The interactions between Europeans and Native Americans have not always been positive. There are numerous difference that interactions between the two groups. Europeans were known as a group that during the 16th and 17th century, made a great deal of change with their religious views. They were once without religion, but were known to turn to sects like Christianity and Puritanism. The Native Americans were a group known to be without religion. These people did not believe it one God and a book to follow. They believed in various higher beings that oversaw things like hunting, crops and sacrifices. These spirits didn’t represent a sense of hope or something to look forward as did being a Christian. William Bradford and Mary White Rowlandson were two religious people who came from England to the new world in order to seek new opportunities in their religious pilgrimage. Upon their arrival to Massachusetts, they lived in settlements were next to Native establishments. Both women told stories of the horrors that the Natives put upon them. William Bradford’s belief is Puritanism lead him on a voyage with others to Massachusetts. His encounter with the Natives, although not completely negative, was bias based on his beliefs. In England, the social structure was completely different then that of the Native Americans. In Chapter XIV, Bradford noted different customs he noticed that the Natives portrayed. The natives shared land among each other. The chief was said to assign land
With different cultures and beliefs, it is very hard for groups of people to avoid conflict with one another. One of the biggest factors of the clash between Native Americans and Europeans is that they are coming from completely different lifestyles. Europeans had very poor diet, which consisted of mostly bread and soup. Those who did not starve were malnourished. Europe was filled with many diseases that killed much of Europe’s population. Native American survival was based on hunting and gathering. If they killed an animal they ate, if they failed to do so they went hungry. Native Americans lived under a democratic system and were separated into tribes and lived in tents. There was no such thing as rich or poor between tribes, which eliminated competition to move up the social ladder. Some tribes were very small, and to avoid being outrun by larger tribes, the
In William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation, Bradford describes the relations between the natives and the English as more civil. One advantage may have been that some of the Natives knew how to speak some English, so there was less of a communication barrier between them. When the two groups interacted, there were immediately rules set in place such as “1. That neither he nor any of his, should injure or do hurt to any of their people…6. That when their men came to them, they should leave bows and arrows behind them” (Bradford 123). Bradford continues to mention that these rules were followed for twenty-four years. He portrays the
At first Native Americans, Europeans and Africans were separated by the vast oceans in between their continents, but as technologies and trade in Europe advanced the three region’s worlds collided. There were various similarities and differences in policy, economy and religion amongst the three regions but alas, contact between these empires reaped inevitable change among all these for the better or worse.
Throughout the course of history there have been numerous accounts regarding Native American and European interaction. From first contact to Indian removal, the interaction was somewhat of a roller coaster ride, leading from times of peace to mini wars and rebellions staged by the Native American tribes. The first part of this essay will briefly discuss the pre-Columbian Indian civilizations in North America and provide simple awareness of their cultures, while the second part of this essay will explore all major Native American contact leading up to, and through, the American Revolution while emphasizing the impact of Spanish, French, and English explorers and colonies on Native American culture and vice versa. The third, and final, part of this essay will explore Native American interaction after the American Revolution with emphasis on westward expansion and the Jacksonian Era leading into Indian removal. Furthermore, this essay will attempt to provide insight into aspects of Native American/European interaction that are often ignored such as: gender relations between European men and Native American women, slavery and captivity of native peoples, trade between Native Americans and European colonists, and the effects of religion on Native American tribes.
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.
As the Europeans came to the New World in the 1600s, relationships with Native Americans were unstable in some places and secure in others. In the Chesapeake region, every colony had a different relationship with the Native Americans but overtime both groups became distanced from each other as wars erupted. Furthermore, in the New England colonies there were a few places that had close relationships with them and others that opposed the Native Americans. During the colonization periods, although the Europeans may have been disruptive to a few Native American tribes, they continued to trade and have alliances with a few tribes, which contributed to their survival in the New World. Throughout the time of colonization, as more people
During the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Europeans started to come over to the new world, they discovered a society of Indians that was strikingly different to their own. To understand how different, one must first compare and contrast some of the very important differences between them, such as how the Europeans considered the Indians to be extremely primitive and basic, while, considering themselves civilized. The Europeans considered that they were model societies, and they thought that the Indians society and culture should be changed to be very similar to their own.
It is no secret that Europeans and Native Americans have an intricate history of conflict and cooperation. Going all the way back to the 16th century, where it all started, their encounters were mostly unpleasant. Indians were the first ones to settle in the Americas, so they had to be creative when it came to living with all this new land. Each tribe had their own culture, beliefs, religions, ideas, and ways of living which for the most part, were not in agreement with European lifestyle. In my opinion, all of those differences are what lead the Europeans and Native Americans relationship to frequent destruction.
The stories regarding the Native Americans and European settlers all commence somewhat similar: the Natives welcome and help sustain the Europeans in the start. They become an instrumental piece to the European survival in the Americas. The relationship starts to change, however, as settlers grow independent. In some instances, when there is only personal gain to be acquired, the relationship becomes a simple trade relationship. In other instances, relationships between the Native Americans and Europeans evolve into a drastic feud driven by European imperialistic ideas to impose political, religious and cultural law on the Natives.
The Native American 's encounters with European colonists led to different interactions between the two, as well as a development of varied relationships. America had been home to Native Americans since around 13,000 B.C. The Europeans arrived in America around 1492 to find that the land was already inhabited. Before the Europeans arrived, the Native Americans had lived in harmony with nature and with each other in communities, having strong family ties. When the Europeans arrived, they held different values than the Native Americans. As the Europeans settled in New England, Chesapeake and New York/New France, these differences shaped the relationships between the Native Americans and the European colonists.
Although white European settlers and the native Indians had existed moderately peaceful for around 40 years pressures rose in the mid-seventh century. Conflict arose due to decline in Indian territories, population, and their cultural integrity. These differences ultimately lead to conflicts in which collectively became known as King Philip’s War. What types of complaints did the Indians have against the settlers? How were the Indians expected to survive if the settlers kept taking their land? The primary sources in this collection of source documents touch upon on what each group (Indian or white settlers) did to survive: an excerpt from a narrative written by John Easton, a second hand account written by Thomas Church, a report written to the English leaders by Edward Randolph, a petition written by an Indian named William Nahton, and an excerpt of an account from a book written by Mary Rowlandson. These documents illustrate the main causes that sparked the war between the Native Indians and the white English settlers, narratives written by both sides to find peaceful solutions, and actual accounts of people who survived the conflict. The second hand account written about Benjamin Church’s meeting with the Indian group known as the Sakonnet Indians displays that the Indians knew their only chance of survival was to fight while the report written to English leaders by Randolph suggest that the settlers who viewed the Indians as uncivilized had ultimately forced the Indians
The Euro-Americans viewed the Native Americans beliefs and religions as devil worshipping. They believed in God, so why would anybody worship something that God didn’t approve of. Europeans wanted to spread the gospel to the Indians to try to get them to understand that their religion is wrong. Most Indians bought into the Christianity and left they knew all their live alone. William Treat was a clergyman who wanted to preach to the Indians the gospel of God. He wanted the Indians to believe in God and he wanted them to support his teachings. Europeans believed in God and they preached his word, but they didn’t have the knowledge or skills to support their preaching, other than the bible its self. Native Americans believed in Shamans and medicine
In the time of the American Revolutionary War, there were many differences that influenced how our country turned out today. Most of the cultural differences occurred between the Native Americans and the Europeans that had newly settled in what is known today as America. Some of the most notable differences were those of religion, political, economic, and social. These differences divided the habitants of America in several ways and formed many bonds but also brought them to many moments of conflict.
When the Europeans first came to the Americans, they brought with their their racism and ethnocentrism with them. These were reflected in the Europeans’ treatment of those that were unlike them. The Europeans’ approach of early settlements to the Indigenous Residents included continual oppression and conflict as seen in the events leading up to Bacon’s rebellion and similarly in the Puritan’s treatment of the natives. However, there were also instances of kindness and cooperation between the Europeans and the Native Americans such as their early relationship after the English first settled in Virginia.
There are many notable cultural differences between the european colonizer and the indeginous people of the Americas which can be noted.