How did European exploration in the Americas impact native peoples?

NORTH AMERICAN SOCIETIES AROUND 1492 The varied landscapes of North America encouraged diversity of Native American cultures. The Southwest – tribes tended to settle in one place and practice agriculture. The Great Plains – tribes hunted large game like Buffalo as well as cultivating food. Eastern Woodland – tribes used various water sources for trade, transportation, and fishing as well as raising crops.

NORTH AMERICANS SHARE CULTURAL PATTERNS Trade Trade is one of the biggest factors in bringing tribes into contact. Groups specialize in processing or making certain products. Traders on transcontinental network trade items from far off places. Land Use Native Americans considered it the source of life, not to be sold or owned. Disturb it only for important reasons, like food gathering or food production.

NORTH AMERICANS SHARE CULTURAL PATTERNS Religious Beliefs Believe Nature is filled with spirits. Ancestors guide people. Some believe in one supreme being. Social Organization Bonds of kinship with ties among relatives ensure customs are passed on. Division of labor and tasks by gender. Age and status creates social order. Groups organized by families with some in clans with common ancestor.

NORTH AMERICAN SOCIETIES Similarities Social structure based on family and clans Religious ceremonies recognized powerful spiritual forces in the world. Economic life depended on trade. Belief that land could not be owned. Differences Way of life adapted to different environments. Some farmed, some hunted and fished, and some were nomads. Many different lifestyles existed.

Iroquois Confederacy - 1570 Consisted of six Iroquois nations located in central and western New York The Confederacy's decision-making processes were governed by a "constitution," the "Great Law," which possessed many of the attributes found in twentieth century constitutions. Iroquois kept land out of European hands for almost two centuries.

Apply your knowledge What kind of relationship do you think the Native Americans had with the colonists?

Chief Powhatan Speech as recorded by John Smith, 1609

Clashing of Cultures Central conflict was land control Native Americans believed land should be shared; English valued individual ownership Europeans felt they were superior Attempted to convert natives to Christianity and assumed they would conform to their society

Think-Pair-Share Do you think the colonists were justified in taking the Native Americans’ land? Why or why not?