the days of Christopher Columbus and the Spanish Government, an attempt of genocide of the Native American Indian has existed. From mass brutal murders and destruction by Spanish and American armies, to self-annihilation through suicide, homicide, and alcohol induced deaths brought about because of failed internal colonialism and white racial framing. Early Explores used Indigenous inhabitants upon first arriving to the America’s to survive the New World and once they adapted, internal colonialism began with attempts to convert the Indians to Christianity, repressing their values and way of life, forcing them into slavery, and nearly exterminating an entire culture from existence.

The Black Legend and White Legend: Relationship Between the Spanish and Indians in the New World

The tragic decimation of Native American lives due to the European explorers was initially unintentional, however, as time progressed, the actions of the European colonists and later the Americans made evident a more intentional method of eradication of the Native American lives, land, culture, religion and way of life. Between the diseases carried to the Americas, slavery, European military superiority, fighting between tribes, and simple lack of unification, the Natives started at a severe disadvantage. While they won some battles, they very clearly lost the war of self-preservation.

The image of Native Americans primarily consumed by all of America is more often offensive, stereotypical, or downright fictional. And this is all because a non-indigenous person is always the one teaching us about indigenous people, thus their bias is forever unconsciously tied to the “facts”, which could very well be just a “common sense racism” agreed upon by many others. For those who have no contact with a minority group, television is their best source of information on said group, and both the news and entertainment shows us what gets the best reaction; the Dakota Pipeline won’t get news coverage because it’s peaceful and not affecting 60% of America, but soon as black people snapped in during the Watts Riots of ’65 and they white life was in danger, everyone had their cameras pointed. And some went as far as to not know why the civil black man was no so up in arms all of a sudden, despite the recent court ruling of the police responsible for the assault of Rodney King. There is no looking at the cause of the anger, just like the argument to change many sports mascots from racial caricatures of Native Americans seems completely invalid for someone unwilling to see why it might offend someone. The only way to obliterate stereotypes fueling miseducation of the minority is to have everyone correctly educated on each minority group, through schools is good but through media (television mostly) is even better.

The Native Americans in the new world were very susceptible to disease because they had never been exposed to the bacteria's of the old world before. The Native American population quickly dwindled with the vast spreading of disease. Another issue with the Natives when the Europeans came over from the new world is the idea of using the Natives as slaves for free labor. Problems occurred with this idea though because the Natives knew the land better than anyone and that made it very easy for them to escape encapturment. Although these may seem like bad things, these were only minor set backs in the development of the new

believied that they were alowed to occupy it by the grace of the "Great Spirit",

When the first colonist came to the shores of the New Land, they did not enter a vacant virgin land. The land had been the home to many Native Americans with their own flourishing civilizations and antiquity. For thousands and thousands of years, the Natives had managed to keep up their distinctive way of life and philosophy and to earn their keep without the benefits of European advances. Obviously, the arrival of the Europeans meant a radical adjustment for the Natives. Together with illness, which