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Minst, Daryn
Bennett- 5th
Humanities 2 GT
12 February 2016
Argument 2
As Europeans arrived in America to settle on the new land,
their presence had a tremendous effect on the native people who were
living there, and ultimately shaped what America became. Through the
bringing of Christianity, the exchange of food items and firearms, and
the changing of settlements, the Europeans influenced the natives and
allowed them to live a more modern and industrialized life.
Religion became a way of unifying the people of both societies,
and became one of the greatest similarities between the two cultures.
The Europeans brought Christianity to the natives in order to convert
them and save them from their savage lives. The new religion allowed
for the native society to become more civil and structured, as the
European society already was. Through the creation of trusting
relationships, the Europeans were able to get the Natives to open their
minds to the idea of converting, and later converting them. The
Europeans were able to develop trusting relationships with tribal
chiefs. Some chiefs came to respect them so much that they requested
missions to be constructed. (Samson 1) These missions were small
communities located in the middle of the Native villages. Their purpose

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was to provide a place where the natives could be educated in the
Christian teachings as well as to integrate them into European culture.
Another way the Europeans helped the Native Americans was
through bringing new foods and firearms to the New World. Before the
Europeans arrived, the Natives were using stone tools, and bows and
arrows to hunt and fight. When the Europeans introduced guns to
them, this made them bigger threats in war and thus, allowing them to
protect themselves better and kill bigger game for food. They also
brought new foods and animals from Europe to America like: bananas,
horses, pigs, sheep, wheat, sugarcane, and chickens.
A third way that Europeans impacted Natives in a positive way
was the modernization of their settlements and the way they lived.
Europeanization policies were based on the idea that when indigenous
people learned European customs and values, they would be able to
merge tribal traditions with European culture and peacefully join the
majority of the society. (Iverson 1) The goal was to slowly integrate
parts of the more modern European world, such as: the structure of
homes, which in European society were more elaborate and larger, and
the idea of owning land. Pre- Europeans, the Natives had all land open
to anyone who needed to use it, when the Europeans arrived, so did
the idea that a person must buy/sell land to own it and use it.
The new ideas and valuables that were brought to the Natives,
transformed their lives and the way America was shaped after it. The

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impact the Europeans brought has remained to this day and much of
what they inspired has become more prevalent and relevant today.