First, there is no single Native American culture.
Second, depending upon where the tribe was located on the North American continent, different cultural forces occurred. On the Eastern side, the main invasion came from England, and the English carried diseases to which our indigenous people had never been exposed. The English had farm animals, and lived in crowded cities. They brought germs with them that killed many, many people on this continent.
The English also wanted the land. Native people lived by hunting and gathering. They needed to move as animals migrated, as weather changed, as food suppiles changed with the seasons. The English did not live that way. They had farms and cities.
Because the English had an old society based upon warfare to defend their relatively small country, they saw native people in this “new” land as an impediment to be moved out of the way so a new England could be established.
Rounding the indigenous people up like their cattle, killing the ones who resisted, not giving them the foods they needed to survive killed thousands upon thousands. Limiting their access to hunting, taking children from their families and forcing them to learn and speak only English, dress in English clothing… it all caused great suffering and tore apart cultural bonds.
On the West coast, the invaders were from Spain. Spanish people also lived in big cities, had farms and diseases They had horses, which did not exist on this continent. They also had metal weapons and guns, which native people had never seen.
The Spanish brought Catholicism and forced the natives into compliance with Spanish culture. Native people were not allowed to find their own foods, practice their own customs, teach their own children. Many were enslaved. Women were raped, and children born “mixed” were not acknowledged by their Spanish fathers.
Imagine… this was not really so long ago. There is a reason this continent is called “the New World.” European civilization, African civilization, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other Asian civilizations developed over hundreds of thousands of years.
North American natives migrated here from many places during great weather changes, but the European migration to this continent is really only a few hundred years old.
It amazes me how arrogant the descendents if the European invaders have become! They act as if they were the original inhabitants and anyone with a different culture doesn’t belong here.
Global migration, power struggles, territorial take overs, food struggles, diseases, cultural dominance… these have always gone on since the dawn of humanity.
Perhaps in the future, the indigenous people’s ways will be found to be the best for the geographical locations of the planet after all.
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