Compare And Contrast Native American And Europeans

During the early and mid 1400’s, before colonization, North America was inhabited by an enormous amount of diverse Native American tribes. These tribes were incredibly dispersed across the continent of North America, which resulted in Native Americans populating many different geographical regions. The introduction of settlers from Europe, especially Spain, caused the lives of these Native Americans to transform drastically. When analyzing the history of North American tribes, it is important to note the reasoning behind the susceptibility of Native Americans to European conquest as well as why these tribes were so distinctly unique from one another. After the ice ice age, the climate and geography of North America changed drastically. Subsequently, …show more content…
The Native Americans had very well structured societies that despite being highly functional, were substantially different from typical European society. Bartolome de Las Casas wrote that the Native Americans, “had properly organized states, wisely ordered by excellent laws, religion, and custom. They cultivated friendship and, bound together is common fellowship, lived in populous cities in which they wisely administered the affairs of both peace and war justly and equitably…” Tribes had very well organized and structured societies that were far more advanced in some sense than European civilization. Rather than have personal ownership, Native Americans valued communal living, which was not prevalent in European society. Therefore, to the European settlers, this behavior was extremely odd, and to them, inhumane. When Christopher Columbus arrived in Hispaniola, the differences between societies was undoubtedly apparent. Christopher Columbus wrote that, “The people of this island [Hispaniola], and of all the others that I have found and seen, or not seen, all go naked, men and women, just as their mothers bring them forth… They have no iron or steel, nor any weapons....They have no other weapons than the stems of reeds...on the end of which they fix little sharpened stakes.” Unlike European societies, Native Americans were far less developed technologically. To the Europeans, this was so different from the civilizations they were used to seeing that they believed it was barbaric. Since Indian technology was so far behind Europe’s, invading conquerors saw them as the prime targets for manipulation and conquering. Furthermore, the Spanish believed that these traits were inhumane and thought it was only right to conquer them. Juan Gines de Sepulveda noted that the Native Americans, “who in prudence,