Comparing a North American Native civilization with a European's - Essay Example

Comparing a North American Native civilization with a European civilizationFor purposes of comparing and contrasting European and Native American civilizations, this brief analysis will consider the Arakaris and the European Vikings. Similar to the Arakaris, the Vikings subsisted on a combination of foraging, hunting, planting crops, and fishing. Whereas the Arakaris had close access to one of the world’s largest rivers in the world (the Mississippi), the Vikings were surrounded by thousands of fjords teaming with fish.

Likewise, though larger concentrations of both groups existed, the lion’s share of both groups lived rural lifestyles. Furthermore, both groups supplemented foraging and hunting/fishing with the planting and harvesting of crops. Additionally, Europe like America at the time was split into thousands of small (tribe-like) warring factions with a host of political, religious, linguistic and ethnic divisions. Interestingly, though the text and the lecture notes make emphasis of the level of equality that Native American women enjoyed as compared to their European counterparts, this is not necessarily the same story with the northern European Vikings.

Due to the fact that the Vikings were semi-nomadic and often engaged in expeditions of conquest and wealth acquisition, the women who remained at home were responsible for ensuring that the civilization continued to operate in the absence of a great many of them men. As such, a type of matriarchal authority structure was not uncommon in Viking settlements during times of conquest. Likewise the Arakaris engaged in a semi-nomadic lifestyle that was anchored by their dependence on the crops of maize, squash and beans.

Interestingly, both of these groups are examples of societies in transition between nomadic hunter/gatherers and a more advanced stationary civilization.