Earley North America
In the early 16th century, the European super powers, England, France and Spain decided to "broaden" their horizons. All three set sail in an attempt to further their power. But when they reached the shores of what is now known as Canada and Mexico what would they find? Would they find a land all ready occupied by a new and distinctly fascinating society? No, they found a land for the taking. These European "settlers" gave no regard to the native populations whom already occupied this vast land. Explorers such as Hernan Cortes and Jacques Cartier carried out this travesty by such factors as political and psychological warfare, economic competition between native cultures, and through the importation of disease.The Spanish, led by the Hernan Cortes, were responsible for the near annihilation of the native populations of Mexico. The main objective of the mission was to accumulate wealth so that Cortes could get rid of the large debt he and his men had incurred for this expensive expedition, as they had not been very successful on previous missions (Meyer 93). When the expedition arrived in Tabasco, the local natives resisted Cortes and the bloodshed began. The Spanish fought and killed two hundred natives while sufferin
The English and French colonies were expanding their succession in the Northern regions known as Canada. The explorers saw the natives as a worthless race which can be used for European benefit. One of the first explorers, Jacques Cartier, said..."This people will be called savage; for they are the sourest folk there can being the world, and the whole lot of them had not anything above the value of five sous, their canoes and fishing-nets excepted."(Brown 74) Despite the initial intention for the European expedition, gold, the economic resource that caused warfare throughout this land was fur. The natives were exceptionally skilled in achieving beaver pelts for trade with the Europeans (Brown 76). The natives would receive items in exchange for the fur such as firearms and ammunition (Brown 85). These items of destruction would begin bloody wars between native rivalries. The cause of these wars would be struggle for economic control. "As a result, the powerful Five Nations Iroquois confederacy, sent it's warriors, now familiar with European weapons, on an astonishing wide ranging military campaign which between 1645 and 1655 destroyed all its Iroquoian rivals."(Brown 120) Tribes numbering as a total of ten thousand were wiped out, because the Iroquois saw them as an obstacle to their prosperity (Brown 121). This new European greed and corrup
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Approximate Word count = 915
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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