Prejudice Against Native Americans Essay -- essays research papers

Prejudice Against Native Americans These people began migrating thirty thousand years before Christopher Colombus "discovered" the Americas. Native Americans migrated from Asia, crossing a land bridge where the Bering Strait off the coast of Alaska is today. Over the centuries these people spread throughout the continents of North and South America. Since the arrival of the Europeans in 1492 the American Indian has been dehumanized, decivilized and redefined into terms that represent a dominate European view. The Spanish explorers under Colombus were the first to use the terms "Indian" to mean a Native American. These explorers were under the false impression that the had reached the West Indies. This term is still used today. From the first interaction with the native peoples the Europeans inatiated dominance and superiority. There are three distinctive reasons that the Europeans were able to dominate and later oppress the Native American culture such as; the Native American relgious beleifs and practices, the lack of interaction between Native Americans ans Europeans and the lack of orginization of the Indian tribes. All of these aspects had a strong influence the Europeans to become dominate figures on the Native American land. These factors can still be attributed for the way that Native Americans are viewed in society today. After the Revolutionary War the new United States government sought to gain land through treaties. Th...