The Impact Of The Misinterpualization Of Native Americans

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

Many prominent historians argue a clash between culture and religious philosophy was the primary cause of conflict between European settlers in North America and Native Americans. However, a closer analysis of American history suggests otherwise. While a clash in cultures and religious differences did exist, the European domination of Native Americans was primarily fueled by European economic motivations, a desire for valuable natural resources and a craving to expand the American colonial system. Due to this, the conflict was inevitable.

Distorted perspectives of european settlers led them to view Native Americans as “uncivilized savages.”As the Renaissance reached its ending term Europeans saw their religion (Christianity) as an advanced culture. When Europeans arrived to the “New World” in 1493 settlers discovered the native inhabitants were bizarre to the new settlers. Further in time Settlers observed their culture and viewed their religion as evil and thought of the Natives God as the “Devil in disguise.” As a consequence of their perspective of their religion Settlers thought of them as animals, non-human and branded the term savages to Native Americans. Since Europeans viewed their religion as advanced setters thought of the idea of emerging Native Americans into the white man culture and wanted to “civilize” the Native Americans. Native Americans didn’t like the idea of being rooted to the culture of the Europeans, so Europeans thought of the solution of moving the Native Americans west so the native could preserve their culture. Furthermore igniting the reaction of removal of Natives Americans, conversion of culture and the war between the Europeans and Native

When Europeans first set foot upon the shores of what is now the United States they brought with them a social structure which was fundamentally based around their concept and understanding of Western European Christianity. That the indigenous peoples might already have a thriving civilization, including religious beliefs and practices, that closely paralleled the beliefs and practices of European civilization, was a concept not considered by these early explorers and settlers. This European lack of cultural understanding created tensions, between Native Americans and Europeans, and later between Native Americans and Euro-Americans, that eventually erupted into open warfare and resulted in great bloodshed between cultures. For the Lakota

Within the nineteenth century, many Americans saw Native Americans as heathens that occupied land. These people saw the land as theirs because of how they fought to become independent. They also claimed that the Native Americans did not claim land or have a concept of property. Others understood that it was wrong to take the land forcefully. These people understood the land was not rightfully theirs for the taking. It is also perceived that all Americans disliked Native Americans. When in fact there were people who sympathized the natives. They wanted to live in peace and not war. Although, they still believed Indians were below them and had ideas of reserves. Looking at history,

The belief in spreading Christianity into the Native population was one of the reasons why Columbus sailed to the Americas. Everytime the Spaniards visited a native community, they informed the members of the Christian truth and asked for their conversion. If the natives refused, the Spaniards felt justified to enslave the Indians since they defied the Church. Another reason the Spanish invaded the Americas was the idea that gold was in abundance there and their desire for gold. One native named Hatuey realized the Spanish were desperately after the precious metal and threw all his gold to the bottom of the river to protect his people. However, he was later burned alive. The Spanish required the Indians to pay a certain quota of gold every three months; anyone who didn’t had their hands chopped off. Since the amount of available gold was actually small, the Spaniards went on killing sprees. The Spanish murdered for fun, inventing brutal ways to spill blood. Indian babies were fed to hungry dogs and Indian men were slashed open as their innards spewed out. The Spaniards only cared for quick wealth too, despite human costs. In order to maximize profits and, the encomienda system was established and masters had complete control over their slaves. Enslaved Indians were worked to death and fed extremely poorly, many died of starvation. Those who were too ill or

Since 1492 to late into the17th the century there was perpetual struggle between the power hungry Europeans and the natives in the New World. Pitted against each other, the Dutch, English, French, Spaniards, and Indians struggled to maintain control of what they viewed as rightfully theirs. The English, were struggling to settle on the eastern coast and had no use and respect for the Indians or their land and way of life. At first maintaining a tentative relationship, the English, in the case of the Quakers and Puritans, soon realized that the Indians had very little to offer and were an obstacle on the path of their progress. Spain was primarily interested in missionary activities and

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From the Sioux in the North, to the Tonkawa in the South, tribes filled North America when the Europeans first set foot on the soil that we now know as the United States. The relationship between the Native American tribes and the Europeans had its fair share of difficulties for the next thirty years. Faced with the threat of the westward movement, as well as the ruthless military treatment that came with it, the North Americans began their unjustified, inhumane battle for survival.

The coming of English colonizers presented the indigenous residents of eastern North America with the utmost calamity in their history. English colonists did not call themselves “conquerors” unlike the Spanish. They sought land, not domination over the existing population. Essentially, they were focused on displacing the Indians and colonizing on their property, not intermarrying with them, organizing their labor, or making them subjects of the crown. To the Spanish settlers, the large native populations of the Americas were not only souls to be saved but also a work force to be formed to excavate gold and silver that would enrich the mother country. Regarding Spain, national fame, profit, and religious mission combined in early English reasoning

As Europeans began to settle into the Americas in 1565, peaceful coexistence between Native Americans and the Europeans appeared to be impossible. The cultural differences between these two colonizations would result in a clash of events that would spark a chain of conflict and fighting. Along with these differences, with both sides looking for an advantage over each other to better their own status, working together would only last so long. Possibly the biggest cultural difference that would make coexistence between these two groups appear to be impossible, was their religion.

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.

From the very beginning, Native American Indians and white Europeans clashed in their beliefs. The Indians believed that the land was communal and that its resources were to be shared and protected, while the white Europeans only saw the land and property to own. As the European settlers started to take over the lands, they forced Indians off of their lands and onto reservations. Due to multiple series of brutal killings and forced removals, by the end of the 19th century the Native American population dwindled down to a small fraction of what it had been. This caused Native American culture to nearly be destroyed, and in the hopes of restoring it, tribal leaders attempted to create new spiritual traditions.

Missions to the Native Americans by Europeans have always intertwined with complications. Since the first generations of missionaries within the Americas, there have always been mixed motives and cultural misunderstandings in the outreach to the natives. Some groups saw the Native Americans as a group of people who were only a means to an end, motivated by mere self-interest, and not the spread of Christendom. Others tarnished relationships with natives through unintentional means. Even ignorance of the unknown presuppositions held by each culture led to tension between people groups. An example can be seen in the giving of land by the Native Americans to the Puritans. When they natives gave the land to the Puritans, they were unaccustomed to the philosophy of private property, and “when they discovered that the Puritans wanted to keep these tracts exclusively for themselves, without title ever reverting to those who had originally loaned it, the Indians grew bitter.” There was also an ever-growing sense of Western pride, and many whites saw themselves as superior, especially the English, “who seemed the most arrogant about this fact and the leas concerned to preserve any aspect of native civilization. Few Englishmen cared to save aboriginal peoples even if they could persuade them to adopt the values, habits, and materials of a superior culture.”

There were initially two to ten million natives in the United States prior to European contact. Those numbers dwindled down drastically in the years that Europeans came and started colonizing. The Europeans came to explore the New World in search of land, spices, gold, God and glory. Among these colonists were the Spanish who colonized most of the southwest of the United States. Evidence of their settlements can still be seen today in the missions scattered across the land. These missions were started with the purpose of converting the Native Americans to Christianity. Try to put yourself into the shoes of the Native Americans, imagine living your entire life with a particular set of beliefs, based on what was handed down by your ancestors and culture. Then suddenly a group of foreigners would come and proclaim that your views are all wrong and that you must follow their beliefs for the salvation of your soul. This is exactly what the Spanish colonizers did to the Native Americans as they invaded their territory which is the reason why the relationship between the two parties were strained and rife with tension. The conversion of the Natives and the constant hostility by the Spanish conquerors subsequently led to the disintegration of native life and culture.