Major Problems In US to 18 Chapter 1 Review

Although many people believe that the Americas were discovered by Christopher Columbus, there were many people here before his arrival. These people were native Indian tribes such as the Aztecs and the Anasazi. These native people were very civilized. When the Europeans did arrive the interactions between them and the Indians were very difficult. They were very different people. They had different religion, appearances, work roles between men and women, notions of private property, and governmental structures. Eventually the Europeans will lead to the death of all the natives. They brought warfare and disease, which the natives had never dealt with prior to their arrival.

In the documents, the Europeans and the Indians speak many different views. In the first document by Christopher Columbus, he tells of the land and people. He describes the land as beautiful and rich. He realizes the value of this land for building and farming. He also says that the land contains great mines of gold. He describes the native’s appearances as naked. He also thinks that they are somewhat unintelligent because they do not know the value of trade. They trade not for value but for use. An example tha

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He thinks that the good things are their physical advantages (tall, erect, and agile), good quality of mind (good soul and well arranged organs), and agreement with one another (no quarrels or disputes).

James Merrell discusses three distinct yet overlapping stages of new order. This led to much gift giving and many favors. They did not have the technique nor the tools to fight off the Europeans. Third the traders gave way to settlers eager to develop the land according to their own lights.

In document 3 the treatment of Indians is written by Father Bartolome de Las Casas Disparages.

Another difference that I thought was interesting was the value of trade. Columbus also does not understand the religion of the Indians.

Bacteria were also brought from the old world. They have several occupations such as builders, carpenters, farmers, hunters, mothers, and fishers. She was expected to spend her days building a house then fetching dinner, preparing dinner and then sing a lullaby to their children at bedtime. This was not true in the Indian culture, which I think is very interesting. They killed the Indians by burning them, cutting off their heads, slitting them in two and babies were thrown into rocks or tossed into the water. A woman was expected to be all these things.

Approximate Word count = 1245
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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