Different Creation Views Among Native Americans and Europeans

785 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Greek mythology and the impact on culture

The Native Americans and Europeans had many influences that affected their outlook when they first encountered one another. These influences have different stories and views that pertain to the origin of life and how the earth was created. For example the Native Americans had stories that were passed down from generations that would be reshaped in different tellings. On the contrary the European Christians obtained their stories from books that had been written in earlier years such as the bible and Aristotle’s work. Despite their differences all of their beliefs were affected by the accounts which then made their encounter with each other and the relationship with human beings.

The creation story in Aristotle’s views affected the thinking and behavior of Native Americans and Europeans when they first encountered each other and their thoughts of humankind’s relationship to nature. For instance the Native Americans had two stories of creation. Both dealt with animals and plants helping humans or being one with each other. In the story Ramon Pane humans lived in caves and would turn into animals or a part of nature when they were exposed to the sun. In the other creation story, “A women who fell from the sky” has a woman who falls from heaven onto the sea. Animals that live in the water come together to rescue her and because of this they create a place for her to stay which then becomes the earth. The women then has a daughter which planted potatoes East instead of West and therefore becomes pregnant with twin boys. The boys grow up and create land, animals and plants for the earth, because of this Europeans could have perceived Native Americans as satanic human beings because the Natives did not believe that God created the wo...

... middle of paper ...

...is would affect the relationship between different groups such as the Europeans and the Native Americans. The Europeans might consider the Native Americans barbarians because they believe that the origin of life came from “crazy” events. This would maybe lead into the Europeans thinking that they are above the Native Americans because there barbarians and that they should be slaves to them.

Many things were influenced when the Native Americans and Europeans encountered one another for the first time. There views on humankind’s relationship to nature, the relationship of men and women to each other, and the relationship between different groups of human beings were influenced. They were influenced by the stories that the Native Americans passed down from generation to generation, the story that the Europeans believed from the Bible, and the views of Aristotle.

Show More
Related

  • Native American Creation Story versus Christian Creation

    611 Words  | 2 Pages

    When I was a child I had been told a Christian creation story is different from the one that I had read in the book ? Iroquois. The differences between these two creation stories are: at the beginning of creation of the world, the type of people, and the meaning of the story.

    Read More

  • Characterism And Transformations In The Soothsaying Of The Vala

    1222 Words  | 3 Pages

    Further exploration of the myth teaches more about Northern Europeans who believed it as their creation myth and reveals their emphasis on structure and order as well as a belief in supernatural

    Read More

  • Native Reactions To The Invasion Of America By James Axtell

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    Each European country treated the Native Americans distinctively and likewise the diverse Native Americans tribes reacted differently. The vast majority of the tribes didn’t wish to overtake the Europeans, but to rather just maintain their status quo. Moreover, Axtell mentions that during the inaugural stages of the encounter, the relationship between the two parties was rather peaceful since the Europeans were outnumbered by the natives. Axtell depicts that unlike the Europeans, the Native Americans treated the strangers equally or superior to themselves. The Indians would welcome the Europeans into their towns and shower them with gifts and blessings. The relationship between the two factions was going serene until the cultural differences became a burden on both

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Ambiquois And Genesis

    1148 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Europeans first arrived in America did they imagine that hidden among the trees were civilized cultures or did they think they stumbled upon forests full of savages? Unfortunately for the Native Americans the Europeans appear to have assumed the latter when the natives may have more in common with them than they thought. For Example native Americans have mythical tales that told how the earth was made that in some ways were similar to Genesis from the bible, not only that but the Iroquois for example have a similar constitution to the United States. However, both their creation stories and their constitution do vary away from the colonists. In Genesis the creation of the Earth draws quite a few parallels with some of the Native Americans

    Read More

  • Beyond 1492-Native Reactions to Invasion

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    The essay starts with the “Columbian Encounter between the cultures of two old worlds “ (98). These two old worlds were America and Europe. This discovery states that Native Americans contributed to the development and evolution of America’s history and culture. It gives the fact that indians only acted against europeans to defend their food, territory, and themselves.

    Read More

  • Similarities And Differences Between European Native American And African Societies

    1627 Words  | 4 Pages

    Analyze the major similarities and difference among European, Native American and African societies. What was the European impact on the peoples and the environment of the Americas and Africa during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

    Read More

  • Native Americans and Cultural Assimilation

    1945 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are consistent patterns or themes regarding Native American world views and the differentiation of cultural elements and society. Native Americans retained control of institutional and cultural orders against the assimilation effort because all aspects of Native American societies are interrelated, guided by the broader cultural world views. Each cultural or institutional element is, in fact, overlapped with other elements, so change in one element inevitably affects the broader cultural and social complex. While adopting to a new environment and small changes was possible in the West, where social and cultural elements are separate from each other, Native Americans were faced with conflicts and a potential, large disruption of the existing social orders.

    Read More

  • Differences Between Native American And Europeans

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    Overall, There were so many differences between Native Americans cultures And the Europeans. Some of the examples are, the ideas of the lands owner, religion, and the gender. Their differences are more than the similarities. The impact of their cultures it still remains in today’s society. The cultural differences and the religions differences led to a bloody was that remains for 500 hundreds

    Read More

  • Native Americans In John Steinbeck's Of Plymouth Plantation

    448 Words  | 1 Pages

    America was found by European explorers, and as they began to explore they found the native people of these new lands. The Europeans began to influence the Native Americans by turning them into Christians and educating them. Although some agreed to be influenced, others didn't causing the relationship between the Native Americans and Europeans to be lopsided, unequal, and untrusting.

    Read More

  • Iroquois Nation's Creation Myth Analysis

    79 Words  | 1 Pages

    In ancient times nature surrounded everything. The Iroquois Indians only knew nature, it is what they were taught. Their storytellers used myths or traditional stories explaining a phenomenon and fables or stories using animals to convey a moral. In the Iroquois nation’s creation myth “The World on the Turtle’s Back” and the fable “ Coyote and Buffalo” by Mourning Dove, both use cultural beliefs, a series of supernatural events, and colorful archetypes to prove to origin of the earth.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast European Exploration And Colonization

    922 Words  | 2 Pages

    One point of collision was seen in the differences the religious practices by the Native Americans and the Europeans. For instance, the native inhabitants of Savannah in Georgia were continuously urged to accept Christianity as a true faith and to apply the gospel of Jesus Christ in all that they did (Whitefield par 4). At one point the Native Americans were promised eternal life in Christianity, but at the other point they were warned of existing eternal death if they continued practicing their “earthen” religions. This was confused them more as the missioners argued to have been taken by the natives for granted (Whitfield par. 10). Christianity was not

    Read More

  • Comparisons of Creation Myths

    2080 Words  | 5 Pages

    Myths – as they are known to most of the world – give insight into the pasts of various countries and religions as the people saw them. They have been used to explain phenomenons in nature or describe the tales of courageous and important men and women throughout history. Creation myths in particular define how the Earth itself was created, along with the universe, heavens, hell, people, and creatures that exist today. Genesis of Christian mythology, for instance, tells the story of how the single deity God spoke and formed everything from day and night to man and woman. Various African creation myths, such as with the Yoruba, explain the creation of the Earth through at least a couple gods working together and all life sprouting from a seed. But all share a common themes, such as a form of chaos or nothingness before life is created. Joseph Campbell notes that “... the idea of an absolute ontological distinction between God and man – or between gods and men, divinity and nature - first became an important social and psychological force in the near East, specifically Akkad, in the period of the first Semetic Kings, c. 2500 B.C.,” showing another similar trait – a god or set of gods exists to create in each story (626). Joseph Campbell makes a comparison of how both Genesis and the Book of the Dead of Egypt share the same idea of their bodies belonging to their god in some way, or being reabsorbed into them at death (630-631). Others, like the Japanese and Iroquois creation myths, claim the Earth was once covered entirely of water before land was formed. Adam and Eve of Genesis and Izanagi and sister Izanami of Shintoism provide examples of myths that share both a passive and active pair of people who eventually create the Earth's population. In any case, certain popular creation myths, some closely tied to prominent religions, share more common characteristics than others. An entire sub-study, called comparative mythology, gives insight into this subject.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Theogony and Creation in Genesis

    1199 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the world there are various cultures with varying religions and creation stories to explain the creation of the Earth and it’s inhabitants. Of these creation stories two with similar and also different characteristics is the Creation story in the book of Genesis which is a part of the 1st Testament in the Hebrew Bible and explains the creation of Earth and humans, and the Theogony which is the greek creation story that describes the origins of the Earth and the Greek Gods. Both the Theogony and the Creation in Genesis show nature as a blessing for humans but it can also affect them negatively, However the myths differ in the ways that the Earth and humans were created and how humans interact with the deities of the creation stories.

    Read More

  • Chief Powhatan Research Paper

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    Over the years, the Native Americans have had multiple, very different opinions about the Europeans and the relationship between the indigenous people and some European powers has differed as well. In this essay, I will be discussing the various and complicated responses of Native Americans toward Europeans immigrants and explorers, and the relationship between indigenous people and European powers which include Virginia, New England, and France.

    Read More

  • American Indians

    1645 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Native Americans or American Indians, once occupied all of the entire region of the United States. They were composed of many different groups, who speaked hundreds of languages and dialects. The Indians from the Southwest used to live in large built terraced communities and their way of sustain was from the agriculture where they planted squash, pumpkins, beans and corn crops. Trades between neighboring tribes were common, this brought in additional goods and also some raw materials such as gems, cooper. seashells and soapstone.To this day, movies and television continue the stereotype of Indians wearing feathered headdresses killing innocent white settlers. As they encountered the Europeans, automatically their material world was changed. The American Indians were amazed by the physical looks of the white settlers, their way of dressing and also by their language. The first Indian-White encounter was very peaceful and trade was their principal interaction. Tension and disputes were sometimes resolved by force but more often by negotiation or treaties. On the other hand, the Natives were described as strong and very innocent creatures awaiting for the first opportunity to be christianized. The Indians were called the “Noble Savages” by the settlers because they were cooperative people but sometimes, after having a few conflicts with them, they seem to behaved like animals. We should apprehend that the encounter with the settlers really amazed the natives, they were only used to interact with people from their own race and surroundings and all of this was like a new discovery for them as well as for the white immigrants. The relations between the English and the Virginian Indians was somewhat strong in a few ways. They were having marriages among them. For example, when Pocahontas married John Rolfe, many said it has a political implication to unite more settlers with the Indians to have a better relation between both groups. As for the Indians, their attitude was always friendly and full of curiosity when they saw the strange and light-skinned creatures from beyond the ocean. The colonists only survived with the help of the Indians when they first settler in Jamestown and Plymouth. In this areas, the Indians showed the colonists how to cultivate crops and gather seafood.The Indians changed their attitude from welcome to hostility when the strangers increased and encroached more and more on hunting and planting in the Natives’ grounds.

    Read More

More about Different Creation Views Among Native Americans and Europeans

Open Document