Native Americans are composed of several ethnic groups and distinct tribes within boundaries of United States. Indigenous people of Hawaii and Alaska are also identified as Native Americans. Most of these groups of people survive in a form of intact political societies. Other terms attributed to Native Americans are “Indians” or “American Indians”. These terms have been used mostly by academic groups and major news papers. The constant migration of Europeans into America since the 15th century has led to adjustment and conflict between new and old World societies. Most of these Native Americans relied on hunting and gathering. They expressed their historical tales using oral traditions. A surviving historical record was therefore created by the Europeans concerning the whole conflict. This migration led to the introduction of indigenous cultures in America.
The new cultures which were brought alongside the migration were not the same as those of Christian immigrants and the proto-industrial. These native cultures occupied agricultural lands and hunting grounds for the use of entire community. For the Europeans at this time, they had developed concepts on personal property rights and patriarchal cultures in line with the ownership of their lands. An extensive political tension, social disruption and ethnic violence then sprang up due to differences in cultures of the European immigrants and the established Native Americans. Native Americans faced a lot of challenges such as suffering high fatalities from contacting Eurasian diseases which they had not received immunisation. Greatest loss of life among the indigenous population was caused by smallpox epidemics. After the revolution of colonies against Great Britain and United States of America was established, Henry Knox and President George Washington brought the idea civilizing the Native Americans, a move that meant to prepare them for assimilation as United States citizens.
Works cited
Grinde, Donald A.. Native Americans. Washingtone, D.C.: CQ Press, 2002. Print.
