One of the major reasons the Native Americans were affected by the European exploration was because the Europeans spread small pox and many other diseases to the Native Americans. Since the Natives have never been exposed to diseases they had no resistance and most of them died out. Also the Europeans threat was very direct to the natives. To the Natives, Europeans were becoming a threat deeper and deeper by seizing their lands, clearing forests, driving away many of there wild game (which tribes depended on food) and letting their livestock run loose to destroy the natives crops. The Native Americans started becoming less and less powerful towards the Europeans, there population was small to begin with and with the epidemics diseases and the land and food shortages, they were almost wiped out of there population.
Christopher Columbus “sailed the ocean blue” in 1492. He is given so much credit for not being the first persons who settled on American land, actually Native Americans (the Arawaks) were already living there. Although Columbus came about American land which he called “The Indies”, he was set out on his voyage to find Asia, Columbus did not expect to find the Americas, not to mention how welcoming and generous the Arawaks were- he clearly took advantage of them by leading to killing all Arawaks , allowing them to become nonexistent, he also is given credit because he “proved the world is round” actually, he was not the first person that proved this- therefore, Columbus was falsely given credit for finding the Americas, proving “the world is round,” and should not be considered a hero or have a holiday for his unexpected finding and cruel treatment to the
Again, the Europeans would rationalize their exploitation of the African man. The main reason would be that they were not human, plain and simple. They were reduced to the level of animals. The Mexicans didn’t have it any easier with the loss of the war and having to give up California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada and Utah. The Europeans called this Manifest Destiny, the belief that the United States was destined to expand the North American continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
From are class discussions and readings I have a understanding of what the Europeans thought about the native Americans but not so much what the native Americans thought of the Europeans. In the eyes of the arrogant Europeans the Indians were uncivilized savages with no ethics or morals, not even human in nature and especially weren’t to be treated as humans. They thought they could to do whatever they wanted because they were much superior to them and they were just animals living on that land. That is probably why they treated them so badly and did horrendous things and believed they could do anything and it was countable. Native Americans were in awe at first seeing the technology the Europeans possessed such as steel weapons, guns, mirrors, and the one that I can only envision certainly took their breath away a sea vessel full of Europeans crashing into their sand.
Howard Zinn is a firm believer that Columbus and the explorers were not heroes or saviors, but rather, cruel and egotistical characters who took advantage of the most innocent of human beings. Just as Cortés marched into Mexico with the intention of robbing the Aztec capital of Tenochitlan, Pizarro stormed into Peru, forcing the Incas elsewhere while taking their possessions and an abundance of precious metals. Bartolome de las Casas provides firm evidence of the injustices towards the native peoples, saying, “The Spaniards grew more conceited every day and refused to walk any distance. They rode on the backs of Indians or were carried on hammocks…” (6) This indignity is only worsened by the fact that the natives did nothing but help Columbus and the Spaniards. The indignities the Native Americans were forced to endure on a daily basis were repugnant.
One thriving and prosperous cultures were now driven into the ground, poor, undernourished and maltreated. On top of that their own religions were under mimed. Their population was dying due to lack of immunity against European disease. The Spanish were not. The Spanish told them that they were not dying because god was on their side.
They understood that in order to survive and continue to expand their wealth, black slaves were the answer. Millions of blacks were brought from Africa to work as
Even with the concessions that the government made to the Native people, the fact is that they have been put through hell and they were initially and continue to be targeted for extinction in one way or another. The intended death and destruction of a people just because they are of a certain origin or ethnic background does fall under the definition of genocide. The fact is that most of white America is in denial of this term “genocide” and the idea that this continues to haunt the Native Americans of today. Is it a question of being too proud to admit that the whites could actually be this cruel and wrong and make such a mistake? I don’t think that the white man will ever own up to this
In the 1800s Black people were treated as mere weeds, parasites that shunned the development of the white civilisation. Thus we must act to ensure that the blacks are realised as our neighbouring brethren and that they were the
Gustavo Medrano M W 1:45pm History 12 October 8, 2013 gustavoam20@gmail.com Freedom Not Truly Given Mark Twain once wrote “I am opposed to having the eagle put his talons on any other land”. I completely agree with Mark Twain, the United States is trying to claim land to appear stronger, bigger, and to dominate in business colonization which is known as neo-colonialism. The United States has a big interest in markets and resources. To make profit out of other countries is the big picture for the United States, resources and money is of great importance to the United States. After all the events in the late 1800s and early 1900s, it is clear that United States wants to dominate economically, limit freedom from smaller countries and to educate