When Europeans first set foot on North America they arrived to a land that was completely different. The natives had been settled on the land for many years and established a spiritual connection with it as well. They were separated by an ocean and their had their own complete and individual culture and technology. The Columbian Exchange in the Western Hemisphere resulted in extensive demographic, economic, environmental, and social changes. One of the most predominant changes that occurred after European exposure was the decline in population. This happened for many reasons. Much of it started with the initial tension between the Natives and Europeans. The culture shock for the Europeans was uncanny. They struggled to adapt and learn the different society of the natives that had been already established. At that time Europe was filled with famines, plague, and war. When they came, they saw the “New World” as, “a second opportunity for humanity… to get it right this time.” They …show more content…
They were in touch with their land, animals, and plants very deeply. When the Europeans settled they introduced, and forced upon, new beliefs and systems. Some of the changes brought upon the natives were on land ownership and trade. Natives previously believed that land could not have been bought, it was shared by a village. Essentially they considered land itself as property to the earth, not any one person's property. As the Europeans settled, they focused on entitling the land to themselves. The Indians began to shift their view as the Europeans started to do whatever with “their” land plots. Animals began to be seen as property as well. They used to, “pray for the spirits of the animals they hunted,” and had close relations to the spirits that embodied them. These relations rapidly changed native culture and soon enough, “they had forgotten most of their traditions because ‘their Old Men are
To begin with, the 15th and 16th centuries mark the commencement of European colonization and the integration of American and European culture. Countless Europeans and American Indians were influenced by one another, throughout the Columbian Exchange. Granted, the Native Americans suffered immensely, but there are more importantly numerous significant advantages to be noticed because of European migration. The Columbian Exchange led to the introduction of various products and sources of food, the merging of different groups of people, and transformations in American government and economy. Without the combination of European and American Indian culture, life today would be incredibly less progressive and different.
The environmental changes of the Columbian Exchange opened the door to the more sophisticated interactions of the Atlantic World. The Columbian exchange was a transfer of living things between the old and new worlds, which included diseases, plants and humans. Africans were brought to the Americas through the Middle Passage, and various foods were shared. As soon as the Columbian Exchange began, all the conditions for the Atlantic World’s development were set up.
Native Americans who emigrated from Europe perceived the Indians as a friendly society with whom they dwelt with in harmony. While Native Americans were largely intensive agriculturalists and entrepreneurial in nature, the Indians were hunters and gatherers who earned a livelihood predominantly as nomads. By the 19th century, irrefutable territories i.e. the areas around River Mississippi were under exclusive occupation by the Indians. At the time, different Indian tribes such as the Chickasaws, Creeks, and Cherokees had adapted a sedentary lifestyle and practiced small-scale agriculture. According to the proponents of removal, the Indians were to move westwards into forested lands in order to generate additional space for development through agricultural production (Memorial of the Cherokee Indians).
Native populations rapidly decreased after 1492 because of disease, enslavement, and war. When the Europeans traveled to the New World they brought diseases with them that caused many deaths. Also the Europeans wanted slaves to work for them so they didn’t have to do anything by themselves. War began to break out because of the many deaths happening. The most important cause of the decline was disease because it caused the most deaths and also one people were noticing the diseases they would move around trying to avoid it, but only to make it worse by infecting more people.
Throughout the centuries during colonial America, a lot of Europeans went to the Americas with new expectations or just for seeking something new. Most of them had absolutely no clue what to expect from the new land. Also, as soon as they arrived, they also encountered new aspects of the new land that they have never seen before back in Europe such as the Native Americans and their culture. They also had to go through a lot of hardships and frustrations within themselves or with the Native Americans, and not all the European colonists were successful in the Americas. Nevertheless, the Europeans brought in many changes to the Americas which impacted their lives or the lives of the Native Americans.
White settlers became to take Indian land for themselves. Many tribes resisted and fought back for what they had while others tempted to corporate. Over the next century native
During the fifteenth and sixteenth century, the integration of the Native Americans and European settlers began to shape our America. The Native Americans impacted the lives of European settlers in Early America and vice versa. Europeans introduced many goods and ideas into the lives of the Native Americans that altered their ways of living. These changes helped them learn from each other and create a world with substantial resources.
The Columbian Exchange was a term coined by Crosby in 1972 describing the environmental effects of Columbus’ discovery of the continents of America. This phenomenon essentially led to the homogenisation of the New World and the Old World with the exchange of animals and plants and therefore to some extent the environment of both worlds. However, the emphasis on the advantages the Old World had over the New World and the large losses of lives of the New World natives as a result of the exchange might skewer the magnitude of the impacts of the exchange on both worlds. For instance, the exchange may be portrayed as a one-sided complete take over and transformation of the New World by the Old World rather than as a mixing of different aspects of
This topic was one of the many topics that I found quite interesting. When Europeans first arrived at the shores of the Americas, their main motivation was to find new land filled with riches, golden cities, and opportunities, and establish ideal communities based on the lives of early Christian saints. Many European settlers each had their own motivation to explore but they ultimately wanted one thing, access to more money. They treated people who were already living on that land as mere means to get what they wanted. The Columbian exchange was the stepping stone for the rise of industrialization in the new
Due to this involvement with each other, both sides were more easily influenced by the other in terms of speech, dress, behaviour, than in an urban environment. Some natives were forced to move out of their homes due to the Europeans moving in and taking over. Once the indigenous population migrated to a different region of Latin America, they began an attempt to integrate their own culture into their new environment, resulting in future transculturation in those areas
Natives were left with nothing after the Europeans wiped them of their resources and way of life. When bringing up new colonies to thrive, the Europeans did not care for the lives of the native people, and so, they were left homeless, without their natural resources, and with a new culture brought upon them by the Europeans. Slavery was commonplace during that time, especially with the large slave trade going on between the New World and Africa. Millions of native people roamed the Americas before the Europeans, but disease wiped out most of the population. The Europeans caused such diseases.
When the Europeans first came in contact with the Natives it affected both the Europeans and the Natives. There were many different effects, some of them including diseases, religion and culture, trade, land disputes, family culture and more. Some of the changes were good and others were not that good. They helped and hurt both the Natives and the Europeans. First contact was probably the hardest time when it came to colonizing America because it meant they needed to work with each other and help each other, which is not always the easiest.
Native Americans understood the land because they lived surrounded by nature. The way the Euro-Americans lived was more modernized than the Native Americans. In Little Big Man, the Americans lived in houses made out of wood or bricks,
In the Columbian Exchange, diseases were brought from Europeans and the population of American Indians had declined by 80-90% during the first hundred
Various factors contributed to the population decline of Native Americans, from advanced technology to diseases. When Europeans arrived in America, they brought with them diseases that could wipe out a large amount of people who were not immune to the diseases. Europeans brought better weapons and more experience in warfare. Also, they had strength in their sheer numbers, which helped to overpower the Native Americans. With better weaponry and warfare experience, epidemic diseases, and utter numbers the Europeans were able to overpower the Native Americans and cause the population of Native Americans to decrease.