The Impact of Colonialism in the Americas During European colonization of the Americas the Europeans attempted to bring under their control the native populations (Bonvillain, 2013, p. 432). Their primary objective was to convince the natives that European cultural practices and values were more civilized than their own (Bonvillain, 2013, p. 432). This goal was achieved through three “agents of cultural change”, which were their missionaries, schoolteachers, and government officials. The first agent was the missionaries who exerted a major force in cultural change because they were present in the initial expeditions that were made to explore the Americas (Bonvillain, 2013, p. 432). They considered the Native Americans to be “pagans” that
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One instance would be Spanish colonialist who justified taking land by proclaiming their “right of discovery” (Bonvillain, 2013, p. 434). Another instance were the British who claimed land could only be owned if it was transformed by labor and the indigenous people only used land, therefore did not have ownership (Bonvillain, 2013, p. 434). However, all the various European colonialist similarly believed they were superior in every way and thus morally responsible to civilize the natives (Bonvillain, 2013, p. 434). This was known as the “white man’s burden” and The American Heritage Dictionary (n.d.) defines it as “the supposed or presumed responsibility of white people to govern and impart their culture to nonwhite people, often advanced as justification for European colonialism”. The “sacred trust” was another justification by the British, which said that a peaceful pacification was the best way to civilize the natives (Bonvillain, 2013, p.435). It stressed that government attacks were harmful and would only cause hostility in the natives and that creating a police force of natives was a better way to obtain pacification (Bonvillain, 2013, p. 435). Another justification, which was used when pushing Native Americans off their reservations, would be the philosophy of “manifest destiny”, which said that it was an unavoidable situation for settlers not to continually want to expand their
One instance would be Spanish colonialist who justified taking land by proclaiming their “right of discovery” (Bonvillain, 2013, p. 434). Another instance were the British who claimed land could only be owned if it was transformed by labor and the indigenous people only used land, therefore did not have ownership (Bonvillain, 2013, p. 434). However, all the various European colonialist similarly believed they were superior in every way and thus morally responsible to civilize the natives (Bonvillain, 2013, p. 434). This was known as the “white man’s burden” and The American Heritage Dictionary (n.d.) defines it as “the supposed or presumed responsibility of white people to govern and impart their culture to nonwhite people, often advanced as justification for European colonialism”. The “sacred trust” was another justification by the British, which said that a peaceful pacification was the best way to civilize the natives (Bonvillain, 2013, p.435). It stressed that government attacks were harmful and would only cause hostility in the natives and that creating a police force of natives was a better way to obtain pacification (Bonvillain, 2013, p. 435). Another justification, which was used when pushing Native Americans off their reservations, would be the philosophy of “manifest destiny”, which said that it was an unavoidable situation for settlers not to continually want to expand their