European contact with native North Americans Essay Example for Free

European contact with native North Americans Essay On October 12, 1492, the loud words ring across the deck Land Ho. After 70 long days at sea a tattered bunch of sea dogs jump down into a small rowboat and work there way ashore. The man in charged is named Christopher Columbus. Have you ever wondered what the impact was on the Native American population, when they first met the insatiable intruders of the European continent? When I was in high school I remember learning about Christopher Columbus and others who were credited for discovering the New World. I do not recall being told about the many negative impacts that were caused to the Native Americans. Well I always had this nice picture of Chris and the Indians sitting down and enjoying a meal and exchanging gifts. This is what I was taught in high school but is this really what took place? What really happened was the loss of three items that we as Americans hold in high value they were the loss of life, land, and freedom of the Native Americans! I do not know whether they thought we were too young to understand the overall picture of what took place, or if it is meant to be saved for college level history. During the period of early European settlement there are believed to have been seven different cultural based Native American societies within the present day boundaries of the United States. First you have the Northeast tribes located along the East coast some of which were the Iroquois, Powhatan, Wampanong, Weapemeoc, and there were many more in addition to these. The Southeast Tribes Located around the Florida Coastline was the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and the Choctaw are just a few of them. The Prairies, which consisted of the Wichita, Missouri, and the Omaha and numerous others. The High Plains, which consisted of some of the following tribes Cheyenne, Comanche, Arapaho, Pawnee, and the Tonkawa. The Southwest tribes consisted of Apache, Navajo, and Hopi. The Great Basin you had the Paiute, Shoshone, and the Spokane. And last but not least you had the Northwest tribes, which included the Chinook, Makah, and the Tillamook. Each of these different tribes had engaged in trading networks over vast stretches of the continent for centuries before the Europeans arrived (Nash et al. 13). The European settlers and explores brought the Native Americans something of  unparalleled importance in history, a viral infection that spread like wildfire through a population that had no immunity against it (Nash et al. 5). Everywhere the Europeans landed the natives were infected. It is believed that a 90 to 95% death rate amongst the Native American was caused by these viral infections such as smallpox, measles, and chicken pox (Trickel 32). In most areas where Europeans intruded in the hemisphere for the next three centuries, the catastrophe repeated itself. No matter who came, whether French, English, Spanish, or Dutch, every newcomer from the old world participated accidentally in the spread of disease that typically eliminated, with in a few generations, at least two-thirds of the native population (Nash et al. 26). I am not trying to say that all European contact was bad for them, take the French involvement with the Native Americans. When the French met with the natives they found it to be better to live amongst them. Trade was also beneficial to the natives. The Indians and the French set up many little trading posts and villages along the interior of the Americas, along the Mississippi river valley, and both prospered from those villages. The Dutch and British began early buying land, a practice never understood by the Native Americans, who generally believed that they were granting the newcomers rights to use rather than to own the lands. European settlers started putting up fences and claiming land that did not belong to them (Nash et al.12). To the European the owning of land was a show of ones wealth. This was a concept, which the Native Americans were not familiar; with due to the fact that land to them was communal, it belonged to all. There were no rich or poor in Native American villages everyone shared this was something the Europeans did not understand. I am not saying they did not have boundaries, too, because they did amongst different tribes. So this had a great impact because they were being driven from their hunting grounds and roaming spaces. The Spanish came to the New World looking for gold (Nash et al. 5). Often they married with the Native Americans. French explorers were trappers and traders they often married with the Native Americans and maintained friendly  relations based on trade partnership with the Native Americans. The Dutch and British, in contrast with these other European groups, came to the New World with their families to set up colonies most of them were seeking to settle the land (Nash et al. 68). What was life like in a Native American village before European exploration? I picture a village of many people sharing a land working together for the needs of the village. Some people thought that the Native Americans were savages but is that true? I think not. They had services not as a Christian would believe but they did join as a group and did worship. Who is to say that if you are not a Christian you cannot be saved? They took from the land what they needed to exist; they used every part of what they hunted. They used the skins for blankets, flooring, clothing and they ate the meat and found uses for everything they killed. They believed the people belonged to the land not, as the Europeans held, that the land belonged to people. In Native American societies, women also held subordinate positions, to men but not to the extreme found amongst the European men and women. In Iroquois villages, men sat in a circle to deliberate and make decisions, but the senior women of the village stood behind them, lobbying and instructing. The chief was often a male; the elder women of their tribe named them to their position. If they moved to far from the will of the women who appointed them, these chiefs were removed. (Nash et al. 12). The women played active rolls in all aspects of the tribal affairs and everyday life, such as planting and harvesting. The Native Americans were used in many different fashions during the early exploration and colonization of America. They were often used as guides, slaves, traders, and also as allies or enemies to the many different colonizing factions of the European countries. In Latin America many Native Americans surrendered when faced with European domination. Others were enslaved on plantations, where they mixed together with African slaves and survived, mixed in race and culture. The French found them very useful in the trade and allies along the Mississippi river valley and the interior of the Americas. The English found them to be blocking the progress to  advancing civilization of the coastal regions, but also found them to be useful allies during the French and Indian war. The Indian tribes who lived in and near the English colonies seemed natural subjects for enslavement, as had the Indians in Spanish America. Native American slavery was attempted, but the Native Americans did not make as good of slaves as Africans. For one thing, they were less accustomed to the settled agriculture at which they were expected to labor. Perhaps most importantly, Native Americans were not bewildered foreigners, weakened and cowed by the terrible experience of being transported to a new world. Native Americans were in their own homeland, where they were organized into tribes and nations; they were not so few and scattered as the Africans in the early decades of the colonies. By the time the colonists were sufficiently numerous and organized to enforce slavery on the Native Americans, an easier solution was presented by the ever larger number of more helpless Africans put on the block and sold by the slave traders. The British, who employed them after the British victory in the French and Indian War, started the practice of making treaties with the American Indians in the colonial period. During the American Revolution the U.S. government adopted the treaty system, signing its first treaty with the Delaware. The purposes of a treaty was to obtain tribal land, to determine boundaries between Indian and white lands, and to regulate trade. By adopting the treaty system, the British and U.S. government recognized the prior ownership of land by Native American tribes and status as independent nations. After the American colonists won their independence from England, the American government continued the English practice of treating the tribes as independent nations. Other Indians, particularly throughout the center of America, entered into the economic, religious, and social life of their conquerors and became the lowest class of the U.S. society. The European colonization of the New World had a great impact on the Native Americans In many ways and the majority of them were negative. I wonder it would have been like if it had been the other way around, if it had been the Native Americans who had colonized Europe. I also wonder why I never knew  these facts until I attended a college level history class. I believe that we should be taught the entire truth in high school not given the impression of Chris and the Native Americans sitting down at a table and sharing a nice meal and exchanging gifts. Works Cited Nash, Gary B., et al. The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society. Volume One to 1887.4th Edition. Los Angeles: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 1998. Trickel, John A. Readings In United States History To 1877: Perspectives on America. Volume 1. New York: American Heritage Custom Publishing, 1

Violence in the School Systems Essay -- Violence Education Crime Essay

Violence within this country has been an ongoing problem throughout history. Due to all the media coverage of more recent violent events in school history, such as Columbine, it is of popular belief that violence in school systems is the worst it has ever been. There are many questions about what type of violence occurs most often, what gender and what ethnicity violence is most affecting in schools. Violence can be defined by any deliberate act, serving no legitimate purpose, which causes injury or which could reasonably be expected to cause injury to another person. To be considered reportable, the conduct should be either intentional or reckless in nature. (Basic Education Circular on Safe Schools, 1996) School violence can also be defined as any school related activity that produces a victim. The first table was a chart that was drawn up in conclusion to a survey that was conducted in 1999. It was asking children in grades 9-12 different question about feeling threatened and carrying or seeing weapons in school. The chart was broken down into different grades, along with various ethnicities, and gender. (www.nces.ed.gov/crime2001/tables) Out of all the questions asked in the survey, the highest positive response to a question of illegal drugs on school property. An average of 30.2% of the children responded that they had been offered, sold or given illegal drugs at school. Leading the category was Hispanic males with 36.9% of them having engaged in some form of drug distribution or some one offering them drugs. The next question with a high response was if these children have ever engaged in a physical fight on school property. A total of 14.2% answered yes to the question. In the same category Hispanic ... ... help the students set goals and come to appreciate the relationship between responsible good behavior and achieving goals. In this program they will earn privileges for good attendance, work accomplishments and goal achievements. This program will be evaluated to determine if similar programs are to be set up in the future throughout the state. (www.msde.state.md.us/juvenilejustice alt.html) Although violence in the United States is a problem that needs a lot of attention, the amount of episodes is and hopefully will remain declining over the years. Teachers, parents and peers all have an impact on each and every child that goes through school systems. As long as they keep teaching violence prevention programs, the numbers will keep dropping. Although this problem will never fully go away, the percentage of violence in schools will be constantly dropping.

The Statue of David by Michelangelo-A Masterpiece

The Renaissance was a European phenomenon in the world of art and letters, which was found operative at the beginning of the 16th century all over Europe. It was a sort of the revival of learning-a New Learning-and a renewed interest in art and letters. It had a venerable attachment to the golden literary and artistic past of classical antiquity and an enthusiastic fondness for creative, imaginative and emotive freshness. It had a tremendous impact on the European mind and quickened its liberation from medieval dogmatism and feudal tyranny.The Renaissance brought bout the liberation of human thoughts and feelings and opened a wide vista of emotional freedom, imaginative flights and philosophical speculations in the sphere of art and literature. The statue of David, made by Michelangelo between 1501 and 1504, is a masterpiece of the Renaissance art. It is a seventeen feet tall sculpture of the biblical hero David, which was a favored subject in the art of Florence. In 1501, Florence h ad Just become independent from the Medici rule.This statue was commissioned by the Florentine council to be a gigantic model of heroic youth which could seem to protect Florence from the aggressors. The statue of David was one of the first structures of the male nude. The statue of David was built out of a block of smooth marble purchased from the famous quarries in Cascara. It was initially commissioned to Stagnation did Disco in 1466. He did not manage to work too much on it, and the contract was later terminated.Ten years after this, Antonio Reselling started working on it, but the contract was terminated again as no real progress was being made. The block thus lay exposed to the elements for twenty years before Michelangelo started working on it. Although he was not very happy at having to work on a block of second-hand marble, the contract with the Guild of Wool Merchants of Florence mentioned that the block intended was â€Å"badly roughened out†, stating that the bloc k was too valuable a commodity to waste. The statue was intended to be placed on the top of the Florence Cathedral.However, when it was finished, the beauty of the sculpture and its weight ruled out placing it at the top of the cathedral. It was too heavy to be lifted, and it was considered that people should have closer access to such a marvelous work of art. It was finally placed in the Piazza Della Signora outside the Palazzo Vehicle. Unlike the earlier sculptures of David by Overreach and Denotable, which showed David standing triumphant over the head of Goliath, the giant he had Just slain, Michelangelo portrays David with a slingshot and stone.He appears tense more in a mental than a physical sense, but not alarmed, and seems prepared for battle. His sling is small and not too emphasized, showing that the victory was not so much due to physical prowess as due to faith in oneself and desire to do the right thing. Michelangelo has depicted David at the moment when he showed the most courage-when he took up the challenge to fight Goliath. This decision was a crucial one, and reflected much more of his character than the moment when he finally killed Goliath.Michelangelo shows David not as the victor, but at the point in time when he prefigured victory-the moment between conscious choice and conscious action, when he made the choice to fight Goliath to protect his people, even though he had no armor and got ready with Just a slingshot and five smooth stones. For the people of Florence, for whom freedom had been newly found ND was under threat, the statue seemed to reflect the courage and determination of the brave who are determined to keep their city safe. The figure is menacing, but this is not fuelled by aggression. There is no tension in the arms or legs.The statue is of a young but mature man with the knotted muscles of an athlete, a huge rib cage and a confident stance. It seems to be keeping watch over the city. A million visitors gather till today to see this awe-inspiring piece of work, but it was originally built with the political message of David ready to take on Goliath, symbolizing that the people of Florence were ready to face any challenge to keep their freedom. The statue's warning eyes were turned towards Rome, hoping to keep invaders at bay. The statue provides almost life-like details of the human body even though human anatomy was forbidden during this time.Michelangelo was constrained by the second-hand marble he was using, but managed to carve a slim youth with a muscular built. Hush knowledge of the human form has recorded perfectly the shepherd lad with the strap of the slingshot across his back. However, on viewing the statue closely, it appears that the upper body is larger in proportion to the lower body. However, as Lois Fischer-Rather says in her book Understanding Art, â€Å"No longer does the figure remain still in a Classical contractors stance, but rather extends into the surrounding space away from a vertical axis.This movement outward from a central core forces the viewer to take into account both the form and the space between and surrounding the forms?in order to appreciate the complete composition. † The hands also appear to be large in proportion to the body. The disproportion could probably have been due to the fact that Michelangelo had carved the statue keeping in mind hat it was to be kept on the top of a cathedral. It could also be that the hands were purposely made too large to depict that man is naturally a violent and greedy creature.When one walks around the statue of David, he would find the appearance changing dramatically. The right hand side of the statue appears calm and composed, but the left hand side is dramatically different. It is dynamic and active, as is evident from the posture of the stretched leg all the way to the disheveled hair. It could be that Michelangelo made the body parts disproportionate to achieve this effect. The eyes too vary grea tly. From any given position, only one of his eyes are visible at one time.When one approaches the statue from the left, the left eye appears to be staring at a point behind and above the viewer, as if focusing on Goliath. From this position, the right eye appears to be hidden behind the sling and is hence not visible. On approaching from the right side, the right eye is visible while the left eye disappears. David would have thrown the stone towards his left, hence the left eye moves in the direction of the body intended move. The right eye, when embodied with the rest of the body, reflects power, cunning and intelligence.The statue of David was moved from Piazza Della Signora to Galleria dialectical in 1873 to protect it from decay and keep it safe. A replica of the original was placed in Piazza Della Signora. The Renaissance was the rebirth of man's life on earth, when he was free from the shackles of authority and free to understand the universe. Michelangelo David is the best e xpression of this sense of life. David appeals to us so much as it is Michelangelo projection of man at his very best-vigorous, healthy, dutiful, rational and competent form.It expresses a heroic view of man and a universal appeal to his success. Today, when man is again viewed by intellectuals as an ugly, corrupt being, trapped in an incomprehensible universe and lacking control over his own destiny, man is no longer viewed as a serious subject for art. But this magnificent sculpture of the bygone years instills in us a sense of faith, hope and glory, and above all leads us to believe again that one man can indeed make a difference, and man can control not only his destiny, but also that of his clan.

Teens Need Positive Body Images Essay - 1739 Words

When walking down a junior high, high school, or college hallway, it’s not an uncommon occurrence to hear a young woman say something bad about either her body or another girl’s body. Negative comments instill a deeper impact than merely hurting a child’s feelings. They lead toward lowered self-esteem, increased dieting or eating disorders. Young girls require illumination at an early age into positive body images, avoiding those repercussions and the extremity of committing suicide such as demonstrated in â€Å"Barbie Doll† by Marge Piercy from 1973. No matter the passing time or the era the world is in, young women maintain affected by negative body image. This needs to be cut off at an early age before it has a chance to†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"The only rule is that batting (padding) must be added to save the starving Barbie, so she can digest food and use her brain† (Deeds, 28). These workshops assist young women in developing a lov e for their own body. If taught to look at themselves and accept their bodies early on, the more confidence they will exude when they begin junior high school. Once they enter junior high, if not before, puberty begins. It causes many body changes in young teen girls. Sure, every girl goes through puberty but the weight goes up and down, breasts spring up, and the emotions have a tendency to go crazy. Girls get lost within themselves as they try to be someone they are not. If the young teens had been taught positive body image earlier in life, this wouldn’t even be an issue at this point. But by this time, many girls haven’t learned to accept their bodies. So, anything their peers say will affect them not just emotionally, but physically. In Piercy’s poem she states, â€Å"Then the magic of puberty, a classmate said:/You have a great big nose and fat legs† (643). After hearing this, devastations occurs for many young teens. This resounds in their head li ke a broken record. 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