Cultural Differences Between Europeans And Native Americans

Register to read the introduction… To understand what exactly led to the eventual fighting between the Native Americans and European settlers, one must first learn the cultural differences between them. While, some Native American’s learned to “coexist” with new foreign settlers trading and interacting with them, other natives did not like these invaders and were eventually destroyed, usually by force. These new Europeans tried to bring their new way of life to the natives while these people just wanted to maintain their traditional and natural way of life. Native Americans wanted to live for their family, religion and becoming one with nature. They believed that all things were connected spiritually and that their actions could directly influence nature around them. They also believed that the land could be owned by no one and it was for all people to share together. This posed a major problem for the land hungry Europeans who were far more selfish than the …show more content…
Not only was there a huge cultural gap in general but also a language and religious one too. One of the first American Indian groups to be wiped out by Europeans were the Arawaks of Haiti which were enslaved by Columbus. All 250,000 of them were eventually completely wiped out by enslavement and then disease. Historians estimate that nearly 80% of Native populations died from diseases brought by the Europeans. There is no doubt that the vast European colonization drastically changed the lives of Native Americans and other indigenous peoples all over the North and South American continents. Their populations were destroyed by disease, enslavement, and warfare. It is sad to say but, within 400 years of the first contact between European settlers and Native Americans, the white man had succeeded in stripping Native American civilizations of almost all of their land, their way of life and their own