The New World
Europeans started migrating to the new world during the 16th and 17th centuries. This new world brought a new promise to many families back in Europe. The lands were still virgin, and opportunity had presented itself to conquer it. During those times, explorations to new trade routes were sponsored by different factions like the state or wealthy families. The first explorers took to the sea in hopes of finding a trading route to the Far East, and they ended up discovering this new world. These discoveries gave hope to poor minority families to start over. However, the new world had its occupants. The Native Americans were the occupants of these lands. What followed was a clash between two cultures that shaped the nation we know today. European aggressive culture contributed mostly to the degradation and disappearance of Native American cultures.
There were some similarities between the Native Americans' and European ways of life. They all depended largely on Agriculture. Although the natives were more hunters than farmers, they still engaged in agricultural activities. For the Europeans, farming was all that they knew. However, their style of farming was somehow different. The Native's (Indians) tools for farming were primitive as compared to Europeans' tools. Still, they managed to get the job done and taught the invaders a thing or two about their style of farming. In some cases, the two cultures traded different products with each other. This production shows that both ran an Agriculture based economy.
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The two cultures had defined gender roles in their respective communities; European men were mainly the head of the family. They assumed significant roles in the leadership and protection of the family. Women, on the other hand, mainly run the house. They were not allowed to participate in active decision-making at the community level. Gender roles in Indian communities were also defined. Due to many tribes, gender roles differed from one tribe to the other. In some tribes, the role of the man and woman balanced while others had more defined roles. The similarity here is that both Europeans and Indians recognize different genders who had a specific role in the community.
Religion was significant for both of these cultures. The Europeans were mainly Christians who had powerful religious principles. The church came first and determined the way of living. The Indians were also religious. They were deeply spiritual their religion was mainly based on nature. This attribute made created harmony between their way of life and the environment. Even though the two cultures had different faiths, they both practiced religion. They all recognize the concept of spirituality within themselves and their supernatural presence.
Political organization was defined correctly in these two cultures. The Indians had political structures that were headed by a chief or an elder, depending on the tribe. These leaders were mainly responsible for making decisions at a community level. They were also figures of authority that solved disputes within the tribe. The Native American organization is similar to the European settlers in some ways. Though the figure of authority was different for both cultures, they served the same purpose.
The differences between the two cultures started to manifest as soon as the European settlers moved in. As time went by these differences contributed a lot to the conflicts that arose, and later, one culture started to prove to be weaker. The main difference was how the two cultures perceived land. The Indians did not believe in landowners. To them, no one could claim any piece of earth though anyone could use it. This view was so different from how the other group perceived land. Europeans believe in the individual ownership of properties. The land was considered a symbol of wealth, and the larger the land, the higher the social status in the community. Most settlers who came were forced away from their native countries due to poverty. The wealthy families and institutions had privatized land, prompting them to look for another alternative. The opportunity presented itself in the new world, new lands that nobody had a claim on. When they moved in to take ownership of the land, the Native people were against it due to their beliefs. This reason was the beginning of a lifelong conflict.
Native American communities mainly operated under cooperation. They did almost everything thing together as a community without bias, Hunting, and farming exploits shared amongst everyone. European settlers were generally competitive. The way of life was mainly self-centered. Everyone had to take care of themselves. Even though the community looked after each other, it was because they face a common enemy. Progress was measured at an individual level, and this extended the class struggle, which was present in Europe. The Indians did have classes within themselves while the other group has striking classes of the poor and wealthy.
European settlers were time conscious and future-oriented. They came with the philosophy of the clock, which prompts them to work even harder. The Indians were more present-oriented. Their concept of time was relative like through the seasons instead of minutes and hours. Such differences justified the Europeans to view the Indians as primitive. According to them, things like a clock made them 'more civilized' than the Indians. However, the native had their ways of telling the difference in time. Centuries later and time judged the Indians harshly. Nowadays, people adopted the European concept of time while we have forgotten the ancient ways of the Natives.
In general, the Native Americans were close to nature while the Europeans were keen to conquer nature. The Indian closeness made them harmonious with the environment. They lived in a perfect balance and depended entirely on nature to provide them with everything. It was their way of life and accepted it. Europeans were more conquerors of nature. They build dams on rivers to irrigate their farms to increase production. Their actions seek to control nature and change the natural state of things. When compared to the Native Americans, the European settlers were aggressive.
This aggressiveness harmed the Indian's ways of life. It led to the gradual disappearance of the weak Indian culture. The differences, on the other hand, justified the segregation of Native Americans. The conflict that arose was deeply felt by the Indians, who had not lost their culture and their identity of who they are. The winners indeed write history, and in this case, the Europeans were the winners. For this reason, the Indians are always going to be viewed as a primitive culture.
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