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U.S. History
Mr. Schwartz
18 October 2016
"You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend. Those with loaded guns, and those
who dig. You dig". This quote mentioned by Clint Eastwood in the movie "The Good, the Bad and
the Ugly", represents what happened throughout the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries between the
European settlers and the Native American colonies. European colonizers brought with them guns,
which means they got power, therefore they had control over the people from American colonies
who were forced to become their slaves. For that reason, it could be said that America is a story of
America is a story of ambition. What made the Europeans become interested in searching for new
lands and then conquering them was always ambition. Although Christopher Columbus’ idea was
not to land in America and acquire all the wealth that was there, his dream was to reach China and
open a trade route that would allow the treasures to flow into Europe. By that time, Europe was
going through political and economic difficulties and America was already discovered as a
potential source of tremendous wealth, so Europeans’ desire was to sail to there and acquire lands,
become rich, get raw materials and spread Christianity which was easy because they had their own
lands to practice their faith. It is clear that Europeans did not stay in their continent, but they were
Indeed, their ambition led them to take advantage of Native Americans just to get what they
wanted. Throughout the period of colonization Native Americans were forced to work for the
colonists, starting with Christopher Columbus in the late 15 century who created the “encomienda”
system which made them work in their plantations without complaints, because otherwise they
would be hunted down or killed. Then, in 1521, Hernan Cortes along with an army of 500 men
and tribes who hated Aztecs destroyed the whole Aztec Empire, creating a new empire where the
Native Americans worked for him extracting gold and silver which was going to be send back to
his country. That is why coercion represents a great part of America by that time.
In the same way, slavery was a key source for the European conquerors from the 16th to the 18th
century. In 1619, tobacco became a lucrative cash crop for the colony of Virginia, thus indentured
servants started working in the plantations, but they were not enough, so Africans were brought to
America and slavery became a vital economic system. After Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676, it was
thought that indentured servants were more politically fractious, so the number of African slaves
increased widespreadly for the workforces. What is more, in the Middle Passage, African slaves
were maltreated and at most 80 percent of them arrived alive to America, the others died. Only 6%
of the ones who arrived alive were sent to the British colonies in North America while the rest
were shipped to South America or the Caribbean. Slaves became a valuable commodity and soon
after they were part of a triangle trade system between Africa, America and Europe.
Under those circumstances, people would think that America was a place exploited by Europeans
which benefits stayed only with them. In fact that is true, but also Europeans’ arrival helped this
new world - America - to change its primitive way of living to a more developed one, in other
words, it was the beginning of progress, a progress that has not ceased until today. To conclude, if
America had not been colonized, not only it but also the whole world would be the same today?