First European Contact with Native Americans
Casey Dean Risinger
History 1301
Rob Risko
July 31, 2013
Risinger 1
Casey Dean Risinger
History 1301
Rob Risko
31, July 2013
First European Contact with Native Americans
Europeans were completely unaware of the existence of the Americas before the
expeditions of Christopher Columbus. The first contact between Native Americans and
Europeans was the beginning of many radical changes for both sides of the world. The
Indians suffered catastrophic consequences during this contact with the strangers. These
consequences included the spread of deadly diseases previously unknown to Indians,
European goods for trade, loss of land, and loss of freedom. Do these actions constitute
genocide, or were these occurrences destined to happen?
Europeans came from Europe to the newly found continent of North America
throughout the 1500's. This "New World" was actually very old. Indians had inhabited
the continent of North America for thousands of years. Natives found ways to survive on
the coast, in wooded areas, in the mountains, and in desert areas. Native Americans were
productive farmers and skilled hunters who traded with each other over long distances.
These creative people with diverse languages and lifestyles had never before been
encountered by Europeans (Kincheloe III). They hunted animals such as deer, caribou,
bear, rabbit and moose. Farming consisted of growing crops such as corn, rice and
squash. Indigenous North Americans clothed themselves using skins from the animals
they killed and used the rest of the carcass (bones and such) to make tools. The coastal
natives that the Europeans first encountered typically made their homes out of bark and
mud (Native, 1-4).
Risinger 2
It is difficult to really know what Indian life was like since these people groups
did not have a written language, but the arriving Europeans made observations and many...