European Treatment of the Natives
in North America and New Zealand
by Rit NosotroComparative Essay
Compare European treatment of the Natives in North America and New Zealand.
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European efforts to treat natives of North America and New Zealand with fairness were undermined by greed for land and religious misunderstanding.
Summary:
The consequences of European treatment of the native peoples in North America and New Zealand was the mixed result of exploitive greed on one hand and altruistic religious ideology on the other hand. This mix typically broke down into an unfortunate loss of trust, justice, and blood. Traditional European and Tribal pride continue to clash in land claims and religious differences.
North America and New Zealand are similar in that they were discovered and settled by European explorers and colonists, whose intrusion upon native peoples radically changed the culture. In both cases relations started out friendly, moved to uncomfortable, until skirmishes broke out. One source of strife was the fact that the Europeans felt obligated to convert the natives to Christianity, which is something most Indians suspiciously resented. These conditions caused the loss of trust and the lives of uncountable people. Even today circumstances in both New Zealand and North America experience repercussions from those colonial times.
The History of the Natives
While Native American Indians are thought to be descended from eastern Asia
and were to the point of developing villages into larger towns by around 100BC,
the Maori of New Zealand are said to have come from Polynesian people who arrived
in canoes from other islands. The two people groups had similar ways of life,
living primarily off of hunting, gathering and fishing. Originally, neither
the American Indians nor the Maori farmed land as a way of life. Both nations
where made up of tribes, and fierce tribal pride often led to disputes. However,
unlike the Maori, the American Indians of the central plains where migratory,
following buffalo herds, and warmer weather. Maori and the American Indians
believed nature was alive with supernatural qualities. They both had many different
gods depending on their environment, for example, those who lived by the sea
worshiped sea gods. Given the frequency of warfare and superstition, it was
a myth that the native people of North America and New Zealand lived in relative
peace and harmony with themselves and nature for several centuries before the
Europeans arrived.
Arrival of the Europeans
In the late 1492 Columbus opened up the Americas to a whole new period of time.
John Cabot landed in Newfoundland, and from then on Europeans poured into North
America, first slowly, and then at an alarming pace. The first Europeans, who
the Maori refer to as Pakeha, came to New Zealand in 1642, with the arrival
of Abel Tasman. An unfriendly encounter with the Maoris caused Tasman and his
crew to depart, and it was not until after James Cook's coming in 1679, that
it became a exotic destination, and by 1791 missionaries and British whalers
were arriving from Australia.
Religious Efforts
In both North America, and New Zealand, people felt it was their job to convert
the natives to Christianity. While some merely saw the natives as opportunities
of exploitation, many proceeded to share their faith with the natives. In New
Zealand, foreign sent missionaries were the key factors in the outreach, while
in North America it was mostly the settlers themselves took up the task. The
countries experienced different effects from their attempts. In New Zealand,
the missionaries, starting with Samuel Marsden in 1814, often took the part
of the Maori and protected them against the invasion of European settlers. In
exchange for help, the missionaries expected the Maori to give up their pagan
ways. In America, the settlers saw the natives as lost savages who served the
devil, and treated them with according violence if the gospel was rejected.
Of course, there were exceptions to this, such as the Puritan minister Roger
Williams, were sympathetic enough that some Indians did embrace Christianity.
Unrest
As more and more Europeans flooded into the new lands, both the Natives and
the Europeans became uneasy. The Europeans were afraid that the Natives might
turn on them, and their fear and distrust come through in their dealings with
the natives. The American Indians and the Maori, on the other hand, began to
grow tired of the growing numbers of white men, and feeling resentment at the
religious attempts, they began to realize that their way of life was being dangerously
threatened. One of the first major clashes in North America happened in 1637.
An English trader, John Oldham, was killed by Pequot Indians, and the outcome
was a solid year of war waged by the colonists against the Pequot tribe. In
New Zealand, a series of violent Maori uprisings occurred between 1845 and 1848,
and between 1860 and 1872. However, the Pakeha had much better technology, such
as fire arms, and so every attempt was defeated. Uneasy peace treaties were
made in both cases, after the Indian and Maori hope had given out. The Maori
signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which had not been translated properly, leading
to future disputes, and the American Indians resigned themselves after their
numbers had fallen from approximately 85,000 to 20,000 in 40 years in New England
alone.
The Present Situation
Current conditions are much friendlier in regard to the Maori and the American
Indians. In New Zealand, the Maori people, consisting of about 9% of the population,
live much as the Pakeha do. A percentage of Maori have been very successful,
holding high government positions, and other excellent jobs. However, this is
not the typical situation for most Maori, for in general they are being offered
a poorer education, and they have much lower health standards. These result
in high unemployment, high prison rates, and shorter life spans. There are very
few people left in New Zealand who are purely Pakeha or Maori, and those of
mixed blood can choose which they want to be classified as, and whether they
wish to vote in Maori or general elections.
Similarly, in both Canada and the United States, where there are about 1,750,000 Indians, Native Americans have the right to be known as Indians, or not. Unlike the Maori, whose tribes still have land, but rarely live on it, the American Indians can choose to live amongst the general population, or on reservations. Those who choose to live on reservations experience the ability to live much in the same way their ancestors did, and they have their own governing system, and do not pay property taxes on their land. Indians who live on reservations still pay state and federal taxes, however, and their schools and health systems are run by the government. In both Canada and the U.S., Native Americans have the right to vote in all elections, and are citizens of the larger country in which they reside.
These efforts do not mean that there is harmony, either in North America, or in New Zealand, however. In recent years, groups such as the American Indian Movement (AIM) have risen up in protest of unfair treatment, discrimination, and past wrongs. Law suits have been filed for the theft of land, and in the United States, money is still being given when the government feels they acted illegally. Despite this, there are still protests, and unrest among many American Indians who feel maltreated. Likewise, some Maori feel their interests have been overlooked, and there are still land disputes, relating back to the Treat of Waitangi. Because of these issues, there is still a high rate of resentment among many of the Maori towards the Pakeha.
And so what began as friendly curiosity in the relationships of the Europeans and the natives, and turned into fearsome resentment on both sides, has still not been completely repaired to this day. The Europeans of New Zealand had slightly better results in converting most of the Maori, although even they resented the ways forced upon their centuries-old traditions. European treatment of the American Indians was similar to their treatment of New Zealand's Maori.
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Bibliography
"Chapter 57- A New Zeal- Australia and New Zealand." March of the Titans-
A History of the White People. Ostara Publications. 25 Jan. 2005 King, Jane. "History." New Zealand Handbook. 25 Jan. 2005 "Timeline of Art History." North America: Native Peoples, 1400-1600AD. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 25 Jan. 2005 "Aotearoa." Oceania Project. 25 Jan. 2005 Greer, Allan. "Natives and Missionaries in Seventeenth-Century North America."
The Jesuit Relations. 25 Jan. 2005 "New Zealand-European Contact and the Maori Response." Info Hub. 25 Jan. 2005
"New Zealand History." Active New Zealand. 25 Jan. 2005 "Moari." The World Book Encyclopedia. ed. 1992.
"American Indian." The World Book Encyclopedia. ed. 1992.
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