The Europeans came in large figures and settled in America's land. There stay had a tremendous impact on the Native Americans who were staying at that particular place. Their coming caused more harm than good especially in the decimation of the native population and the ecosystem that was previously flourishing. The Native Americans became slaves in their land while the Europeans enjoyed the vast wealth that they found in the region.
An exchange in the knowledge of food items ensued between the Europeans and the native. That happened almost immediately during the start of the colonization period. Some of the food items exchanged from the Europeans to the Indians were cattle, horses, chickens, sugarcane, sheep, pigs, and wheat while the food items transferred from Indians to the Europeans were pineapple, pumpkins, chocolate, tomatoes, tobacco, sweet potatoes and catfish ( Judge & Langdon, 2015). That had a positive impact to some extent since it resulted in an expanded diet between the Native Americans and Europeans as larger food varieties were available for consumption.
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The bow and the arrow were the primary weapons the Native Americans used during battle and while hunting for food while the Europeans introduced rifle for hunting and during the war. The rifle always captured the moment and granted them victory ( White, 2017) . As time passes, the Europeans firearms proved to more powerful and stronger than the arrows and the bows. That resulted in a paradigm shift in hunting and warfare as such; the Native Americans started trading for European fashioned weapons as much as they could.
According to Judge and Langdon (2015), t he coming of Europeans was characterized by the introduction of germs that did spread across the Indian population and killed a considerable number of them. They had no immunity to the diseases and thus had no option but to die. The germs were contagious and passed on to persons who had not even seen the whites but had come into contact with an affected person. The decrease in population made it easier to concur the Native Americans and extract whatever they wanted.
The Europeans introduced new technologies as well as bringing horses. That changed tremendously altered the way of life for most natives. The everyday Indians were later viewed as horse people while in the real sense; they did not have horses until the coming of the Europeans to America ( White, 2017) . The expansion of the European settlement led to the pushing away of the Indians to far west. Some who tried to resist through wars were killed on the way. The people that were not murdered were placed on reservations mainly on the land that the land the Americans wanted not ( White, 2017) .
The Native Americans had a robust spiritual life and prayed for the sun, rain, and healthy children and entirely for beautiful things in their lives. Judge and Langdon (2015) alluded that t he Puritan religion of New England had the desire to bring Christianity to the Native Americans and thus change their religious affiliation. Over time, it resulted in using force to change their religion, and they resisted every pressure mounted to switch to Christianity.
In conclusion, it can be summarized that the impacts of Europeans on the Americas were profound and devastating. Several centuries down the line since such settlements started, the consequences are still being realized in the extraordinary dysfunctional culture systems that displaced the cultures that were destroyed.
References
Judge, E. H., & Langdon, J. W. (2015). Connections: a world history (Vol. 2). Pearson .
White, S. (2017). A Cold Welcome: The Little Ice Age and Europe’s Encounter with North America . Harvard University Press.
