Effects & Consequences of Early European Contacts on... essays

Effects & Consequences of Early European Contacts on... essays Effects In this writing I will attempt to describe how early contacts with the Europeans effected the Native peoples of North America. I will also try to analyse if it effected their lives in any significant way, and if it did, in what way it might have altered them. And finally, I shall see if this contact produced any cultural conflicts or attempts toward mutual co-existence. First of all, we need to see what drove Europeans out of Europe, and into exploration of the unfamiliar hostile seas. Curiosity, being a characteristic trait of the human race was certainly a factor, it supplied the constant need to explore and discover the unknown. But, in this case, the main reason for the early European expeditions was economic. A desperate search to find a new route to the Indies was underway. With the capturing of Constantinople by the Turks, the traditional routes to the Orient were cut off, and the highly sought after spices needed to preserve the meats in Europe became scarce, as well as many other exotic goods previously imported from the far East. So, explorers from the more powerful European countries were sent by their governments and merchant elite on their way in search of a passage to India and China in the West. One such explorer hailed from France by the name of Jacques Cartier. He set off in late April, 1534, from Saint-Malo with two ships and 61 men in search of the great North West passage. They sailed all the way into Chaleur Bay, which divides present day Quebec from New Brunswick, where he met his first Mikmaq traders. A trading exchange between the Native peoples and the Europeans was initiated by the Natives, who made signs to the sailors to come on shore, holding up to them furs on sticks, in exchange for the newcomers iron knives, kettles, and axes. Further up into the continent, they encountered Iroquoians, who, unlike the Mikmaq, were unaccustom...