Compare And Contrast The Strategies Of Native Americans

The European and Native American warfare equipment and tactics differed greatly. The European were a more developed and established organization with a developed and established method of warfare and tactics. The European used prescribed military tactics to fight and defend, they used methods such as raids ambushes and unit formations to invade, surprise and defend against the enemy. The European also used a prescribed military battle doctrine or what’s know today as field manuals (FM’s), they also fought in small unit and moved tactically in formations. The European used weaponry far more advanced than the Native Americans. They were armed with weapons such as matchlocks, pikes, swards and armor. The small organized units were strong enough to defended gained ground regardless of the number of casualties taken.

Although the Natives were more on the defensive side when the Europeans arrived, they did not act upon their notion during the initial encounters. Amongst the many ways the Natives reacted to the Europeans, Axtell stated that the Natives employed 5 different strategies being to incorporate them and when that didn’t work, they attempted to beat them, then join them, then parrot them in their ways enough to trounce them in their own game. When all of the above failed, they resulted to ignore them

9. Explain four factors that made Native American people vulnerable to conquest by European adventurers.

The French actually exploited existing inter-tribal alliances and rivalries to establish trade relationships. Instead of attacking stealing and robbing them, the French treated the Indians fairly by trading goods like beads, fur and alcohol, and becoming friends with the Indians. The Native Americans and French maintained a friendly relationship, most likely because the French treated them very well. Intermarriage was also common between the French and Native Americans. During the French and Indian war, the French had many Native Americans helping them.

Coming from an economic standpoint, the Europeans and Indians were such total opposites, it often led to misunderstanding. Indians had very large trading routes well before the time of European colonization. Their experience in trade only made it easier to exchange goods with the Europeans. For Indians, trading was a way to acquire goods they wanted, but also a way to share the wealth of their land with other tribes that didn't have the same items to trade as they did. To the

In the early 1600s many Europeans became interested in colonizing the New World. Motivated by the success of Columbus, rival countries wanted to gain land and power in the newly discovered continent. After establishing their American colonies, these Europeans eventually encountered the local Indians. Despite the Indian's attempts to make peace with the colonists, fighting broke out in various parts of North America as more settlers emigrated to the New World. The Indians were annihilated or pushed to the fringes of their territory as a result of war, disease, and slavery.

Europeans implemented their military might when conquering Native Americans. The European technology of weaponry included guns and cannons that were far more advanced than the typical bow and arrow and tomahawks used by Indians. Over the years, colonists used weapons along with other tactics to intimidate natives into conversion or ceding land. With the lack of advanced armament, along with modest numbers, natives were unable to defend themselves from impeding colonial attacks. The invaders were infamously renowned as “mechanical, soulless creatures that wielded diabolically ingenious tools and weapons to accomplish mad ends.”

As the result of the invader of European on the physical aspect, the relationship between the natives and the invaders was clear: conquest, enslavement, the expropriation of all the wealth and resources of the land. However the Native Americans were also affected on the non-physical aspect. As the traditional base of existence changed due to the Colonists’ victory, the local Native communities had to adapt certain aspects of their culture in order to survive.

The Englishmen were not the first settlers of the New World. Many years before both the Spanish and the French had claimed parts of North America. England was only in it for land and money. When the English settlers arrived they did not care about the Native Americans and had little desire to accept their culture. The leaders of the colonies new they would need the help of the Natives to survive. During the early years the settlers and Indians got along. The Native Americans would provide food, clothing, and shelter in exchange for knives or hatchets. The Natives also taught them to be competent. As the settlers increased their knowledge and started taking more of Natives land the relationship between them began to diminish. Cultural differences became overwhelming as the

Throughout United States history, various Native American tribes responded differently to the European colonization process. The various ways that the Native American tribes responded to the Europeans coming to their land resulted in different outcomes for each of the tribes as well. When the Europeans first came to America, they did not know how to interact with the various Native American groups that were spread out all over the United States, and the Native Americans also did not know how to respond to the new settlers trying to take over their land.

Assimilation of the native Indians occurred in different phases. The United States in the early years adopted an Indian policy that they used to build good relations with the bordering tribes which helped politically and in trading with the natives. However, they reserved to stop the good relationships in order for them to acquire more land as the moved west to expand their territory. (Keller,1983)

When the early settlers set foot on the North American continent they introduced a new threat to Native Americans –Western civilization. Since first contact, Native Americans were faced with three challenges: assimilation, relocation, and genocide.

When the English settlers first arrived to North America, they fought the Eastern Indians in a form of self-defense; however, in the late 1700s and early 1800s, the United States government started relocating Native Americans entirely because the government wanted their land. “These Indian nations, in the view of the settlers and many other white Americans, were standing in the way of progress” (Vanderstel) and from the white Americans having that land for cotton. It seemed that the United States government would do anything to acquire the land that the Eastern Native Americans owned and they did just that with the relocation of tribes to reservations.

The arriving of the Europeans in the Americas brought new endeavors to Indian American cultures. Some of these endeavors were great and some of these endeavors led to never ending battles between the two civilizations. In order to be a functional society, the American Indians had to cope with the Europeans with the arrival on their land. To combat the repercussions of colonialism, the American Indians survived by accommodation, war, and adoption.

What are some of the diversity of Native American Indians prior to the arrival of Europeans?