Native and European Concept of Warfare - Essay Example

Native and European Concept of Warfare European Worldview Europe’s world view was established 400 years ago andwith slight changes, it has developed to be the global modern world view. This view was spread by France, England and Spain in North America through activities of colonization. Their view affected the culture of Natives of this region largely American Indians by enforcing their policies and system of governance. They advocated for distinct philosophical stances pertaining to matters that dealt with responsibility of individuals and roles of state.1 Pre-Colonization Ideology Many colonial powers aimed at establishing strong nations in Europe and the leaders started financing voyages to explore beyond the known lands and seas. The main reasons were to establish a trading empire, conquer and expand beyond their nations, increase religious following and for curiosity satisfaction.1 1 Allison, William T., Grey, Jeffrey G., and Valentine, Janet G. 2012. American Military History + Mysearchlab With Pearson Etext. Pearson College Div. European countries had an aggressive foreign policy that involved conquering other nations and attacking each other to expand their territories. This was coupled by acquiring more valuables, expanding one’s power base and increasing human labour force even in their military. From the large populations, more revenue could be raised through taxing and income for their churches through forced tithes. This wish of making countries richer and stronger than its neighbors lead to the arms of military, court and the clergy exploring the sea and land beyond Europe. European countries viewed North America as a better trading route since it could be accessed easily by ships compared to other trading routes. In their previous routes, they had experienced technical challenges that seemed to be solved by America’s accessibility after discovery of Christopher Columbus. In previous experiences in Asia and Africa, poor development of road network posed the biggest challenge to trade; the traders could not access the inner part easily and goods transported by animals were less compared to the ships. In addition, the overland routes were dangerous and this led to loss of goods when traders were attacked by robbers and geographical features such as rivers and mountains interrupted smooth passage of goods and traders. Christianity, which had its route in Europe, was a driving force to explore new lands. Christians viewed non-Christians as heathen and they took it as their duty to convert them and save their souls from eternal damnation. In bid to march economic and political powers, the churches in Europe sent missionaries to North America and other parts of the world Colonization Christopher Columbus led a Spanish expedition in 1492 which led to discovery of Americas. It opened conquest, colonization and exploration that expanded with time after discovery of this new world that was unknown to many European nations before this era. Due to economic reasons, religious reasons and political prosecutions that were happening in Europe, many people sought refuge in the new found America.2 Columbus's voyages opened up the entire Western Hemisphere to European powers. They led to wars of invasion where these powers competed against each other to achieve more control than any other nation. This led to profound changes on the North America landscape, demographics and plant and animal life. American Colonial Leaders Because of the cost of running external states in North America, the British government gave charters to companies to establish leadership in this region. These companies formed Royal provinces that had a similar system of governance as the mother nation Britain. The chief executives, who were called governors, were responsible for administering justice, appointing judicial and administrative officers, and executing colonial rules.2 They were responsible for the security in the provinces and relationship with the natives and other colonies. They took active legislative role since they had veto power over the laws of the land and could grant lands from propriety domains. 2 Dirks ,Jerald F.,2006. Muslims in American History : A Forgotten Legacy. Amana Publications: Beltsville. Native Worldview Pre-Colonization History The economic activities of the earliest indigenous people in North America constituted of Nomadic hunting and gathering. These early groups constituted of Chichimecas who occupied the present day Mexican city of Panama. This group was the most dominant group in the region and had more influence over smaller groups such as Plains Indians, Apaches, Cree, Navajo, Iroquois and Sioux that lived further to the north. These groups lived and moved in groups that were made up of 50 persons or less. They were guided by the principle of economic and social equality that made them communal societies in social and economic terms. All means of production including land, water resources, forests and grazing lands were communally owned and there was no sense of ownership guiding them. Possession was only limited to articles and tents that were moved during migration when there was a change in hunting territory which was guided by animal movement. These articles were simple, of necessity and carried less significance in changing one chances of accumulating personal wealth. The only social differences that existed were of non-class status and prestige. The leader of the group, called a band enjoyed more prestige status but they never owned more in terms of wealth more than other members. These groups of people were also characterized by stateless societies; they had no group of officials who could carry extreme power in collecting taxes from the rest of the population. However, when it came to making of political decision, adult members of a band could meet and deliberate over a problem that affected the majority such as when to move from one hunting territory to another or in matters of resisting external aggressions. When involving in these decisions, community services were vital to achieve success considering the group was made up of less than 50 people. In these communal activities, things were done on the bases of democracy rather than ideological conviction. As time moved by, the Neolithic revolution dawned on North America and these groups mastered the art of elementary cultivation. In their sedentary villages, they cultivated the rich area using simple hand tool and this acted as a compliment to food that was coming from fishing, gathering and hunting. The villages, was the basic level of cadre differentiation and as land became more valuable due to food production, family and household used the power of these village setups to gain greater control over the sizes they owned for future and current production. They basically depended on family labour but as more land was cultivated, they sought help from other community members. Colonization from Native Perspective. From the perceptive of Native American, the initial intention of European powers in their lands was not clear. These people approached them with respect and in turn, they greeted these odd looking guests and gave them place to spend as expected of visitors. To many indigenous people, the first impression of Europeans involved violence which constituted of rape cases, murder, raiding and kidnapping influential figures in the society. The Europeans troops were brutal and used tactics they had acquired during Reconquista. They could camp outside a town and extracted heavy tribute in form of women, food and labour. The response to these events was based on cultural norms, past experiences and other immediate responses. The indigenous people had never experienced an occupation of their land through conquest by an army. The missionaries who were together with the troops were extremely doctrinaire. They were known for their beatings, dismembering, execution and torture of the natives who maintained their traditional practices of religion. These acts from Europeans lead to a number of small rebellions around 1640s which later culminated to the Pueblo rebellion of 1980 which led to killing of 400 colonizers especially the priests. The colonizers retreated from the Mexican region until 1692 when they invaded and killed 600 natives. This was followed by non-violent forms of resistance from natives. Some fled their homes and joined Apachean foragers influencing the Navajo and Apachean cultures to such an extent they are still visible to date. Other Puebloan remained in their homes and maintained their culture through hiding some religious and cultural practices while maintaining Christianity practices. Native Leaders During the time of colonization, the role of native leaders changed tremendously largely because of Christianity influence. Native leaders who were entrusted with running of political and religious functions changed. They stopped practicing religious roles and were supposed to overlook only political functions that were greatly influenced by the colonizers. Women started becoming involved more in the political life of their communities. They pressed the colonial masters to give them tribal sovereignty, native lands and management of natural resources. Due to the assimilative policy of Britons, native leaders such as joseph Brant and Red Jacket gained knowledge in Spanish, French and Espanola and could negotiate deals for their countrymen 3 Zinn H.2010. A People's History of the United States. HarperCollins: New York. Evolution of Native Policies and Tactics and Responses England, unlike other colonizers in North America, used a different approach where they encouraged immigration of agriculturalists that needed exclusive use of large tracks to cultivate crops. This made them establish a relationship with the Indians where they assisted each other in that they introduced to them a modern system of trade and a common written language in exchange for marriages with Natives and survival skills. This policy made the Indians less adept in countering these advantages and thus the British were able to establish an extensive stable colony in North America with minimal military involvement. New England Colonies These colonies of British American included colonies of Connecticut, province of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhodes Island and Providence plantations. Southern Colonies They were established during the 16th and 17th century in North America by Great Britain. They consisted of Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina. These colonies were developed to compete in race for colonies initially but they developed to be centres of cash crops such as rice, indigo dye and tobacco which resulted to huge profits. Due to agricultural success, they developed to be zones of high slave population and distinct social classes. Middle Colonies They consisted of province of New York, province of Pennsylvania and province of New Jersey and Delaware colony. They region was a former colony of Dutch until 1660 when the English captured it. The king of England and Duke of York later opened the land to other proprietors. United Colonies and Native Responses The colonizers in the North America had different approaches to handling the responses from the native Indians. To keep Indians under control, The Spanish relied on their scattered garrisons and missions in the extensive North West territory. In Canada, the French dealt with Indians as gatherers of fur thus they left large extensive forest tracts to them. The England policy was to purchasing land so as to practice farming though it was working against the communal ideology of ownership of land. Upon sales, the Indians people lost their hunting and fishing rights and settlers had unqualified sovereignty that Native American ideologies did not recognize.4 In the early days, there was cooperation between Indians and Europeans. There were semi-diplomatic marriages that occurred and the natives taught the newcomers means of survival in this new found land. In return, they were introduced to European fabric, metallic tools and guns. This worked right for the Britons thus there was less resistance from Indians in the areas they governed unlike their fellow French and Spanish colonizers. As time moved on, the Indians had a choice to support one colonizer against the other as in the battle to control Canada where they supported England over France. The expulsion of French from Canada made the Indians have no choice in who to support and this made them mount a united resistance to further encroachments. This was the source of 1673 rebellion led by the Ottawa chief. 4 Johansen ,Bruce E. (2006). The Native Peoples of North America. Rutgers University Press: New Jersey Conclusion The Europeans saw themselves as superior culture that had a divine call to spread civilization to other inferior cultures. Their conquest of North America was to save the Indians from an impending wipe of those who were evil. The Christianity had a notion that they were a redemptive religion that demanded fealty from other cultures. In addition, the world view converted economic self-interest into nobble and moral motives. This motive to expand their empire as they explored, accumulation of treasure, cheap labour and land led to invading wars in North America.5 As European powers which included Spain, France and England settled in North America, they started fighting each other to gain much control and trade. The local groups helped these powers drive the locals that established links with the colonizer in some areas such as present day Canada to other areas thus forcing the colonizer to surrender the region. This tactic, coupled with introduction of modern methods of trading, new weapons, fabrics and farming tools made the British establish a 12 provinces colony in North America but later lone received resistance from locals since their continued purchasing of land, denied them fishing and hunting grounds that had much value to them.5 5 Olive ,Dickason.,1997.Canada's First Nations: A History of the Founding Peoples from the Earliest Times. 2nd edition. Oxford University Press: Toronto. References Allison, William T., Grey, Jeffrey G., and Valentine, Janet G. 2012. American Military History + Mysearchlab With Pearson Etext. Pearson College Div. Dirks ,Jerald F.,2006. Muslims in American History : A Forgotten Legacy. Amana Publications: Beltsville. Zinn H.2010. A People's History of the United States. HarperCollins: New York. Johansen ,Bruce E. (2006). The Native Peoples of North America. Rutgers University Press: New Jersey Olive ,Dickason.,1997.Canada's First Nations: A History of the Founding Peoples from the Earliest Times. 2nd edition. Oxford University Press: Toronto. Read More