What Happen To The Originals?

"What Happen to the Originals?"

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. He is proclaimed to be the man to discover America, but someone beat him to it. Bjarni Herljufson, a Viking, and his crew found the land way before Columbus was born. The Viking left the land after seeing that it was already occupied by others. These people were the original discovers or natives of the land. They were the Native Americans. By America saying that Christopher Columbus discovered America, It is unfair to the Native Americas. This is one of the first ways of many that America has treated Natives.

History

There are many myths, legends, and stories of how, when the Native came to America or evolved here. First, the Natives have their own creation stories. Most have their very own way in explaining how the came into this earth. First, the scientists' rumor now of how Natives found there way to America is that the water dropped so low where Alaska and Russia meet. This allowed people to cross this land bridge. (infoplease) This theory believed that the people of Siberia were running out of food and water. They followed the game across the Bering Strait. This would say that these people walked over 1000 miles to even get to America. (Wikipedia) It seems like it is impossible for so many people to cross this land bridge with the distance they traveled and how cold it might have been due to the ice age.

Also, Natives have their own stories and legends. These are called creation stories. Every tribe tells its own story and how they tell it. Many of these stories have the same meaning. Most of them saying God is a very forgiving and helpful creator. This is not similar to the bibles creation story. In this story, God is vengeful and unforgiving.

Columbus Period

Christopher Columbus was a navigator and maritime explorer credited as the discoverer of the Americas. (Wikipedia) As stated before, Columbus was not the original founder of the Americas. Columbus' trip was in search of gold. When he landed in America,

"Indians were enslaved in their homelands to harvest gold from bits of dust found in streams. Columbus' men ordered everyone over age 13 in a province of Haiti to bring in a quota of gold; Indians who failed had their hands cut off and were left to bleed to death." (Solomon)

Columbus is not the great hero many America think. After enslaving the Native here, He shipped many of them back to Spain to do slave work there. Over the years the hardship continued.

'The war against the native population included hangings and burnings. Mass suicides followed. Historians estimate that half of the Indians on Haiti -- as many as 125,000 people -- were dead within a few years." (Solomon)

Also due new to new disease brought in by the Europeans, more Native died. By 1650, the entire Native community either died or left the area where Columbus first landed.

Colonial Period

During the colonial period, Natives continued die due to the new disease that flooded the Americas.

"The Patuxet village, (Abenakas People) of Massachusetts at Plymouth, is wiped out by smallpox. Smallpox hit Maine, Connecticut and Merrimack Valleys. An estimated population of 25,000 was reduced to 2,500 by next century."(agt.net)

The Natives were taken over by disease. This was all caused by the Colonists bring diseases over from Europe.

On top of this, many fights or mini wars broke out between the Colonist and the Natives. The Native tried to force settlers back by burning villages and killing them, but the Colonist were much too more power and also had better weaponries.

"In July 1636, John Oldham, a trader of questionable honesty, was killed by the Pequot...What followed was the first significant clash between English colonists and North American Natives." (U-S-History)

Between 400 and 700 Natives were killed in this battle. The Colonist used un-European like tactics during this fight. They struck at night. They burned the village and shot at fleeing Natives. Also they captured Pequot chieftain Sassacus and he was executed soon after.

Soon later after this battle another war broke out

"Beginning in June 1675, the Wampanoag, outfitted with rifles and armor, attacked a series of settlements and took the lives of dozens of colonial men, women and children." (U-S-History)

The settlers were fast acting after this attack. Again, they burnt Native villages and killed many Natives.

The Post Revolution

After the Revolution War, America was looking quickly to expend. There was one problem in the way though. Most of the land to the west was taken up by the Native Americans. The America government signed the Indian Relocation Act

1830. This act lead to the Trail of Tears

"in which over 70,000 Indians had to give up their homes and move to certain areas assigned to tribes in Oklahoma...The tribes had to walk all day long and get very little rest." ( Studyworld)

This was the worst of the worst