Native American Indian Genocide Research Paper

Words: 561
Pages: 3

The genocide of the Native Americans that were once the only ones that populated America is one of the most ignored atrocities in America, considering it isn’t very widely taught. However, the genocide on American soil was not just the organized killing of a group of people, but also the near termination of an entire culture. The beginning point of this genocide was when Christopher Columbus arrived in America, where “were 10 million indigenous peoples living in U.S. territory” (“Atrocities against Native Americans”). Columbus first thought they had landed in India, and they were named “Indians” by the white settlers that arrived in America.In the beginning, the main killer was in fact not human, but perhaps a tool used by humans, intentional or not. The most well known of the illnesses the colonists brought was smallpox, but they also brought along the bubonic plague, scarlet fever, typhus, cholera, and many more (“Atrocities against Native Americans”). The natives had no natural defenses against these sicknesses, and in turn, the newcomers used this against them. There have been incidents where “Europeans intentionally inflicting Indians with disease (usually through blankets inflected with smallpox)” (“Genocide and American Indian History”). However, it is necessary to say that not all, or even most of the deaths …show more content…
The Europeans saw them mostly as an obstacle in the way, and wanted to be able to take the land and its resources without a hitch. Obviously, the indigenous people would not go down without a fight, and this lead to battles, massacres, and all out wars. To encourage to assimilation of Penobscot Natives, the government offered money for the scalps, with different amounts for different ages and genders.(“Atrocities against Native Americans”). Natives were reduced from enemies to wild game. However, they didn’t just slaughter the people, but the culture