1. The environment has played a large part in shaping how the Native Americans came to the Americas and how they lived there. To begin with, the Ice Age, which began around 2 million years ago, revealed a land bridge connecting Asia to North America, on which hunter gathers began to cross. Once the land bridge was submerged, about 10,000 years ago, the initial peoples of the Americas were able to move southward, eventually peopling all of the Americas. Secondly, the importance of the Native American’s environment heavily influenced their manipulation of their lands and their treatment of its resources. The Native Americans revered the physical world and endowed nature with spiritual properties. This in time led the Europeans to believe these …show more content…
This statement has both validity and invalidity depending on what aspect you regard. To begin with, this statement is valid if you look at the large portions of the Americas without inhabitants as many peoples were not able to permanently settle in one location due to their lack of corn, meaning much of Americas was untouched or unsettled, However, this statement can be seen as invalid when you look at the societies where the cultivation of corn was prevalent, as large, complicated cities arose around them. Furthermore, this statement can be seen as invalid when you realize the Eurocentric outlook it has. It completely disregards the Native Americans’ cultural values which meant that their lands could not be manipulated to the likings of Europeans, even though people lived on these …show more content…
Eventually, European states began to find interest in their neighbors, after they had been inspired by Marco Polo’s tales from supposed “China” to find a quick way to the East (India) to trade, sell, and export/import goods from/into their homes. As the Portuguese had monopolized the route around Africa, the Spanish looked to the west. They sent Christopher Columbus to see if they could go west to India, as they wanted to take part in trade and monopolize a route, just as Portugal had done with Africa. After the Spanish and Portuguese had begun to rake in the benefits of owning territorial lands in the New World, other nations were seemingly jealous to take part. England is a prime example of this. They wanted a new source of wealth and had already begun to steal it from the Spanish, Sir Francis Drake, and realized they could just do what the Spanish were doing. The French also took part in this expansion for riches as they had stationed an outpost in Quebec to seek its possible riches.
5. The Columbian exchange forever influenced how the peoples of both continents would live. Aspects of the other continent would become ingrained in the other’s culture, i.e. Italians and tomatoes and Native Americans and horses and guns. Furthermore, it forever changed the demographics of each side as well, as the Native Americans were ravaged by the diseases brought by Europeans, such as smallpox, measles, and the plague. In fact, their population dwindled by the tens of millions. This
To many of the English colonists, any land that was granted to them in a charter by the English Crown was theirs’, with no consideration for the natives that had already owned the land. This belittlement of Indians caused great problems for the English later on, for the natives did not care about what the Crown granted the colonists for it was not theirs’ to grant in the first place. The theory of European superiority over the Native Americans caused for any differences in the way the cultures interacted, as well as amazing social unrest between the two cultures.
Cronon raises the question of the belief or disbelief of the Indian’s rights to the land. The Europeans believed the way Indians used the land was unacceptable seeing as how the Indians wasted the natural resources the land had. However, Indians didn’t waste the natural resources and wealth of the land but instead used it differently, which the Europeans failed to see. The political and economical life of the Indians needed to be known to grasp the use of the land, “Personal good could be replaced, and their accumulation made little sense for ecological reasons of mobility,” (Cronon, 62).
The Indians thought of land very differently to the white man. The land was sacred, there was no ownership, and it was created by the great spirit. They could not sell their land to others, whereas the white people could fence off the land which belonged to them, and sell it freely to whoever they wanted. The Europeans didn't think that the Indians were using the land properly, so in their eyes, they were doing a good favour to the earth. To the Indians, the land was more valuable than the money that the white man had brought with him, even though it didn't belong to them.
The author starts the chapter by briefly introducing the source in which this chapter is based. He makes the introduction about the essay he wrote for the conference given in at Vanderbilt University. This essay is based about the events and problems both Native Americans and Europeans had to encounter and lived since the discovery of America.
This was the positive effect of the encounter and it was largely responsible for the doubling of the world’s population over the next three hundred years. There were also many negative effects to the “Columbian Exchange”. A major consequence was the spread of disease in the New World. Diseases carried by Europeans and Africans devastated the population of the Americas. As Europeans traveled through the Americas, epidemics came with them.
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.
Considering historical evidence, the notion: Native –Americans was not the first inhabitant of America is a complete false. For centuries, history kept accurate and vivid accounts of the first set of people who domiciled the western hemisphere. Judging by those records, below are the first set of Native-American people who inhabited America before the arrival of another human race; the Iroquois: The Iroquois of Native Americans was one of the tribes that lived in America before other people came. Based on historical evidence, it is believed that the Native Americans came from Asia way back during the Ice Age through a land bridge of the Bering Strait. When the Europeans first set foot in America, there were about 10 million Native Americans
1. Trace the history of relocation and Indian reservations. In what ways did reservations destroy Native American cultures, and in what ways did reservations foster tribal identities? Be sure to account for patterns of change and consistency over time.
America was expanding at such a rapid pace that those who were in America before us had no time to anticipate what was happening. This change in lifestyle affected not only Americans, but everyone who lived in the land. Changing traditions, the get rich quick idea and other things were the leading causes of westward expansion. But whatever happened to those who were caught in the middle, those who were here before us? One of those many who roamed the land before Americans decided that they owned it were the Native Americans.
Native Americans have suffered from one of America’s most profound ironies. The American Indians that held the lands of the Western Hemisphere for thousands of years have fallen victim to some of the worst environmental pollution. The degradation of their surrounding lands has either pushed them out of their homes, made their people sick, or more susceptible to disease. If toxic waste is being strategically placed near homes of Native Americans and other minority groups, then the government industry and military are committing a direct offense against environmental justice. Productions of capitalism and militarism are deteriorating the lands of American Indians and this ultimately is environmental racism.
Concluding, the significance of the Columbian exchange greatly impacted what we know of life today. The major impacts that have shaped what we know of the world today happened during the Colombian exchange. The major impacts of the Colombian exchange was Christianity that led to the rise of the Catholic Church, new food crops and domesticated animals that improved the Europeans and American living, new military technology such as weapons and horses, slavery of the natives and Africans and diseases that drastically harmed the different ethnic groups. Colombian Exchange between the old world and the new world still holds a drastic impact on the world today. If we didn’t have these influences then the world would be completely changed. Trading still continues today and has made an impact all over the world.
The Columbian Exchange allowed the world to share its resources and discover new ways of living. It opened the doors for new discoveries, trade, and raised the economy of many countries. People throughout Europe were given the opportunity to travel to the newly discovered lands of the Americas and begin new lives.
Tensions between science and religion have recurred throughout history. The issues of what to do with the remains of our ancestors are viewed differently by people. Some people believe that the burial site should be left untouched. Among this group of people fall the Native Americans. Archaeologists, on the other hand, think we should uncover the burial site to be able to discover more about the history of the land from which the grave lies.
Native Americans lived on the land that is now called America, but when white settlers started to take over the land, many lives of Native Americans were lost. Today, many people believe that the things that have been done and are being done right now, is an honor or an insult to the Natives. The choices that were made and being made were an insult to the Native Americans that live and used to live on this land, by being insulted by land policies, boardings schools and modern issues, all in which contain mistreatment of the Natives. The power that the settlers and the people who governed them had, overcame the power of the Natives so the settlers took advantage and changed the Natives way of life to the
Many people today know the story of the Indians that were native to this land, before “white men” came to live on this continent. Few people may know that white men pushed them to the west while many immigrants took over the east and moved westward. White men made “reservations” that were basically land that Indians were promised they could live on and run. What many Americans don’t know is what the Indians struggled though and continue to struggle through on the reservations.