Europeans

This section deals with a part of American history which changed its course for ever - the arrival of Europeans. Americans had developed their lifestyles and technologies in tune with their environments. Now their beliefs, customs, and even their lives were threatened.

Most Europeans thought they were superior to Americans. They brought their European beliefs and values to America, and many expected the Americans to accept these. Europeans wanted new lands. Americans wanted to keep their lands and customs. The contest was not equal. Europe was linked to most of the world. It received ideas, technologies and even animals from other continents - this made them stronger. Europeans even brought their diseases to which the Americans had no resistance.

James Green: Native peoples of the Americas, Oxford University Press, 1993, page 53