Indigenous Societies Essay - 754 words

Indigenous Societies The history of the American continent does not start at the point of arrival of Europeans to the continent. A very long time prior to their arrival, this continent was inhabited by greatly developed civilizations like the Incas, Aztecs and Mayas. These civilizations were not simple uneducated tribes, they had enormous cities, well developed science and enormous achievements in agriculture. These civilizations were very rich due to the big natural deposits of gold. The Europeans, with their arrival in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, have changed this situation to the core. The main places of location or these civilization were along whitewater rivers where they had good means of transportation, excellent fishing, and fertile floodplain soils for agriculture.


In the first century of European presence, the Amerindian population was reduced by 90%. Most of the remaining people lived in the interior of the forest either pushed there by the Europeans, or traditionally living there in smaller groups. (1) Europeans, when they have arrived at the continent, regarded the people who lived there as savages, but this statement cannot be regarded as absolutely true. Although, these people did not have metal weapons they still were very developed. In some ways they were a lot like the Europeans. The primary similarity that can be traced is the way religion was treated in both of the societies.


Of course the very set of beliefs were in core different, but the way both types of people believed in it were exactly the same. Both nations regarded their sets of beliefs being the only correct one, with praising it and lifting it to the top. Although there was a difference in the way these people treated their religions. Amerindians did not try to convert the newcomers to their own religions, while the Europeans primary mission was to convert all the Indians to Catholicism, and those who did not want to convert were punished. With the course of time many Europeans, mostly the French started to want to learn the culture of the people they were living next to. They learned the language and were accepted into the tribes, they were more readily accepted due to the fact that they were not ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: europeans, european society, amerindian, civilization, continent

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