In colonial times, the earliest interactions between the Native Americans and the European settlers lead to different relationships between the two groups. But more often than not, the relationship wound up being negative, especially for the Native Americans. Two areas with negative relationships were the American southwest, controlled by the Spanish, and the Chesapeake Bay area, controlled by the English. In the southwest, as the settlers came into contact with the Native Americans, they became convinced that their every aspect was superior to the Native Americans. The main reason the Spaniards even bothered to interact with the Native Americans was to achieve their main goal in America, to find gold and other valuables.
They would give them items such as alcohol, guns, textiles, metal tools, and pots in return for the elite furs. As the demand for furs rose, they began to corrupt the nature of animals that the Indians followed. Unknowingly the French also killed many natives through illness; the goods that the French offered to the natives carried diseases and led to the death of many Indians because of their lack of immunity. The relationship between the Spanish colonists and the Indians was a callous one and only benefited the Spanish. In the 1500s, the Spanish arrived in the New World with the intent to convert natives to Catholicism, trade, and discover riches.
For example, during the French and Indian War, British commander and chief Jeffery Amherst suggested using smallpox to wipe out the Native Americans (D'Errico, 2010). When these new disease were introduced, the shaman or medicine men were baffled and unable to heal the ailments. As a result of the natives’ shaman being unable to cure their people of these diseases, the natives began not to believe in their healing powers. However, many of the indigenous that did not fall to disease, were captured for slavery. Many people believe that slavery of the Native Americans was a result of the Europeans colonizing the New World, but it was not.
Relations between Aboriginals and Europeans began at L’anse Aux Meadows with the Vikings and the Beothuk and Inuit peoples. As time progressed, the relations with vikings diminished and relations with western European powers commenced. These western European powers were arrogant, selfish and machiavellian in their dealings with native population in the Americas. The European powers, England and France, would exploit the Aboriginal population for their riches and began a process that would culminate in European colonization of the Americas. Europeans survived in the Americas solely because of their relations with the Indians.
While many instances such as mistreating humans and taking over and killing cultures were by no means acceptable, let alone positive, during this same time, explorers were risking their lives for their country and their own glory, all in an attempt to find new routes. As it turns out, they ended up finding whole new land masses. One of the biggest issues to come out of the Age of Exploration and the new-found trade routes was the development of the Slave Trade. While there was slavery in some areas previous to the Slave Trade, this was the first time that mass amounts of slaves were being taken from their homes, shipped across the ocean like cargo, and sold, being neglected as people and looked at as if they were merchandise. One of the most prominent sources for slaves was Africa.
Another reason for migration was the idea of primogeniture, which allowed the eldest son to inherit the wealth; leaving others desperate and in hopes of finding riches overseas. Also, many fled to America to escape peonage or prison. These social concerns in England ended up populating the colonies because people believed they would find a better life in America. The second major way that England shaped the colonies were the English politics. At some points, colonists seemingly were allowed plenty of freedom, while other times they were under strict English rule.
He is viewed upon as a hero by Americans for these reasons, and has even received a day dedicated to him. He is also credited for beginning the colonization of America, which he indisputably deserves recognition for. However, when one looks into colonization more, he or she can realize that it was not that good of an era due to the problems faced against the Native Americans, which will be mentioned later. When Columbus arrived in the west, he brought many items from the east that introduced a negative side of cultural diffusion. These "new" items provided a "culture shock" to the natives and many did not know how to deal with the changes.
Even though Christopher Columbus found this great land which lead all of us to have freedom and liberty with the sea of opportunities in this country but to gain all this, we have done something that would be considered unethical from every point of view as well inhumanity. According to racial and ethnic groups, Europeans brought superior weaponry and diseases which were effective in reducing large numbers of population in short period of time which they used on Native Indians……..Number of naïve Americans were 10 million in 1500 but gradually decreased as food sources disappeared and diseases wiped their population to 600,000 by 1800 and even worst less than 250,000 by 1900.This loss is considered one of the biggest catastrophic In the history. United states doesn’t take full responsibly of this loss due to the fact that Spanish and French people were also involved in this mass murder (Schaefer, pp.149-150, 2012).In other words, Even though United states didn’t have full control over what happened at that time due to other countries interaction, we should still feel somewhat responsible of wiping such as large number of population from the face of the earth. According to understanding prejudice, Columbus Day is celebrated as a federal holiday and in 2002 George W bush issued presidential proclamation celebrating Columbus bold journey and achievement. All public buildings raised united States flag on that day however the proclamation doesn’t mention anything about the violence, slavery, religious persecution, and pursuit of gold even though Christopher Columbus has mentioned how he should be judged in his letter which states that he was a
The Columbian Exchange is often praised for the positive things that it brought about such as the exchange of new animals, plants, and food between the old world and new. However, not all aspects of the Columbian exchange were positive. According to Alfred Crosby, “the migration of man and his maladies is the chief cause of epidemics” (Crosby 37). In the article “The Columbian Exchange” by Alfred Crosby, many the outcomes from the voyage were detrimental to many cultures, most of all the Native Americans. Columbus’s arrival to the “New World” was the first act in a century’s long drama of colonization and conquest.
Many of these rumors were lies. Colonist traveled to the Americas to search for land only to find Indians. The Europeans started to take the only thing the Natives could call theirs that was available to them, the land. This taking of the land allowed the Europeans to cultivate