EUROPEAN ARRIVAL (Case Study Sample)

Student’s name Institution Course Date The Unfamiliar 'New World' for Native Americans After European Arrival For the indigenous peoples of North America, the entrance of Europeans in the 1600s was a period of enormous upheaval and bewilderment, even as it represented a significant and revolutionary event in the continent's history. The Indians' New World, an article by James Hart Merrell, explains why, after European contact, the Americas were so foreign to indigenous peoples. To examine this topic, this article will concentrate on three case studies from Merrell's writings: the Catawba people, the Piedmont area, and the Yamasee Confederation. Key examples Merrell says we should look at the interaction between Native Americans and Europeans as more than a matter of relocation. Introducing foreign germs to which Native Americans had no protection was a major catalyst for change. It has been shown that bacteria, archaea, and fungi make up the microbiomes (2); the work of Munir et al., "Alien microbes killed vast numbers of natives, sometimes before the victims had seen a white or black face" (Merrell, 16) is an example of this. The destructive effects of illnesses like smallpox and measles on Native American populations and civilizations were already being felt long before Europeans made contact, as this remark makes clear. The second phase of the transition was ushered in by the advent of European merchants, who introduced Native Americans to the developing international market by trading European technology for Indian goods. Most artists responsible for the first depictions of the New World had never been there themselves, instead working on the visitors' accounts (Tereschenko & Tatiana 216). For example, consider the Catawba people who live on the North and South Carolina border. Merrell states, "Catawba exchanged hides, slaves, and deer meat for European guns, shot, and cloth" (Merrell, 16). As Native American communities grew more reliant on European commodities, not only did this trade affect their material culture, but it also affected the power relations inside those societies. European settlers wanting to develop the area according to their ideas marked the third and last stage of development. Settlers moved into the Piedmont area of central Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. They brought with them a new way of life and a strong feeling of territorial ownership. "In time traders gave way to settlers eager to develop the land according to their own lights" (Merrell, 17) is a quote from Merrell that exemplifies this transition from trading to settlement. As a result, Europeans could impose their social and economic institutions on the Americas at the expense of the indigenous peoples who lived there. Conclusion Merrell concludes that the 'New World' that the coming of Europeans produced was foreign and difficult for Native Americans. Invasion, commerce, and colonization contributed to gradually replacing Native American culture with one fashioned by European col...