Native Americans
Long before the European invasion in America, the Native Americans had lived peaceably with each other for over ten thousand years despite their dynamic and diversity. They spoke many languages and had numerous distinct cultures. These indigenous people had distinct communities that maintained peace by allying. They also had a seasonal migration pattern, which each community followed. The Native Americans had a vast trade network with their neighbors and far countries. They had self-sufficient economies, and kinship ties knitted these communities together.. They had a rich land full of resources such as minerals and gold. The land was fertile, and they grew crops for sale and to local consumption. However, the Europeans arrival and settlement destabilized the natives normal way of life and brought along American yawp whose consequences are felt today.
Europeans had several causes for their exploration. First, they wanted to attain glory or fame for discovering things such as places, mountains, rivers, lakes, and naming them. Secondly, they explored to improve their economy and gain trade supremacy. Scandinavian seafarers were the first to raid settlements and establish colonies. The Crusades connected Europe with Asia and made them experience their power, knowledge, and wealth. Asian wealth and knowledge was the driving force for European expansion. Their goods reached the European market, and the trade flourished with demand for new commodities escalating. The increased trade and vast new wealth caused the Europeans to fight each other for trade supremacy. The European nations were under powerful kings, and they moved to America in the quest for economic supremacy. However, although the Native Americans had strong empires and diverse communities, they were not prepared for the European arrival. Moreover, the Native Americans had lived without epidemics and diseases experienced by other nations. Therefore, they had low immunity to fight the diseases that Europeans brought with them, such as smallpox, influenza, and hepatitis. These pandemics wiped and weakened them, making it easy for the Europeans to colonize them. Thirdly, the European expansion was to spread Christianity to nations around the world. The missionaries convinced the Natives to abandon their religious beliefs and adopt Christianity. The missionaries would provide medicine and food to the Natives who were sick from the epidemic, and their land had been taken away by the European settlers. Most of the Spanish settlers, for example, were male, and there were very few Spanish women. The Catholic missionaries allowed interracial marriage here Spanish men married Indians. These intermarriages further weakened the Native Americans.
The immediate and unintended consequences of European contact with the Native Americans were the infection of a pandemic such as influenza, smallpox, typhus, and measles. Millions of Native Americans died of epidemics. Some scholars assert that 90% of the population died from the epidemics before the lapse of half a century from when they first contacted the Europeans. Another unintended consequence was the interracial marriage with the Native Americans. Europeans who came to America were men and a few women. Instead of raping the Native women and having children outside wedlock, the Catholic priests allowed the Europeans to intermarry with the Natives. The intermarriage resulted in a race that was neither Europeans nor Indians.
One of the intended consequences of European expansion was establishing colonies and the occupation of natives’ land. The Europeans started farming in the and building settlements. The Natives were forced to work for the Europeans in exchange for food and other basic needs. They no longer had access to their gold and silver mines and could only seek permission to plant crops for consumption in their land. Many worked for the Europeans as slaves in their land. Secondly, the Europeans people were more civilized than the Natives. Most were educated and innovative. They introduced industrialization and Christianity. The Native Americans were uneducated and uncivilized. Contact with the Europeans civilized them greatly. They learned the need to go to school and acquire skills. Acquiring education and skills was intended because the Europeans wanted them to work in factories and communicate with them. They also abandoned their religion and joined Christianity which was intended because they had a universal way of worshiping. Native Americans changed their living ways after acquiring education, such as owning horses and wearing decent clothes. These were unintended because they were not forced to wear decent clothes or own horses. Additionally, the natives learned to trade and grow commercial crops, which they do to date. However, the Europeans brought in socioeconomic divisions among the people. For instance, the Europeans have always been regarded are the high-class people, while the people born out of the intermarriage with the natives are regarded as the middle class. The natives and African Americans are classified as low-income people. European contact with the Native Americans developed discrimination and racism experienced to date.