Many people think that the African-Americans are the most oppressed group of people ever in the United States. That may be true based on the quality of oppression, but not the length of this type of treatment. The Native Americans have been the most oppressed group of people ever in the United States, and even in the colonies that preceded the US. From the early 16th century until even today, the Native Americans were and are being oppressed in this country. The cause was because of colonization. The Europeans colonization of what is now America led the Natives to despair and destruction. Before Christopher Columbus came to the Americas unintentionally and started to colonize, there was a “belief that the Americas in 1491 were an almost …show more content…
Through the Europeans’ diseases, increased welfare, and introduction of new technologies, the old life that the Natives had known was all but gone (American History). The Europeans had different views on how to deal with the Natives. Significant European contact with the Natives didn’t start until the 17th Century. It would start when some Europeans would go dry fish on the shores; a small fur trade began with the Natives that were local to the area. This was the beginning of the French-Indian fur trade that helped the two nations become allies for a long time. The way this trade worked was fueled by the French desire for beaver fur. They heavily relied on the Native Americans to hunt and trap beavers in order to fulfill this desire. In return, the Natives received many European goods, including firearms, which would put fear into the enemies (American History). All in all, this was one of the greatest European-Native American relationships to ever arise, as many colonist groups would degrade them and fight them. The English were the only other group to somewhat match the peace with the Natives. This was because they depended on them for food, trade, and technology. The English would not last very long, as the English settlement patterns were destructive to the Natives. The English desire for land ripped this relationship apart, and would eventually lead to war. The Pequot tribe, for example, were hit hard by European
The arrival of Europeans in America greatly disrupted the life of the Natives. The natives had their own culture in America with their own special beliefs. When Europeans arrived they tried to alter the way Native Americans lived their lives to resemble their way of living. The Natives did not respect this because they had previously built a lifestyle in America that they wish not to be transformed. The two cultures had different opinions about government, religion, land, and society. Due to the many differences between the Native and European people, it was unfeasible that there would be no conflicts between them.
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.
There are many reasons Native Americans and European Colonists did not have a good relationship. The reason for conflict between Colonist and Indians was due to the Colonists insatiable greed for power and land. Some of the reasons not only included physical mistreatment but also an ethical mistreatment of the Native Americans. European Colonists not only brought with them many different diseases that would later aid in the genocide of many Native American tribes, but also a mindset in which they felt superior to there Native neighbors. This feeling of superiority led to an outbreak of violence and many different civil wars. Due to the Native American and the Colonists irreconcilable
During the end of the nineteenth century, the United States had formed policies which reduced land allotted to Native Americans. By enforcing these laws as well as Anglo-American ideals, the United States compromised indigenous people’s culture and ability to thrive in its society.
The European immigrants were welcomed with open arms by the Native Americans. Native tribes provided food and shelter for the Europeans and thought them how to survive on their land. Tensions were elevated between English settlers and Native Americans as more immigrants came to the US. The Native Americans were not willing to give up their land and this lead to many battles and wars, almost every colony in New England encountered a conflict with Native Americans. By the end of the 17th century, Native Americans were essentially eliminated from the Atlantic coast (Hirschfelder & Flynn,
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 fascination with Native Americans has been a constant with outsiders since explorers first “discovered” the New World. The biggest surge in this fascination came in the mid-19th century when the Indian Wars were starting to come to an end and the belief that Native Americans were disappearing, walking into the sunset never to be seen again. This led to an increase in the collecting of anything Native American, from artifacts to stories to portraits. The inevitable outcome of this was that Native Americans, who were never considered very highly to begin with, where now moved into a category of scientific interest to be study. This scientific interest in Native Americans is what many museums and other institutions based their collections and exhibits on and is one of the issues that many Native Americans have with how both their people and their culture were, and to some extent still are, represented in these places.
Beginning in the Sixteenth Century, Europeans sought to escape religious and class persecution by engaging on a journey to the New World. However, they were unaware that this “New World” was already inhabited by many groups of Native Americans, who had been established on the continent for thousands of years. At first, the two ethnic groups lived in relative peace. The colonists of Jamestown survived due to Powhatan’s tribe teaching them how to cultivate the land. However, things took a twisted turn as the colonists grew greedy. Due to cultural differences, there was stark tension between the Indian groups and European settlers in New England prior to 1750, which tremendously influenced early political means, social life, and the economy.
The Native Americans sustained and took care of their home, while the Europeans pushed and pulled for more money to fall from it. This caused the land to lose a lot of its density and eventually the Europeans’ wealth as well. Things that were lost were proper farming grounds, culture of the Native Americans, and wild life. Different views of the Europeans and Native Americans caused a lot of conflict. The Europeans’ views on the Indians’ way of life became critical once they saw and felt as if their society was not controlled
Native Americans had conflict with the Europeans over social and environmental problems; this led to violence and war. Also, Europeans and Native Americans were both violent and Europeans enslaved and killed Natives to conquer land and people.
Closely followed by Columbus’ “discovery” of the New World in 1492 were the establishments of European colonies with the French primarily in the north and down the Mississippi, and with the British along the east coast. As a result, the Native Americans’ lives changed drastically. Before 1750, in terms of economically, French responded mutually in terms of economy, culturally befriended them and in terms of religion, responded benignly by encouraging Catholicism through missionaries and on were on the best terms with the Natives; the British by contrast, economically
What were the significant treaties, policies, and events that defined US Government and Native American Relations? How did the Native American respond to these treaties, polices, and events historically? How did these treaties, policies, and events affect the subsistence, religion, political, and social structures of the Native American people? I will answer these questions through the examination of two centuries of US history in six time periods that define clear changes in the relationship between the Native American and the US Government.
In the early days of American history, there have been feuds among different cohorts. The infamous feud between the whites and the blacks has been a problem throughout history, and in some cases, the feud still happens today. Another prolonged feud is between the rich and the poor people because the rich can easily control the poor, and the poverty-stricken people cannot retaliate because the rich have more power. In early American history, there was a strong connection including rich white people to the slaves, Native Americans, and the impoverished people.
With the arrival of the colonists came the vast discrimination and unacceptance of native Americans whose land was wrongfully and aggressively taken. Native Americans were subjected to the mercy of the Western European’s deathly contagious small pox disease. More so, the Western European colonizers began the use of slavery as a fast and cheap method of running plantations and other intensive labor. Along with slavery, the western expansion began what would become the discrimination of Latinos and Native Americans. These injustices would later culminate to what would be known as the civil rights movement. A movement consisting of enlightening ideas, inspirational public figures, and the inclusion of essential events that would carry the
However, the Europeans began to act greedy and mean and only cared about material things. So Native Americans began to hate them. The Europeans also brought with them many diseases and pathogens that the Native Americans had not faced prior to their arrival. As time went on Native Americans were forced of their lands. There were many conflicts that began the Indian Wars.