Europeans and Native Americans
Pre Columbian America (1491)
• Different environments led to different tribal
lifestyles.
– Southwest: maize cultivation; stationary; social
diversification (Pueblo)
– Great Plains: lack of resources; mobile (Sioux)
– Northeast: agriculture; permanent villages
(Iroquois)
European interactions: Spanish
• Disease (smallpox)
• racially mixed population (mestizo)
• introduction of horses dramatically changes
NA lifestyle
• Indian labor in the encomienda (replaced by
African slaves)
• Belief in white superiority to justify poor
treatment (Juan de Sepulveda: conquest is
Spain’s right)
Columbian Exchange
• From Europe to New World: New foods
(coffee and sugar); livestock (horses, cows);
disease (smallpox)
• From New World to Europe: desirable goods
(fur, tobacco, gold); new crops to stimulate
population growth (corn, potatoes)
• From Africa to New World (especially West
Indies): slave labor
Loss of cultural autonomy
• Conversion efforts lead to loss of NA religions
(esp. in Spanish mission system and amongst
tribes in New England, such as the Wampanoag)
• Efforts to please colonists to avoid decimation
leads to Anglicization (esp. amongst the
Cherokee)
• Resistance:
– Anglo-Powhatan War (1st 1614, 2nd 1644)
– Pueblo revolt/Pope’s Rebellion (NM 1680)
– King Philip’s War/Metacom: 1675-76 (New England)