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)