Tuesday, 19 October 2010

Native Americans/European Settlers also Pocahontos

http://www.oppapers.com/subjects/native-americans-conflict-with-european-settlers-page1.html

Although there were cultural misunderstandings, competition for land was the main cause of conflict between the English and the Indians. The American Indians needed the land to maintain their political and cultural independence. The English needed it to achieve the goal of economic independence that had drawn them to America. When the English discovered that tobacco was as good as gold, they brought enslaved Africans to Virginia to work the fields seized from the Indians. Some of the reasons not only included physical mistreatment but also an ethical mistreatment of the Native Americans. European Colonists not only brought with them many different diseases that would later aid in the genocide of many Native American tribes, but also a mindset in which they felt superior to there Native neighbors.

A popular story of Native American and European settlers engaging for the first time is that of "Pocahontos". The story shows how Pocahontos's father is at first wary of the white men for reasons such as, they carried fire sticks. It then goes onto show how the tribe took in Captain Smith mainly thanks to Pocahontos and adopted him into their culture. This is obviously a rarity in the history of European settlers as can be seen by the amounts of Native Americans who were killed and displaced because they wouldn't make way.

I thought the map below was interesting becuase it shows the vast number of Native American tribes placed over modern America's state borders.

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