From: Karmen Lewis
Date: 1/25/00
Time: 2:34:47 PM
Remote Name: 155.247.154.37
Karmen L Lewis History 67 Tuesday/Thursday William Cutler 1/25/00
What does is mean to say that Europeans “conquered” the land and the people of North America? Throughout history Europeans have had a rich tradition of conquering foreign lands. The land of North America had been the most prominent region in history to be conquered by Europeans. In Addition, Europeans have physically, culturally, and socially decimated the Native American culture. Once the Europeans arrived in North America they forced the Native Americans to give up their identity by destroying their language and culture. Europeans viewed Native Americans as “savages” and repeatedly tried to convince them to dress, speak, and carry themselves as Europeans. In addition, Native Americans were forced to give up their own religious traditions and beliefs. Missionaries taught them to accept Christianity as the only civilized religion. The logic of Christianity made no sense to the Native Americans because of the monogamous beliefs of marriage. This made no sense to in the Indian society where constant warfare killed off large numbers of young males and left many native women without sufficient marriage partners (8). Disease and Dependency also had a significant affect on Native Americans. Europeans brought numerous diseases such as smallpox, measles, and influenza. These diseases were no matches for Native Americans whose immune systems could not fight off the deadly viruses. In addition, many Natives died form consumption of alcohol, which was brought to them by the Europeans. More importantly, Native Americans could not conceptualize the idea that land could be owned, bought, or sold. Native Americans fought to protect their territory but lost to Europeans who were economically and technologically superior. The Europeans sought to conquer and divide the Native culture for their love of land and money.