Instructor:Mba Mbulu

Read the Essay below. Be able to answer and expound on the following questions.

(1) When the whites first arrived in the new world, how did the Native Americans act toward them?
(2) When white people arrived in the new world, were they more civilized that the native inhabitants of the new world? Explain.
(3) What put the early inhabitants of the new world at a disadvantage when it came time to defend themselves against white people?
(4) Did the "way of life" of the Native Americans and white people have anything to do with the inability of the Native Americans to defend themselves against white people?

Class #1 Essay

When white people first began to settle on a regular basis on land that was "home" to the earlier inhabitants of the new world, the response of the earlier inhabitants was a casual one. Native Americans, so-called Indians and Caribs, had a philosophy on lifethat was very humane, so they tended to share what they had with each other and with foreigners as well.

The ability of the early inhabitants of the new world to resist white people was dictated by the conditions under which they had developed and lived. These conditions did not prepare the so-called Indians and Caribs to effectively deal with a people as cruel and inhumane as white people. The early inhabitants of the new world did not feel the need to compete with each other or attempt to dominate each other to the extent white people did. The early inhabitants of the new world did not develop the dog-eat-dog attitude toward each other that white people had developed. Whereas white people's institutions sprang from a generally chaotic and insecure condition, the Native Americans' institutions sprang from a state of living that was relatively calm and peaceful. Whereas white people took a deadly and calculated approach to every aspect of life, the Native Americans took a casual and humanistic approach. The white people, those who were insecure, greedy, warlike and uncultured, developed tools and weapons which were designed to make it easier for them to attack others and defend themselves against others. The Native Americans, on the other hand, developed tools and weapons that were geared toward providing them with basic survival needs more than anything else. The early inhabitants of the new world were not obsessed with dominating or destroying another group of people and did not expect another group of people to be obsessed with dominating or destroying them. As a result, when the way-of-life of Native Americans was challenged and attacked by white people, by the white way of life, the chances that Native Americans could successfully defend themselves were slim.

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