The Impact of Indians in the Colonial Americas Many historians speculate that about 20,000 years ago Paleo-Indians migrated to America. How they made the journey is highly speculated as well. Some believe it was by a land bridge between Asia and Northern America while others believed the Paleo-Indians to have migrated via boat. However, how they arrived is not what matters, but what is important is that the Paleo-Indians made it to the Americas where they began establishing their own civilizations. Around 1492, however, countries like Spain, Britain, and France began exploring for new lands to “colonize”. The lands they discovered were already inhabited by Indians, who are portrayed as the bad guy more times than not. Yet, one could argue that they are the opposite of that. Yes, colonists and Indians shared their differences, but if it were not for the Indians many of the colonists and colonizations would have never survived. One of the major countries to colonize in the Americas was Spain. Spain would actually go on to conquer and colonize many areas and establish one of the largest empires in all of the Americas. But the way in which they went about doing so was completely unnecessary according to Bartolome de Las Casas. Bartolome actually wrote “In Defense of the Indians which was one of the first works in which a person from a colonizing nation argued for the rights of the indigenous people (Indians or Native Americans in this case) of the region that was being
The debate over the legality of sovereignty and acquired lands from the native Americans, specifically the Cherokee, has long been debated. The issues involved have included treaties, land sold, and the right of the Government to physically enforce their rules on Indian land "sovereignty". This paper will examine the strategy used by the Federal Governments, the State Governments as well as those of the Cherokee Indians. The three-way relationship as well as the issues will examine how the interpretation of the Constitution changed society prior to the year of 1840.
In the wake of Europe’s Age of Exploration, explorers roamed different parts of the ocean in search of a faster water route to Asia. Along the way, Europeans explorers discovered a whole new continent, America. Thinking that he was in India, Christopher Columbus, an Italian sailor, called the indigenous Native Americans he met “Indians,” a misnomer that is still used frequently even up to this day. Europeans soon shifted their attention away from the water route to Asia but toward the colonization of the New World. With a desire to have a new life different from that of the Old World, many Europeans landed on the shores of the new continent and settled in communities. However, almost all kinds of European colonization faced this
During the years between 1607 and 1611, many colonists died due to the following: Enviromental issues, settlers skills, and the Relationships with the Indians. In those years many colonists were traveling and seeking me lives but little did they know, their skill level was very low. As a result, many of the colonists ended up dead. Most of the colonists that traveled were gentlemen. However, these are not the nice men you're thinking of. These gentlemen are men that are usually to used to be useful or doing any work at all. Other than mainly gentlemen, the only colonists they brought were barrel makers, druggists, and people with jobs other than FARMING! Now let's dig deeper into why so many colonists died between the years of 1607 and 1611.
Spain, England, and France led the colonization of the Americas having distinct missions, and using different approach. By the mid 1960’s, all these great nations were in a race to establish American colonies. Like in every expedition, the primary purposes were to gain wealth and riches, which was the main reasoning behind all of the colonization’s. On their way to building these settlements, the colonials encountered the Native Americans and had to deal with them in very different ways.
Disease and Medicine along with war and religion were three ways American history has changed. When the colonists came over from Europe they unknowingly changed the world forever in ways they couldn't have imagined. These effects were present to both Native Americans and Europeans. Some of these changes made life easier for both Native Americans and Europeans but some made relations worse too. And some effects wouldn't show up until it was too late.
When people come into contact with new cultures, they do many positive things such as trading goods and sharing ideas. However, new people can also have a negative effect on the cultures that they are meeting. Along with violence and forced relocation, another one of the negative effects of the Indians meeting the Europeans was disease. Prior research has suggested that during the period of time from which the Spaniards were leaving Mexico smallpox had caused a mass number of casualties.
“The history of American Indians before European contact is broadly divided into three major periods: the Paleo-Indian period, the Archaic period (8000–1000 b.c.), and the Woodland period (1000 b.c.–1600 a.d.).”(DiNome) There is little known information about the Paleo-Indian period; however, the Paleo Indians are believed to be some of the first American Indians, not only in Florida, but in all of America. The Paleo Indians were believed to be nomads who fought and hunted with stone tools and clubs. During the Archaic period American Indians began to become more civilized. It was in the Archaic period that the American Indians began to establish a system of trading among their people. During this time the Indians also started developing migration routes to bring other Indians down to Florida from the Carolinas. Similarly to the Indians in the Paleo time period, the Indians in the Archaic period used stone tools for hunting and fighting, but they also began to utilize the use of bone tools during this time period. Another skill that the Indians started becoming more familiar with during this time period was basketry. The last period that we see in pre-contact Native American life is the Woodland period. It is called the Woodland period because during this time is when the Native Americans began farming. We see during this time the Indian settlements had begun moving closer to streams of water and rivers, because that is where the soil was good for successful
Europeans arrived in the Americas around the 1400’s. They explored the world looking for new trade routes and land. When the Europeans arrived in the Americas, they began to colonize. They soon discovered that they weren’t alone, and learned that the Native Americans were living on the land which the Europeans (specifically the Spanish) wanted to colonize. The Spanish noticed that the Indians were not technologically advanced, so they coercively took control of the Native American’s lives.
From the beginning of the formation of the United States the British and French have held different views on continental conquest as well the value of the Native Americans. The English sought to permanently acquire more land to enlarge the empire as well natural resources due to their lack of them. The French also, wanted to acquire more land and, embark on the fur trade within the America’s. However, unlike the British the French established temporary forts and valued the presence of the Native Americans and their teachings. They often intermarried with them to establish unions.
Regarding the article, “Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress, Dr. Howard Zinn argues that there is another perspective to consider as to Christopher Columbus’ adventures. Dr. Howard Zinn’s position is that history books have omissions of slavery, death and innocent bloodshed that accompanied the adventures of Christopher Columbus. In the following statements Dr. Howard Zinn describes his perspective; “The writer began the history, five hundred years ago, of the European invasion of the Indian Settlement in the Americas. That beginning, when you read Las Casas- even if his figures are exaggerations (were there 3 million Indians to begin with, as he says or 250,000, as modern historians calculate) is conquest, slavery, and death. When
Conception, is the way something is perceived. The conception of american indians changed over time, in many different way. So many different people thought very different of these Indians. This is a topic that is widely debated between many historians. Some historians thought that the indians lived in an unchanging state. Other historians saw the American Indians as pure and noble people. Although some though they were ruined by the contact with the European culture. Many of the historians have made misconceptions about these Indians. These are important to study because it allows us to understand how they make their assumptions.
After the wiping out of Native tribes, created a cheap labor import system to provide workers for mines, farms, mills
The Bill of Rights contains all of the basic rights endowed to all American citizens. For the purpose of our argument we will consider the Indians of the 19th century as American citizens. After reviewing the Bill of Rights it became extremely apparent that as American citizens many Indians civil rights were not only withheld, but also flat out denied and violated. Under the direction of anti-Indian president Andrew Jackson, the Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and within five years the Treaty of New Echota was formed and thus began the saddest series of events, which became known as the Trail of Tears. These events and more added to the delinquency of the
During the early colonial period in America, new American settlers did not get along well with the Natives. The Native people gave the American people many problems when they came to settle in the New World. Most of these problems included the Natives capturing Americans and keeping them as hostages during the wars. Depending on the reasons why these Americans were captured and who captured them, depended on what kind of experience these Americans would have during their captivity. The Americans experiences would also depend on what gender they were and that would determine how they were treated and what role they would play in the tribe. During the early colonial time, there were two important American settlers named Mary Rowlandson and
The exact history of how we came to be is one that is still very much unclear and is constantly revised. Many cultures around the world hold their own creation stories about the creation of the world and how the people came to be. But we all have one thing in common, the Earth.