Native Americans
History: KS3, topic 6.2.4
Relationship with the Native Americans
Before being colonised by Europeans in the 1600s, North America was inhabited by Native Americans.
Nomadic hunter-gatherers
- Before being colonised by Europeans, Native Americans were:
- Nomadic people - meaning they moved about according to where they could find the most hospitable conditions.
- Hunter-gatherers - meaning they lived by hunting and fishing.
Technology
- Although the Native Americans were resourceful and sophisticated, they had very limited technology compared to the Europeans who were about to colonise their land.
- For example, they had no knowledge of guns.
Disease
- English colonisation of North America was a disaster for the Native Americans.
- Many Native Americans caught European diseases that they had no resistance to, like smallpox and influenza, and died.
Savages
- They also often faced very brutal treatment at the hands of the colonists, who saw them as savages and inferior to them.
- As a result, millions of Native Americans died as a result of disease or violence.
Test yourself on Native Americans
What was NOT a cause of death inflicted by the European colonisers on the Native American population?
Who inhabited North America before European colonisation in the 1600s?