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OHara 1 Michael OHara Comparative Essay LSP Burton 8/18/12 Question.

2 Europeans did not have all the same experiences with the Native Americans when they came to the New World. First impressions made a significant difference in the relationship between the European group and the Indian group. They were different from having peaceful interactions to more violent reactions depending upon the specific groups and regions they were in. The interactions that the Europeans had with Native Americans were different with respect to certain places that Europeans settled and explored when they first came over. The French encounter with the Natives in Green Bay differed from the French interactions in what became Quebec. Initial interactions among different groups contrasted significantly. The French had a different relationship with the Winnebago Indians when compared to the Micmac Indians. The Spanish had different relationships with the different groups of Natives in Mexico. The Spanish aligned themselves with the Tlaxcalteca Indians and they conquered the Otomies and Aztecs based off of initial interactions. These various interactions are different because just like how the Europeans are different, the same goes for the Natives living in different regions of North America. Of course, similarities can be drawn between the French-Indian interactions as well as the Spanish-Indian interactions as well too. The French established new settlements expanding New France. The French explored and settled the Green Bay area incorporating it into New France. When the French initially arrived in this area, they encountered the Winnebago Native American Indians. The French

OHara 2 initially fired their weapons as a way to greet the Winnebago. The Winnebago Indians had never seen the French or the weapons that they had before. They initially believed the French to be thunderbirds as a result. They seemed to have had what can be seen as an awkward initial encounter because they could not communicate with one another. The Native Americans also gave them tobacco when the French tried to shake hands with them. Even though there were not any real signs of violence between the two groups, the Winnebago and the French clearly had an awkward start. As the two groups worked together more, they eventually were able to learn to communicate with each other. The French taught them how to use axes and sew. There is a story that tells of how the leader of the French married the daughter of the Winnebago chief. The two of them had two sons. The First son was taken back and raised in his fathers homeland and the younger one was raised with the Natives. The sons eventually came back together. The older son was sent out into the wilderness for not following the Native customs. When the older son finally returned he brought back a drum from the Earthmaker. The Natives saw this as a very important thing to them. The older one was known as the Frenchman and the younger one was known as White Throat. From this point on, the chief of the Winnebago has always been believed to have French blood flowing through his veins. The chief was seen as being equal to the white man because it was the white man that taught the Winnebago their ways. This story is relevant because it shows how much the Winnebago had respected the French for teaching them. The Winnebago had learned all of these new skills from them. The French were accepting of the Winnebago and did not treat them as if they were second rate but treated them with respect. It was almost like the relationship of a master and apprentice. The master teaches the apprentice the skills they have perfected. This would apply directly to how

OHara 3 the French taught the Winnebago to uses axes to cut wood and shooting guns. The FrenchWinnebago relationship was one of more of the successful interactions between the Europeans and Indians as far as being peaceful goes. This encounter contrasts significantly with the Native Americans of Micmac. It was not that this was not a violent encounter but the chief is skeptical to buy into the European culture that the Winnebago were more open to. The chief did not understand why the French came to the New World to settle the land. He did not like how the French imposed the European lifestyle on his people. He felt the French were hypocrites for coming to settle in the New World yet speaking of how great France itself was. For if France, as thou sayest, is a little terrestrial paradise, art thou sensible to leave it? And why abandon wives, children, relatives, and friends (Your People Only Live Upon Cod PDF)? This is unique and contrasts significantly from the French and the Winnebago Indians. The Winnebago were intrigued to learn by the French. The Micmac leader seems skeptical and challenges the French by imposing their way of life on his people. As to us, we find all our riches and all our conveniences among ourselves, without trouble and without exposing our lives to the dangers in which you find yourselves constantly through your long voyages (Your People Only Live Upon Cod PDF). The chief did not see why the French needed to come to settle in the New World. He sees how his people were happy before the French came. He acknowledged that the French had to come to the New World to find prosperity yet they spoke of how great France was. The Spanish had different experiences with different groups of Native Americans as well. The Spanish tended to conquer first at first sight when it came to Native Americans in comparison to the French. It is also important to note that the Spanish were in a completely different region geographically speaking. Their focus was more in the Mexico region. Their

OHara 4 encounters were different with the Natives in this region in how the Natives were each conquered. The Spanish met the Otomie Indians in the Tecoac region. The Spanish were known for their aggressive front. They tended to use their weapons as a way communication. Hernan Cortes led the Spanish on their conquest. He had heard that the Indian warriors in this region were strong and brave and wished to see if it were true. With respect to Cortes desire for testing Indian strength, he was eager to conquer the Natives. When he met the Otomies, the Indians had their weapons in hand. Cortes and the Spanish arguably saw this as a challenge and slaughtered the Otomies. Another group of Native Americans inhabiting the region saw what the Spanish did to the Otomies. The Tlaxcalteca Indians did not want to suffer the same fate. When they had their chance to meet with the Spanish, they took a different approach. The Tlaxcalteca were determined to please the Spanish in anyway that they could. They won the Spanish over eventually and formed an alliance. There is already a difference with how the Spanish were initially greeted by the two different groups. The Otomies failed by greeting the Spanish with their weapons. The Tlaxcalteca learned quickly what happened when a group greeted the Spanish with weapons and implemented a strategy of pacifying the Spanish to the extent that an alliance would form. The alliance ended up being valuable both to the Spanish and Tlaxcalteca Indians as well. The Spanish were willing to help the Tlaxcalteca conquer their enemy the Cholula Indians. The Cholula Indians were the next on the Spanish conquest chopping block. Cholula Indians mocked the Tlaxcalteca for aligning themselves with the Spanish. They had faith that their god Quetzalcoatl would protect them and drive out the Spanish and the Tlaxcalteca. When the

OHara 5 Cholula god did not rain down fire and drown out the invaders, they came to the sobering realization that the Spanish were superior to what they believed to be their god. Initially the Aztecs wished to appease the Spanish when they arrived because their leader Motecuhzoma believed them to be gods. He sent his best men to appease the wishes of the gods. The Spanish eventually made their way to Mexico City in their conquest. Despite Motecuhzoma trying to appease the Spanish like the Tlaxcalteca, the Spanish had their sights set on conquering the Aztecs. As the Spanish conquered this city, there were fascinated by the temples, aqueducts, and floating gardens. The Aztecs were just as amazed by the appearances of the Spanish. The Aztecs were equally astounded at the intruders with much hair on their faces and accompanied by huge animalslarge, ferocious dogs and huge deer more powerful than any animal the Aztecs had seen that carried metal-clad warriors on their backs and traveled faster than the fleetest Aztec (Nash, pg. 20). The Spanish horses and knowledge of metallurgy was no match for the Aztec force. There are some similarities that can be drawn from the European and Indian encounters. The main difference is that the Spanish tended to be more interested in the conquering of the Natives to build Spanish Influence in their region. When the French established colonies in North

America, they were struggling to keep the settlement alive because there were so few French women. The Frenchmen engaging the Native American women was actually very common and accepted to contribute to building the population of the colony. This was so common, it was believed in 1676 that all French families in Nova Scotia were mixed between the French and Natives (Red, White and Black, Nash, pg. 34). This is something that was considered common among the French and Indian groups in some places in New France. The French gained influence over the Indians by learning to live side by side with them and learning from one

OHara 6 another. The initial French encounter with the Winnebago is really similar to the initial encounter that the Spanish had with the Aztecs. Both of the Indian groups saw the Europeans come by water. The Spanish and French were also believed to be deities by the respective Indian groups. The Winnebago thought the French were thunderbirds. The Aztecs believed the Spanish to be gods. It is also important to point out that both are Catholic countries. Spanish missionaries eventually were to become an important part of New Spain and teaching the Natives of Catholicism. The French had Jesuits that would teach the Indians as well. Despite there being similarities between the European encounters between the Europeans and the French, they did depend upon where specifically the Europeans were doing. This is because different parts of the respective regions did have different groups of Native Americans. There were several different groups of Native Americans living in New France and New Spain. As it can be seen, the Europeans had different experiences in the different parts of the New World. The Indian groups are different from each other in the same sense that Spanish are distinguished from the French. Typically people do not look at the differences between the groups of Native Americans. In this case the diversity among the Native Americans shows that they truly were diverse just like how people see the diversity among the European countries. Looking back, because of beliefs and cultures, one could argue that the French and Spanish were more similar than the different groups of Native Americans because of being more developed and advanced from a technological standpoint.

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