Europeans And Native Americans example essay topic

Native Americans and European Compare / Contrast Essay Europeans lived a much more modern way of life than the primitive lifestyle of Native Americans. Europeans referred to themselves as "civilized" and regarded Native Americans as "savage,"heathen", or "barbarian". Their interaction provoked by multiple differences led to misunderstanding and sometimes conflict. These two cultures, having been isolated from one another, exhibited an extensive variation in their ideals.

Europeans and Native Americans maintained contradictory social, economic, and spiritual practices. The European social structure was heavily influenced by land ownership, with a land-wealthy elite at its center. Europeans viewed land as a resource to be exploited for human benefit. Property was the basis of independence, material wealth, and political status.

Native Americans deemed the exact opposite of individual land ownership. Tribes recognized boundaries, like the Europeans, but believed that land was communal. Communal land ownership helped limit social stratification in Native American communities, much unlike the social hierarchy established by the Europeans. Europeans were accustomed to a greater scale of inequality. Native Americans stressed the group rather than the individual.

They did not base life on material wealth as the Europeans did. However, some exceptions to this cultural system occurred in the more modern empires of the Aztec and Inca and, in North America, among tribes such as the Natchez. Europeans' views of women were in sharp contrast to those of Native Americans. Women in European societies enjoyed very little social importance. In Native American societies, women also held inferior positions, but not to the degree instituted among European women. Native Americans determined family membership through the female line, contrary to the European patriarchal system.

A woman could divorce her husband if she wished. Europeans regarded this reversal of sexual hierarchy as dangerous and peculiar. Senior women of a village instructed the men during decision-making, determined the chief of a clan, and retained impeaching powers. Europeans regarded this sexual equality as another example of the uncivilized nature of Native Americans. Native Americans easily engaged in trade with Europeans.

They wished to include new glass and metal items in their society. European and Native Americans viewed trade as a means for economic development. Native Americans viewed trade, also, as a way for communicating with individuals and maintaining interdependence. This is evident in the elaborate gift giving celebrations that occurred before exchanging of goods occurred. For Europeans, however, these social and spiritual functions of trade were limited a great deal more. Europeans and Native Americans both retained religious beliefs.

Though, Native Americans articulated their beliefs in a less structured way. Europeans were monotheistic. They attended churches led by and educated clergy. And, unlike Native Americans, interpreted written scriptures. In sharp contrast to European religion, Native Americans practiced polytheism and were led by shamans. The Pueblo people, who performed elaborate dances hoping to bring rainfall to their land, are an excellent example of Native American beliefs.

Retaining sometimes-conflicting views towards social, political, economic, and spiritual practices, Native Americans and Europeans can, therefore, be considered two distinct cultures. Both cultures were taken with one another's practices regarding land ownership and social stratification. Women were regarded in two entirely diverse ways. Although trade occurred among the Native Americans and Europeans, Native Americans had another, less economic, agenda. Europeans held the unstructured religious practices of Native Americans with suspicion and fear.

These distinct differences would continue to effect European and Native American interaction in the centuries to follow.