The Impact Of The New World On The Indians

The new world is the old connection that formed after Christopher Columbus’ voyage in the 15th century when European settlers landed in the western hemisphere of America. Columbus led four voyages in which he discovered the Caribbean island, the Mexico Gulf, and the South and Central American continents as part of the New World. [1] The new world formed after Columbus’s discovery led to the expedition of Europeans as the era of European colonization. Columbus’s aim was to discover a route to East Asia, and on the journey, he discovered the American region while sailing from the West to Europe.

The colonization started off with the first Spaniards in America. All Spaniards came to America and built houses there; some of them came from rich sources found there. Later on, France and England also sent their explorers to the west and colonized there. The native Indians were the people found in the area discovered by Columbus. Thus, they are named native Indians. They were tribal people. [2]

Before moving on to the impact of the new world on native Indians, it is important to know the buildup of mixed cultures formed after European colonization and the relationship of native people with Europeans. The settlers of Europe arrived in the North American region, which was land for the tribal natives who had lived there for many thousand years. The tribal natives were people with different languages, religious Beliefs, and robust people. They were mostly labourers who worked on crops and lands and traded goods for their living.

The Europeans and Indian tribes met in the 1500s century when the Europeans from France and Spain landed on the east coast of the American region. The relationship of the native Indians and European settlers changed from place to place based on economic, social and political factors. The relationship dynamics of the two changed due to two factors: religion and economic gain. [3]

The Spanish were among the powerful monarchs, and they had a strong desire to get the resources of the American land. The European settler’s major concern was to own the land, as being the owner would be the symbol of strength and power. Many of the Europeans who arrived in the new world realized that it was hard to own land. The settlers from England also reached the east coast of America and the colonies’ land. The settlers of England offered Europeans land to help them have their land in return for the plan to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

The mindset of the Indians, on the other hand, was that they believed that people or the settlers could use the land for harvesting, but they could not own the land. They did not have the idea that the colonists had a plan to confiscate the property. The relationship was amicable at the start; settlers were few compared to the native Indians. The native Indians helped settlers build crops and taught them how to live by harvesting.

The example of the friendliness among settlers and native Americans is evident from the story of the metasoma and northern settlers from Europe. Metasoma was the leader of the Indian tribe, and he helped the settlers survive on the land in their winters. The tribal people provided the settlers with all the food and other helpful sources of living for many years. They enjoyed the first feast together, which was celebrated as Thanksgiving. But later on, the consequence of the settler’s invasion into the tribal land brought the kind of European disease that resulted in the death of metasomas brother. The friendly relationship shifted into a relationship of fear and mistrust; the familiar scenario was wrecked and deformed after the majority of settlers took control over the land of the native Indians. The relationship of peace turned dismal and violent, bringing the death of 3000 Native Americans death and 600 settlers in a 1665 violent war. [4]

The effect of the new world on the Indians was based on the settlements that the settlers made. The Spaniards established military points or posts in the North American region which now named as San. Augustine. The major impact of the colonization on the Indians was on the change of religion. Settlers were all Christians, and they wanted to change the religion of Native Americans as well. Some of the Farmers who worked for Spaniards were converted by Catholic missionaries into Christians. San Augustin became famous for the cultural blends and inter-marriages between the Spaniards and the Indian women who used to happen there. The old tribal Americans were faithful and closed to nature. They chose to stick to their own religious beliefs. [3]

The French settlers took advantage of the rivalries and conflicts between the tribal area people and Native Americans, and they used it for their benefit by starting trade exchanges across the lake with tribes like Huron and Montagnais. The Native Americans used to capture animals and were famous for stripping off their skin and trading fur with the French people. The French priests were cunning enough to learn the art of the languages of tribes, and they converted the Indians to Christianity. In the 18^th Century, the competition over trade paced up among Dutch, French and English settlers, which helped the Indians economically and diplomatically.[3]

The next big impact of the European settlers was the introduction of various European disease syndromes among the tribe’s people. The Indians were close to nature, and they had weak immunity against the diseases carried by the Europeans in their regions. The diseases were measles, chicken pox, influenza, malaria, and yellow fever. [5] There were many deaths among the Indian inhabitants of the New World.

The Indian population decreased in number as a result of the European disease. The labourers got short in number, which resulted in the enslavement of Africans on a large scale in America. The environmental change was also brought about by the Europeans of the New World. The pigs colonized the land where the sheep and beavers used to eat. Pigs ate them, and it affected the hunting of the native animals by the native Americans for survival.[6]

The Europeans had the knowledge of the medicines and drugs in the new world. Columbus introduced the sugarcane in his voyage. The European settlers introduced the tobacco material. The tobacco sold in the region for smoking and weed. Many herbs were also brought into the Native American regions.

The Europeans researched and collected the chocolate drinking recipe from England and devised a method of extracting chocolate from cocoa beans. The Indians were nature-loving people, and they spent their lives with close interaction with every natural thing. They had much more knowledge about the plants and other botanical things. The European settlers took help and advantage of their expertise in cataloguing the botanical species.[7]

The central objective of European colonization was property-owning, and all of them wanted to build houses. They got the benefit of the tribal wars fought by the Indians on the American land. They traded weapons and other goods with many tribes in exchange for the labour they wanted. The labours of the native Americans were expert and hardworking. The Europeans paid for the tribal slaves in the tribal wars for the construction of their properties.

The Indian Americans were unaware of the mindset that every settler took with the colonization. They welcomed the immigrants, but after the boom of the settlers around 16-18th centuries, factors like trade, political power, and property ownership changed the geographic and living conditions of the native Americans.

The native Americans faced enslavement, hunger, inhumane behaviour, and a death toll after the colonization of the Europeans in the new world discovered by Christopher Colobus’s voyage to the east coast of America. They not only targeted the Indians for their food and property. They also considered them as evil or devilish creatures who did not believe in Christianity. The tribal people were killed for their own religious beliefs. Many native Indians were converted by Christian priests. With the passage of time after the 18th century, the colonization by the Dutch, Spaniards, and French took control of America, and the Indian population was reduced to a minority.

References

History.com. 1492: Columbus reaches the New World. n.d. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/columbus-reaches-the-new-world.

Khan Academy. Environmental and health effects of European contact with the New World. n.d. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-us-history/period-1/apush-old-and-new-worlds-collide/a/environmental-and-health-effects-of-contact.

The education. A NEW WORLD (1000–1776). n.d. https://highered.mheducation.com/sites/dl/free/0809222299/45391/USHistory.html.

OER. The Impact of Colonization. n.d. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-ushistory1os2xmaster/chapter/the-impact-of-colonization/.

Teaching History. European Colonisation. n.d. http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/25447.

Vox News. American History of Mixed Cultures. 3 October 2012. https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/1519967.html. 3 October 2012.

Wyzant. Columbian Exchange. 2015. https://www.wyzant.com/resources/answers/124759/how_did_the_columbian_exchange_affect_the_new_world_how_did_the_columbian_exchange_affect_the_old_world. 2015.