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Maya Montemayor

Cooper, Whipple

Per. 7 AP Language, Per. 2 APUSH

24 May 2017

How has conflict over land affected interactions between the natives and the non-natives?

This past year, we have had the privilege to learn about Native Americans and their

struggles. We learned about the history and culture in our core classes, mainly U.S. History and

English. We were able to learn these things through pieces of literature, projects, and smaller

assignments. Along with these assignments, we created a driving question that dealt with cultural

interaction, competition, cooperation, or conflict regarding Native Americans and non-natives.

Answering my question, I believe that conflict over land has had a negative effect on the

interactions between natives and non-natives. These have led to both economic and social effects

of conflict and competition.

Before many colonizers, including Christopher Columbus, had come to North America,

Native Americans had not been affected by land conflict. Among the Native Americans, there

were some harsh groups of natives that fought each other for land, like the Apaches, but many

were nomadic and peaceful. This can be seen in our Native American Tribe Popplet Presentation,

where we were tasked to describe the different Native American groups and learned about their

differences.

However, when many colonizers and colonists moved to North America there was an

increased amount of conflict between the natives and non-natives. Many colonizers decided to

come to North America for either Gold, God or Glory. These goals interfered with Native

Americans and their way of life. This can be seen with the Encomienda System, led by the
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Spanish conquistadors. The Encomienda System was a system of missions that took Native

Americans and used them for labor as well as forced them to convert to Catholicism (Fraser).

This system, driven by the want of land and resources, increased the conflict between the natives

and non-natives because it forced the natives to be slaves and cheap labor. This similar idea is

presented in The Mission, a movie we watched in English. In The Mission, the Spanish and

Portuguese were colonizing South America, and had systems similar to the Encomienda System

that taught the natives Spanish and to practice Catholicism (The Mission). In the movie, the

Spanish were portrayed as more friendly than the Portuguese; the Portuguese decided to not

allow a particular mission in their new land but used the Natives strictly for cheap labor. This

created conflict and increased the tension between the natives and non-natives in Latin America.

This theme can also be seen with the pueblo people of Acoma. When we visited Acoma, on the

New Mexico trip, our guide Steven described that when the Catholic church was being built the

Spanish made the natives take the trees from the top of Mount Taylor. On this 4 day journey, the

native people were not allowed to place the logs on the ground, as they were the most holiest

trees because they were higher to God. This similar theme and treatment of the natives for land

and resources has affected the way Native Americans have interacted with non-natives. This

conflict has had both negative economic and social effects for the Native Americans.

These conflicts over land use and development has had a negative economic effect on the

natives. These outcomes can be seen in the conflict of the French and Indian War. The French

and Indian War was a war fought between the French, the British and Native Americans over

land (Fraser). Different Native American tribes decided to side with either the British or the

French. These decisions later affected the trade relations between different groups. This war was

then blamed on the colonists, which then later caused the passing of the Proclamation of 1763.
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The Proclamation of 1763 was a law passed by England which forbid people to cross and go past

the Appalachian Mountains (Fraser). England passed this law to prevent another conflict like the

French and Indian War from happening again. However, colonists did not obey this rule and

continued to move westward, increasing tensions between Native Americans and non-natives.

This affected the Native Americans long term relationship with non-natives, affecting their

economy. Another example can be seen with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. After this purchase

of such a large area of land, people began to move west, further encouraging westward

expansion. With large numbers of people moving west, natives were pushed further and further

west. This purchase of land from the French by Thomas Jefferson affected Native Americans

access to large numbers of resources. This also discouraged natives to interact and trade with

non-natives, strongly affecting their economy. This economic effect can be seen today, with

many Native American communities in poverty. For example, while visiting the ToHajiilee, the

college and career professional at the school described how 80-90% of people living there were

in poverty. This poverty can be caused by the differences and conflicts over land.

These conflicts over land use and development has had a social effect on both the natives

and non-natives. This can be seen in Acoma when Steven, our tour guide, described how only

30% of the people living there are fluent in their native language. He also went on to describe

how his language at one point nearly died because of the Spanish Missionaries. The goal of the

Missionaries were to convert Native Americans to Catholicism, and did not allow them to speak

any language other than Spanish. Another goal of the missions was to acquire and maintain land

for the Spanish. Another social effect can be seen while visiting the Nuclear Science Museum on

the Southwest trip. While at the museum, our tour guide described how many natives worked as

miners for Uranium. Also, on a plaque provided by Ms. Cooper, I learned that Native Americans
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land was a good place for Uranium mining, as it was rich with Uranium. This later led to conflict

between the U.S. Government and the natives government over resource rich land. This also led

to pollution of water sources and did not allow the natives to drink from a certain area or else

they could get Uranium poisoning. Another example of a social effect can be seen when we were

discussing the stereotypes in a socratic seminar in English class. Many natives are portrayed as a

stereotype, which many non-natives believe to be true.

Another example of a social effect can be seen between the different Native American

tribes. When westward expansion was in its prime, they pushed many natives off of their land

and made them relocate. This caused many new conflicts between different tribal groups. For

example, at Acoma our tour guide, Steven, discussed how the Apaches had come and fought the

Acoma people when they came in search of land. This shows that social interactions between

different tribes and groups were being made with the conflict of land disputes.

Today, the effects from the land conflict are still apparent. Disputes over land, land

ownership and land use created tension and conflicts between natives and non-natives as well as

between tribes. I believe that conflict over land has had a negative effect on the interactions

between natives and non-natives, including both economic and social effects.
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