The Meaning Of When Worlds Collide

The Europeans were the first in the United States to express their hatred and racist behavior toward the Native Americans once they settled onto U.S. soil in 1609. Their actions and behavior follows the conflict perspective, considering the elite (Europeans) did everything in their power to dominate the weak and powerless (Native Americans), thus denying the Native American of any resources found in the United States. Even then, the

The beginning of chapter 2 is titled “ When worlds Collide” because in that chapter it talks about the native americans and Europeans meeting each other in the new world. There were 3 main European countries that interacted with the natives, the Spanish, English, and French. Each had their reasons for making the long treck to the new World.

The moment when Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas was the beginning of the interactions between American Indians and European colonists. These very first interactions were mostly positive due to the the generosity of the Indians but turned violent when the Europeans began to mistreat, kidnap, enslave, and kill the American Indians. Actions taken by the American Indians and European Colonists, especially actions of violence, during the 1600s caused the relationship between the two parties to be negative and conflicting in New England and Chesapeake.

From the very first interaction, the social and political relations between the Native Americans and the Europeans had begun with much tension. Many Europeans came to the Americas with the intention of discovery. However, when it became apparent that these new lands were inhibited the motives changed, and then the natives were colonized, abused, and in many cases killed. From then and throughout the impending periods of time, the relations between the natives and the Europeans had a few points of mutual peacefulness, but were overall negative.

Beginning in the sixteenth century, Europeans made the voyage to a “new world” in order to achieve dreams of opportunity and riches. In this other world the Europeans came upon another people, which naturally led to a cultural exchange between different groups of people. Although we commonly refer to European and Indian relations as being between just two very different groups of people, it is important to recognize this is not entirely true. Although the settlers of the new world are singularly referred to as Europeans, each group of people came from a different nation and with different motives and expectations of the new world. Similarly, the Indians were neither a united group nor necessarily friendly with each other. Due to the

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

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.

European explorers first landed on the shores of what would later become North America more than 500 years ago. Not long after the first explorers had entered the "New World" they found out that they were not alone on this new frontier. Their neighbors in this new land were the Native Americans who had been there for centuries, virtually unaware of life outside the continent. Thus began an inconsistent and often times unstable relationship between the European settlers and the North American Indians. Two nations who had particularly interesting relationships with the Native Americans were the British and the French, both of whom took different approaches to their relations with the Indians economically as well

Christopher Columbus set out on his voyage in 1942 on the West Indian islands, to find a new world for the Europeans. When he landed on the Caribbean Island the Indian Natives that lived there were at first scared but greeted him in a friendly manner. The conquest and settlement of the Western Hemisphere opened new opportunities for other Europeans such as the French, Dutch, English and Spanish to come to the island and colonize the Indian's land. For the Europeans to colonize and move in on Native land they had to find a way to interact with the Indians. Through their interaction they found cultural understandings and confusions that were documented by both the Europeans and the Indians. In the book, "Major Problems in American Colonial

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

To better understand the conflict between the Europeans and the Native Americans, one must closely examine the state of Europe’s economy at the time. Europe struggled with difficult conditions. This included poverty, violence and diseases like typhus, smallpox, influenza and measles. There were widespread famines which caused the prices of products to vary and made life very difficult in Europe. Street crimes and violence were prevalent in cities: “Other eruption of bizarre torture, murder, and ritual cannibalism were not uncommon”.2 Europeans

The phrase “Collision of Cultures” is an accurate assessment of the early relationship between the New World and the Old world. Each side of the cultural divide viewed the other through their own preconceptions that originated from their own standards and customs. The biological and social exchange of the two cultures favored the Europeans at the expense of the Native American Indians.

The first interactions seemed quite peaceful between Christopher Columbus and Native Americans. He only sought to see how they lived, learn culture, and bring back several of them to show the King and Queen of Spain. He found many useful resources on these islands he first landed on. Once all of Europe had heard of this everyone was in a hurry to reach the Americas. All of Europe was racing for power, land, and recourses, and the only thing standing between them and that power was Native Americans and the Atlantic Ocean.

“Accounts of Natives of the Americas included many such enthusiastic descriptions of native people and their eagerness to receive European explorers and settlers”(Nash, 37). The Europeans main goals were to find gold and silver and to successfully trades with the Native Americans and in order to enable this they would need to befriend them and treat them as more than savages. However, some “accounts portrayed the Indians as crafty, brutal loathsome half-men, whose cannibalistic instincts were reveals”(Nash, 38) and these reports led English colonists to view Native Americans as dangerous savages with whom violence and conflict would be unavoidable. But the Englishmen, like other Europeans, viewed themselves as superior to the Native Americans before even arriving in America and meeting them firsthand and

Instead of the Europeans being the victims in the so called “savage” attacks of the American natives, European sailors slowly but surely changed the native’s way of life and society, which caused the extreme acts and violence of the many native groups. The Columbian Encounter began in 1492, when Columbus and crew discovered land after a long five week voyage at sea. Axtell explains that the word “encounter” was an agreement by both parties, Europeans and natives, but in actuality, the new discovery of both the Old and New worlds to each other was mostly initiated by the Europeans that was able to happen on the natives own land. Axtell also explains how this “forced the natives...into a defensive mode” (Axtell