Who Were The First Americans & How Did European Colonization Affect Them?

For my history class, we were recently learned about the Americans, Natives, Europeans, and different ways on how they affected each other. At the end of all the learning, we were told to put together a paragraph explaining who the first American settlers were, and how Europeans affected them.

The first Americans of the Northeast were those who were extremely weak in the metabolism, and very prone to getting sick and catching illnesses. According to Excerpt 1, “Most of the villages of the New England tribes were semipermanent; when the agricultural land was depleted of nutrients, groups would move to settle nearby areas…Historians believe the clearing where the Pilgrims settled was the site of a Pawtuxet village that had been wiped out by disease.” Based on this evidence, one can conclude that the New England tribes were the first American settlers of the Northeast, and their society constantly transformed and changed over time. As a result of their tribes being semipermanent, they constantly had to travel and find new places with new resources, which forced them to adapt to many different environments. The colonization of the Pilgrims caused many diseases to spread around, also creating a difficult environment for the tribes to adapt to. According to Excerpt 3, “Beginning in the 1600s, the Native Americans also began to trade with European merchants…besides goods, Europeans also brought deadly diseases.” Based on this evidence, one can conclude that the Europeans brought many negative and unwanted things to America, and the Natives. As the Natives and Europeans constantly traded with each other, there was a direct form of contact between the two. During that contact, the Europeans gave diseases to the Natives, diseases unheard of to the Natives. As their bodies were not used to this new illness, it easily took over their bodies and transferred to their tribe and community members. This then led to a mass outbreak epidemic, which resulted in a wipeout of over 75% of Natives living in areas where they were in contact with the Europeans. The Europeans spread a lot of illness and diseases to the Natives, who were the first Americans, settling in the Northeast of the US.