HIS 321 M1D1 responses

Please resond to posts with 100 words or more. Use references and not plagiarism. Based on information given in the first 2 posts, explain how diversity among the Native tribes and ethnic/cultural dissimilarities among the invaders led to variations in the way that Native Americans were treated by the Europeans. With the information given in the last 2 posts, what impact you think the journeys of exploration had on the average European. In what ways might their lives have changed? Be thought provoking. There are 4 posts to respond to. They are as follow:

POST 1:

Pre-Colonial America

The Eastern Native American (ENA) tribes believed in the existence of individual spirits or souls within all living things.  They worshiped many Gods and their spiritual representative was a ‘medicine man’, who combined the duties of priest and physician (Reich, 2011). This was a stark contrast to the European invaders. Depending on what part of Europe the invaders came from would determine their religion of choice for worshiping, but they worshiped only one God. The Europeans had an unfavorable opinion towards the Native American’s spiritual way of life. Some nations took a serious stance to convert the Native Americans to their religion. Other nations did not because of the sensitivity of maintaining an amicable relationship due to their trade relationships.

The ENA tribes, in terms of quality of life, all lived the same. From the tribe chief on down to the lowest man, wealth or poverty did not exist. Everyone was expected to pull their own weight based off of their individual potential.  If someone was better at a skill, the greater contribution was not looked at as having more influence or status for that person.  The Europeans invaders had a distinct, class separation between wealth and poverty. The higher the status, the more power or better quality of life existed.  The European’s individual earnings were directly proportional to their own success and, normally, were not shared with their neighbors or community. Having an understanding of the Native American’s connection within their society played a big part in the way the Europeans leveraged their trading relationships.

Reich, J. R. (2011). Colonial America (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

POST 2:

Two worlds collide

The Eastern Native American tribes believed in spirits and forces of nature.  The European settlers in contrast, were primarily Catholic.  The settlers viewed the natives as savages and did not take their religion seriously; therefore when Pope Paul III decreed that “Indians are truly men and capable of understanding the Catholic faith” (Reich, 2011, p. 29).

Concerning gender roles, the Europeans believed in a polar male and female system in which there was clear separation between two genders.  The Native Americans on the other hand did not separate gender equally by either male or female.  Rather they had varying degrees of masculinity based on roles in the tribe.

References

Kupperman, K. (2013). Major Problems in Colonial American History.  Boston, MA: Wadsworth

Reich, J. (2011). Colonial America. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

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POST 3:

 Some of the events and changes taking place in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries were the desire for more spices. Spices were like gold to Europeans, like the movie (Conquest of America) states they were used for far more then flavoring. They were used for medicine, which held a high value in Europe during a time when disease was rampant. The explorers were trying to find a trade route to Asia. Asia had large amounts of spices, instead the explorers found the North-Eastern

tip of America. Many countries at this time in Europe were willing to fund expeditions. They wanted to be the ones to claim those spices and riches. In the 15th and 16th century Europe was ruled by the upper class. There were many peasants, poor people and food was sparse. By the 16th century Europe had become a capitalistic economic system. This was not good for it’s people. Many people wanted to go to the new world to escape this. Religious freedom also played a large role in people coming to the new land. The New World was a place where people believed they could practice religious freedom.  The ideas of a New World and land ownership was a promising one for many Europeans who were living in poverty. Eventually, Indentured servants became very popular as a way to get a ticket to the new world. The European government would pay for the trip to the new world, in exchange for a contract of work in the new world by the passenger.

Reich, J. (2011) Colonial America. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall

POST 4:

 European Exploration

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What were some of the events and changes taking place in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries that both encouraged and enabled exploration and colonization?

     During the fifteenth and sixteenth century Europe began to enter a period of changes and development that greatly contributed to the future colonization and exploration of the New World. The Crusades were a set of the events that significantly influenced many European Nations to explore new parts of the world. The Crusades were expeditions mainly initiated by Italian merchants to bring exotic goods such as silk, spices, precious glass, and rugs among others things back to Europe from the Far East. Italian merchants sold these goods at a very high prices in European markets which initiated a vast demand for exotic goods among European countries. Italian merchants increased their prices and European countries began to have difficulty finding enough money to satisfy the high demand. Additionally, some countries became aware of an unbalance in economics because they sold their domestic goods at a cheap price but had to spend more money to purchase “needed” exotic goods. Therefore, they began to run out of money. European countries felt the need to find other alternatives to obtain the same products at a cheaper price. In other words, they needed to find new routes to the Far East and break the monopoly of the Italian merchants (Reich, 2016). As a result, Portugal, Spain, France, England, and Holland began many expeditions in search for the best and shorter route to the Orient. Consequently, these expeditions marked the beginning of a whole new world of discoveries. The Europeans’ desire to explore the world was a result of their exposure to the Renaissance. The Renaissance began in the thirteenth century in Italy and encouraged Europeans to focus on the study of Humanities. Moreover, European art, science, and technology advanced and influenced Europeans to have a new attitude on life. They also became more optimistic, individualistic, and anxious about this world (Reich, 2016). Europeans also came into contact with the Byzantine and Moslem Empires after the Middle Ages, which proved to be very successful for their advances in European technologies. For example, Europeans made improvements in map making which helped navigators sail further west in the Atlantic Ocean. They also improved the compass, the astrolabe, and firearms with gun power. Moreover, new advances in shipbuilding such as faster and more controllable vessels significantly improved marine technology which made future expeditions possible across the Atlantic. Finally, the invention of the “movable metal type”, which fastened the production of books in Europe, made printing Marco Polo’s book possible which described his numerous adventures in the Orient. This book also encouraged many Europeans such as Cristobal Columbus, to adventure into new and exciting expeditions to explore and find new sea passages to the exotic East (Reich, 2016).

Reference:

Reich, J.R. (2016). Colonial America. New York, NY: Routledge