Native Americans During The 19th Century

Before the discovery of the Americas, the world was thought to be just Africa, Asia, and Europe. Christopher Columbus, an Italian sailing under the spanish flag discovered the Americas in 1492 while trying to make a voyage to Asia. When first arriving they settled in what is now known as “Hispaniola” with hopes of converting the Natives to christian faith. The natives were living on these lands for thousands of years before the explorers came over and invaded their homes. The ways in which the Spanish Explorers viewed these natives was different from the way in which the French viewed them. The spanish were much more harsh and cruel with their thoughts and in their interactions with the natives than the french were. Bartolomé and Ragueneau both wrote about their experiences and the things they witnessed while in the Americas.

Christopher Columbus arrived in a new land, occupied by Indians, that was very distinct and different from their old home. As stated in Columbus' letter to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, the land in the New World was described as beautiful, full of the most fertile farms and fields, and helpful for both pasturage and construction. It consisted of unique species, fruit and supplies which were much needed by the visitors. Columbus knew he was in an outstanding place to make new discoveries and create what could be the next way of life. The Indians greeted the Europeans with kindness and peace. They were full of affection towards the visitors, trading valuable treasures for trifles while Columbus and his crew were convincing them to become Christians and support the King and Queen of

Once Columbus returned to Spain, he told the current monarchs of Spain, King Ferdinand, and Queen Isabella, what he discovered in the New World. He told them about the generous amount of resources present there, especially gold. Ferdinand and Isabella became greedy and wanted to become as wealthy as possible. They sent hundreds of Spanish conquistadors to gather all of the abundant resources in the New World and to begin to set up colonies. The conquistadors accomplished this goal only at the expense of the natives and the surrounding environment.

In the 16th century Spaniards Herman Cortes and Christopher Columbus set out on endeavoring journeys in search of new worlds. Christopher Columbus encountered, in the Caribbean islands, a group of extremely simplistic Native Americans. Herman Cortes however encountered a much more advanced Native American group in Meso America; we formally know this area to be Mexico. In my essay I will be comparing and contrasting several aspects between both of these Native American Civilizations including sophistication, technology, housing, weapons, religion and their reaction to the Spaniards. Letters written by Columbus and Cortes will be used to make these comparisons.

Knowing some of the issues that Native Americans and the U.S. Government faced back in the 1800’s, believe it or not, there is still some that arise today, along with a lot of other issues that Native Americans have within themselves.

According to the English, Native Americans in early seventeenth century Virginia left an imprint on the New England earth. They traditionally settled near water and in small groups, and not in a larger population. They also made little benefit of their land, being never fertile. The English settlers were very taken at the fact they didn’t use the land to the best it could be used. They were tall, brown and proportionate appearance. Also the men were fewer than the women and children. The English felt the Indians had the right to use the land, but letting them have ownership of the land and having it all to themselves was not an accepted English view. The English view also had many limitations to what the natives really were like.

The slightest action or movement by the government or the people can alter a nation’s economy drastically. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the United States of America was, most assuredly, in need of a positive economic agent. This agent became a geographical expansion to the West. Unquestionably, the settlers’ means of excelling production, efficient distribution, innovative services, and rich resources in the West were incorporated in the enhancement of the economy countrywide.

Native Americans, English, Africans and other European settlers went through adversity in their plight in trying to establish their own identity in North American Colonial societies. Trade and land were two major components in the fight for power.

The European conquest for establishing North American colonies began with various motivations, each dependent on different, and/or merging necessities: economics, the desire to flee negative societal aspects, and the search for religious freedoms. Originally discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 in search for a trade route to Cathay (China), North America remained uninhabited, excluding the Native American establishments. Following this discovery, Spain –along with other European nations such as France, England, Sweden and the Netherlands– soon began the expedition to the new land with vast expectations. Driven by economic, societal, and religious purposes, the New World developed into a diversely structured colonial establishment

A long time ago, in a land far, far away...there were a group of European immigrants looking for a better life. It was between the late 1700’s and early 1800’s when they first heard about a place called America, a land like no other. So, these immigrants decided to embark on a journey to this new land, because of their desire for freedom and happiness. They were chasing what we now call the American Dream. And guess what? These immigrants so happen to be related to me.

There were three important people that had very different views on how to reconstruct the Union. Reconstruction was, according to The Americans by McDougal Littell, “the period during which the United States began to rebuild after the Civil War” (Page 376). It started in 1865 and ended in 1877. The views on how Reconstruction should happen were very different for each of these people: Abraham Lincoln, the Radical Republicans, and Andrew Johnson.

The success of the Spaniards' colonization of the Americas was partly a result of the condition of the natives. Columbus referred to the natives as "timorous creatures" without any weapons, so " the men who remain there alone sufficient to destroy all that land". In addition to this, the Aztec belief in the return of Quetzalcoat also played a significant role in the submission of the natives to the Spaniards. As the Spaniards were coming from the sea with their ships, the natives believed that they were the agents of the God and thus they showed their respect. Columbus recounted that "they all believe that power and goodness are in the sky, and they believed very firmly that I, with these ships and crew, came from the sky; and in such opinion they recevied me at every place where I landed..." Another, yet not the last, factor in the success of the Spaniards was their use of Indian tribes such

Hernan Cortes’s first encounter narrative displays the cultural and spiritual roles of Spain, as well as the part Christianity played in creating a sense of belonging . Moreover, how the idea of cultural and spiritual superiority played in the colonization and conquering of The Aztecs. Cortes displays a Eurocentric outlook, “for they had left their native land so long ago and as I had only recently arrived from there, I would better know the things they should believe” (Cortes 58). With this idea that Europe is the nucleus of the world, Cortes has a cultural and religious duty to return the natives back to the fold. Cortes, having painted his view of the world creates a sense of belonging to him and all of Spain, in that, since all life originates in Europe then it’s theirs anyway. He goes about plundering by using Christianity as a moral justification for the colonization of the native population. Beginning by destroying “idols”(Cortes 58) and setting up “images”(Cortes 58)Cartes believes it’s simply what “they should believe”(Cortes 58) . This narrative of cultural and spiritual superiority is echoed in John Heckewelder’s retelling of the “Lenni Lenape”(Heckewelder 68) narrative wherein a group of Dutch missionaries visit the new world and are revered as God’s. Before they depart, they distribute gifts among the natives of “beads, axes, hoes, and stockings” (Heckewelder 70) only to return on their second voyage to see the natives wearing them as

One of the ways in which encounters between conquistadores like Columbus and the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas took shape was the process of assimilation. Assimilation involved attempts by the conquistadores to ‘civilise’ the indigenous populations through spreading European customs and faith. The process itself was based on perceived cultural and religious distinctions, which affected debates over the meaning of the ‘human’. The colonisers’ ignorance towards and dismissal of indigenous customs shows this. For example, Todorov’s interpretation of Columbus’s journals suggests a belief that they were “deprived of all cultural property”, having no religion or law, though Columbus goes on to contradict himself and describes “idolatrous” practices (Todorov, 1984, p.35). Similarly, Hall states that Europeans believed there was an “absence of government and civil society” when there were in fact “highly elaborated social structures” different from European structures (Hall, 1992, p.211). Even when they recognise Native Americans as having their own customs, European settlers often present them as being ‘lesser’ to European customs. Bartolome de las Casas defended indigenous peoples’ living practises as showing a capacity for human reasoning while simultaneously arguing the need to “Christianize them”; indigenous people have morals and rituals, but need to be trained into having European or Christian morals instead (Bogues, 2014, p.214). Fifteenth-century

On October 11, 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Colombus, funded by the Spanish empire, made landfall on the coast of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Islands. Upon reaching the shore, Columbus and his men were immediately surrounded by the indigenous Taino people who accepted the newcomers onto their land. The natives marvelled at the simple, crude items which were “presented [to] them [including] red caps, and strings of beads to wear upon the neck, and many other trifles of small value, wherewith they were much delighted,” with the goods the Europeans exchanged with them. Europeans had come to the Western Hemisphere to reap the natural resources for the benefit of the Mother Country and to explore vast new lands for gold and silver reserves that might bring unparalleled wealth and power to their nation. Fueled by the desire to replicate previous successful Spanish conquests such as those led by Hernan Cortes in Mexico and Francisco Pizarro in South America, the Spanish sent explorers to the New World to continue their dominance of territorial expansion in the late 15th century. Standing in the path of this goal were the indigenous tribes that dominated the landscape. The forced conversion of thousands of natives to Christianity was justified by the Spanish in the same manner as their quest for new lands. The European "expansion of the faith was inextricably intertwined with military glory and economic profit”, and the Spanish pursued the spreading of the Christian faith in