The Native Americans were in many ways similar to the Europeans of the Renaissance time. They both had new and inventive ideas that would spread all over the world. They were constantly changing to suit their needs and to adapt to their surroundings. They were faced with new challenges and new worlds to find. But they were also different. They had different ideas about the world and different innovations.
They lived in different areas and had different social classes of order. Their challenges were much different and had different complexity. One of the most significant of similarities and differences was their culture. One of the biggest factors in Native American culture was trade (pg 10 The Americans).
Many tribes became known to their neighbors for a specific product of skill (pg 10 The Americans).
These neighbors traded with other neighbors to make trade long distance.
Sometimes people bartered for basic goods, but mostly people traded for rare and exotic items such as medicinal plants, copper, pigments, and even grease (pg 10-11 The Americans).
Land was also a major part of Native American culture. Land was looked upon as a sacred source of life and not a commodity to be sold or traded (pg 11 The Americans).
The Native American views of land disagreed with those of the Europeans and caused many clashes (pg 11 The Americans).
Religion was another part of Native American culture. They believed the world was filled with spiritual presences that were living and nonliving (pg 12 The Americans).
The Term Paper on North American Free Trade Agreement Nafta
Introduction I believe that the North American Free Trade Agreement was an inevitable step in the evolution of the United States economic policy. The globilization of the world economy due to technological advances in computers and communications have shrunk the world to the point where no single country acting alone can effectively compete on the foreign market. Even the United States, with its ...
They also thought that the past stayed alive to guide the present and that a supreme being existed that gave them customs (pg 12 The Americans).
Family was also another important part of Native American culture. A family consisted of aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives (pg 13 The Americans).
Some families were divided into groups with a common ancestor called clans (pg 12 The Americans).
All families act in community decision making (pg 12 The Americans).
One of the biggest factors in European culture was religion.
Christianity was the religion of the Europeans. The pope had great political and spiritual authority (pg 21 The Americans).
The Crusades to over the Holy Land later caused a Reformation period that decreased the power of the pope and divided Christianity into Catholicism and Protestantism (pg 22 The Americans).
Another important factor in European culture was trade. An interest in overseas trade was sparked by Marco Polo’s journey to China (pg 25 The Americans).
Trade through sea made voyages easier than land routes because of thieves and taxes from local rulers (pg 25 The Americans).
Cartography and compasses were used to plot different routes to Asia (pg 25 The Americans).
Another part of European culture was printing. Johannes Gutenberg invented the moveable type printing press in the 1450 s (pg 25 The Americans).
It allowed books to be printed easier and cheaper, which increased production speed (pg 25 The Americans).
This invention allowed mass production of books such as the bible to be made. Furthermore, the Native Americans and the Europeans shared similar cultural styles.
They both traded with other people to gain basic goods and more exotic items. They believed in one Supreme Being that they worshiped. The two also had different cultural styles. The Native Americans believed the land should not be sold, but the Europeans did. The Native Americans traded by land and local water areas, but the Europeans traded by land and sea routes. The Europeans developed printable type and the Native Americans didn’t..
