European Trade and its Effects on Native Americans

European Trade and its Effects on Native Americans

How did European trade goods affect Native Americans’ lives? Was acquiring these trade goods worth Native Americans’ changing their lifestyles?

When European voyages arrived in the Americas around the late 1400s, they expected to find a land filled with gold and silver. They, however, found a ‘New World’ abundant with forests, fish, fruits, tubers, maize, and other natural resources. The native communities, especially American Indians, were versatile and innovative, engaging in farming, hunting, and gathering. Native Americans were very excited about the items the Europeans brought across the Atlantic Ocean, such as knives, pigs, horses, hoes, textiles, axes, metal pots, firearms, lead shots, and powder. The natives exchanged these items with deer hides, fish, and enslaved people.

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Whereas some items the locals exchanged for European goods were beneficial, such as pigs (which were used for food), horses (which were used in war and pulling carts), hoes and metal tools (which helped in hunting as well as farming), some goods brought permanent change to the local livelihood, some of which was bad. For example, Native American communities (particularly the American Indians) started hunting intensely and on a large scale to obtain the hides to exchange with European items rather than the previous small-scale hunting that was only intended to supply food. A case in point is the American bison that once roamed present-day West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky – their wild and natural habitat. Besides, the newly acquired war tools escalated inter-tribal wars in the Americas. Some local communities realized they could trade captured communities as enslaved people in exchange for American-manufactured products, like textiles, guns, and kitchen cutlery. The white settlers needed more enslaved people to work on their farms, clearing them and building new structures.

Therefore, based on the adverse effects of the trade, it can be argued that the goods obtained were not worth the Natives forfeiting their traditional lifestyles. Most goods (enslaved people and animal hides) contravene Saint Leo’s core values of responsible stewardship, community, and respect. By killing animals and skinning their hides with European manufactured goods, the Natives were damaging the natural resources and the environment, thus, disrespecting the community, environment, and animals.

What goods or devices in modern society have we adopted in modern society that has made our lives easier but have also caused harm to ourselves or our environment?

Like Native American communities, modern societies have adopted several devices and goods that have made life easier but simultaneously caused harm to humanity and the environment. For example, the discovery of oil-powered engine locomotives has made travelling more accessible, but it has also increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, destroying the ozone layer. The outcome is that the world is grappling with global warming, which is destroying the natural environment.

Today, because of oil-powered locomotives, such as cars, trains, aeroplanes, motorcycles, and manufacturing industries, global warming is responsible for the melting ice in the Arctic and Antarctic continents, resulting in sea level rise and particular coastal cities like Florida are projected to be submerged in the next few decades. In recent years, global warming has increased hurricanes, tsunamis, wildfires, and earthquakes. This is in addition to the changing weather patterns, which means that certain areas are drying up and cannot receive sufficient precipitation to sustain plant and animal life. Consequently, famine is killing hundreds of thousands of people across the planet.

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Native American Studies

Answer the following questions in paragraph form (2 pages). Consider the Saint Leo Core Values of Respect, Community, and Responsible Stewardship in your answer.

Native American Studies

1. How did European trade goods affect Native Americans’ lives? Was acquiring these trade goods worth Native Americans’ changing their lifestyles?
2. What goods or devices in modern society have we adopted in modern society that has made our lives easier but have also caused harm to ourselves or our environment?