The Settler’s Impact Essay

The Settler’s Impact Essay The Settler’s Impact Essay From the beginning the affect the Europeans had settling in the Americas, was known. Although they didn’t have the best of starts, they still managed to create settlements along the coast and eventually entire provinces. Their beginnings were rough with the Native Americans, but they soon learned to live amongst each other and learn each others tricks to survival. The affect the settlers had was nearly immediate and occasionally tragic as the settlers brought with them diseases, advanced weaponry, and in some places, a sense of entitlement to the land. Disease was one of -if not the largest- issue that the Natives had to face. European settlers carried illnesses, such as: typhus, cholera, and smallpox. None of the listed the Natives had immunity to. The spreading of these diseases led to massive amounts of death in Native communities that came in contact with settlers and explorers. This affected Natives for years to come as the generations built up immunity to them. With weakened tribes along the coast, settlers took the advantage while they could and expanded their settlements. Expansion led to the Natives losing precious farmland, sacred grounds, ritual sites, and valuable hunting territory. Effectively pushing Natives westward into surrounding tribe territories and creating more conflict. This also eventually led to more disease being spread amongst settlers and newer tribes. Newer and weakened tribes led to a greater lust for land amongst settlers, bringing about fights over who has the more effective weapon: bow and arrow or the rifle? Early rifles, although powerful, weren’t very reliable. Natives had a better sense of aim with their bow and arrows, and even with weak numbers this helped them a lot with conflicts with pushy settlers. Over time, rifles became more advanced and readily made. This changed warfare and hunting in favor of the settlers. Eventually, as land lust died down this became a very important trade item between settlers and natives. Trade was a big deal between settlers and natives from the beginning. Natives taught the settlers how to grow their crops and where to hunt. They even gave some of their crops to the settlers just getting on their feet until they had established enough of their own. In return, settlers introduced newer crops and