The American West and Brazil

American West and Brazil, The People Who Lived There First

The American West and Brazil: The People Who Lived There First

This paper addresses the Native American population in the West and compares it with the indigenous people of Brazil. While many people may feel as though there are no commonalities between these two groups, there actually are many similarities that can be addressed. The main similarity, however, and the issue dealt with in the following pages, is the fact that both of these groups of people have been displaced from what was rightfully theirs by others for reasons beyond their control and reasons that they most likely did not understand and would not agree with.

The Native Americans were displaced over colonization and Manifest Destiny, and the indigenous Brazilians were displaced over the removal of the rainforests so that commercial interests could be pleased. This issue is very important for all of the individuals that were involved with it at the time, and for historians that examine the issue today. The reasons that these things have happened to both groups of people are important to look at, and conclusions regarding this particular issue generally indicate that these kinds of problems come from too many people and not enough resources. This is something that will continue to be an issue well into the future of the world.

Introduction

The Native Americans

Brazil's Indigenous People

Comparison and Conclusion

Endnotes

Annotated Bibliography

The American West and Brazil:

The People Who Lived There First

Introduction

Individuals that live in a specific place for a long time, and/or individuals that have always been in a particular place and call it home, often feel as though it belongs to them. They resent the idea of other individuals and how they may come in and attempt to usurp what others already have. Often, however, those that have been in a place for a long time have grown complacent there. They do not have the fighting mentality that others have and they generally mean no harm. They only want to live their lives in peace. As often happens, though, others will not simply allow for that.

With the Native American people, the settlers that came to them and ultimately killed many of them and took their land had more weapons, better gear, more technology, and other items at their disposal. This ensured that they would win, even though the Native Americans often outnumbered them. It was not that the Native American people did not have the will to fight back or to keep their land, but only that there was little that they could do in the face of the technology and abilities of the settlers.

As for the indigenous Brazilian people, they also wanted what the Native Americans wanted - to be left alone and to live their lives. However, they were not allowed to do this because land developers, businessmen, entrepreneurs, and others determined that the rainforests must be cut down. Some of this was to make way for development and some of it was to utilize the timber from the trees, but both reasons displaced people that were happy where they were and had no desire to leave. However, those that came into the area had more technology, more education, and often connections as well, and so they got what they wanted at the expense of others.

So often, this is the case with indigenous people in many areas of the world. They are peaceful, and often they have little or no contact with other tribes, groups, or civilizations. Because of that they live a very sheltered existence and when others appear and try to take over their land and life there is often little they can do. The weapons that they have are not sufficient to fight back and win, and they can also be outnumbered or tricked because they misunderstand the other people's language. This in no way implies that they are not intelligent, but only that they are very different from others that live in more technologically advanced parts of the world, which puts them at a disadvantage with respect to many issues.

Both groups of people - the Native Americans and the indigenous people of Brazil -- will be explored in the following pages, as it is important to understand them so that the mistakes of the past are not repeated. It is suspected, however, that many of the issues that were faced by the Native Americans and by the indigenous people of Brazil will continue to be faced by groups of people in various areas. This is likely due to the increasing population of the planet and the need to make way for further development. Whether this is actually helpful in the long-term, however, is often a topic of debate.

The Native Americans

When settlers first came to this country, they discovered that there were already people living here. The Native Americans already occupied this land, and they did not want the settlers invading their territory. While the settlers did not want the Native Americans around, some of them did realize the benefits of befriending them. For example, the Native Americans taught then settlers how to grow crops and survive the harsh winters.

The settlers were also able to establish some trade with the Native Americans, and some had a good working relationship by employing Native Americans as guides and helpers. There were problems, as well. Not all Native Americans and settlers got along, and there were wars, villages burned, and people massacred. The Native Americans wanted to keep their land, and the settlers wanted to take it. Obviously this caused a lot of friction between the two peoples and started many difficulties.

When the settlers first arrived, they brought many things that were bad for the Native Americans. Diseases that had not been found in the New World came over on the boats with the settlers, and many Native Americans died from diseases they caught from the settlers. Although they knew much about herbal remedies and medicines, they were unprepared for the kinds of diseases that came from far away. The settlers also took much of the land that the Native Americans had owned. They used it to raise livestock and build villages, and much of the native plants that the Native Americans had used and relied on disappeared.

The Native Americans in general were not motivated to work along side the settlers or help them with their conquests. The settlers, however, had strong motivation for settling near and developing relationships with the Native Americans. The settlers were strangers in a strange land, and they did not know about the climate, the food, or anything else. Because of this they attempted to become friends with the Native Americans so that they could be shown how to grow crops, and how to prepare for the freezing New England winters.

As settlers were building and establishing small villages, they were also working toward some kind of trade with the Native Americans. Many things that the settlers brought with them had never been seen by the Native Americans before. The reciprocal was also true. Because of the cultural differences there was some suspicion, but it faded in the exchange of interesting goods from other countries. This helped to benefit both the settlers and the Native Americans, and was good for both groups of people. Most of the settlers traded things that they brought with them or that came over on later ships, such as clothes, tobacco, and rifles. The Native Americans responded with horses and food.

This trade helped the Native Americans and settlers get along better than before, since the settlers could now travel on horseback, which was faster and more convenient, and they also had plenty to eat. On the Native American side, they enjoyed the tobacco and the clothing that helped to keep them warmer in the winter. They also enjoyed the rifles, since they could kill beasts for food easier than with the bows and arrows they were using.

Despite the trade, and the seemingly good relationship, the settlers worried a great deal about attacks from Native American tribes. Some were friendly, traded with the settlers, and had a good relationship with them. Others were more aggressive and determined not to help the settlers, but to cause them to return to their homeland. Even though the settlers worried, very few were actually killed by Native Americans.

The most serious confrontation between Native Americans and settlers did not come until 1854, when the Grattan Massacre occurred. A cow wandered away from the settlers. When a tribe of Sioux found the cow, they ate it. After armed settlers showed up, the Sioux realized their mistake, and offered the settlers a horse in exchange. The settlers did not accept, and Lt. Grattan ordered his men to fire on the Sioux. They killed the chief. This caused an escalation of strikes and counter-strikes that went on for decades.

Despite incidents such as the Grattan Massacre, most settlers and most Native Americans got along fairly well. The relationship they had with one another included a fair division of land, and a good balance of trade. Unfortunately, after the settlers learned what they needed from the Native Americans and took what they could from them, they no longer had any use for the proud people whose land they had invaded.

The relationship between the settlers and the Native Americans began to change as settlers learned to do things for themselves, grow their own crops and breed their own animals for food. With the settlers being able to survive on their own, there was no longer any need for the Native Americans to help. The population of settlers was also growing, and new villages were being built on land that used to belong to the Native Americans.

The settlers kept expanding the areas that belonged to them, and this made the areas belonging to the Native Americans smaller and smaller. Most Native American tribes were very peaceful and did not put up much of a fight, which made it much easier for the settlers to spread out. There were some tribes which objected to the taking of their land, but battles were fought and the settlers eventually won, driving the Native Americans on to less and less land.

Native Americans also helped the growth of the colonies.

Some tribes were fierce and tried to eradicate the settlers, but most were friendly. Some of the colonists captured Native Americans to be sent back to the settlers' homeland and sold as slaves. Most of the Native Americans, however, were treated decently as trade increased between them and the settlers. If it was not for the Native Americans, the growth of the colonies and the subsequent population of America might have been quite different. The Native Americans helped the colonists grow food, and they showed them how to survive the first harsh winter, which the colonists were totally unprepared for.

Brazil's Indigenous People

The people of Brazil, the ones that were there first and were indigenous to the area, had comfortable lives that they were used to and had adjusted for. They were content. However, they lived in the rain forests, and those that work in the business world with very little regard for the natural environment determined that some of the rain forest had to be cleared so that the wood could be used and the land could be developed.

It is true that there are some advantages to companies moving into countries and developing them, but there are also downsides to this, most of which are environmental and human in nature. For the indigenous people of Brazil, the costs came in both of those categories. Those that were indigenous to Brazil were from many different groups of different ethnicity that inhabited various areas of the country. They remained there until the 1500s, when Brazil was discovered by Europeans. Most of the indigenous Brazilians hunted, fished, grew crops, and gathered what they needed from the rainforests around them.

It was estimated that, at one time, there were 2000 tribes and nations that belonged to the indigenous people. Most of them died out as a result of the European settlers, and others were simply assimilated into the population of the country at the time. The number of what are termed 'uncontacted peoples' has actually risen in Brazil over the last two years, but this does not mean that the numbers when compared to how many were originally seen are comparable. There are still many, many less tribes and individuals that used to be indigenous to be found in Brazil today.

It was estimated that, when the European settlers appeared, there were approximately four million people in the indigenous population. With European settlements this declined to around 300,000, grouped into 200 tribes. The last census that was taken of contacted people had 700,000 Brazilians claiming that they were indigenous. This shows that these people have rebounded somewhat, but they are clearly nowhere near the levels that they were at when the European settlers first appeared. It is not surprising in a way that this has taken place, because the number of people in any area changes throughout the years and decades. However, the drastic change in the number of indigenous people in Brazil before and after the European settlers arrived indicates that these people were driven away as opposed to leaving of their own accord and in their own time.

The Portuguese people were the first Europeans to reach the coast of Brazil and they were astounded to find that the country was inhabited by a great many people, all living very comfortably and simply in the natural, environmental riches that they had available to them. These discoverers wrote letters to the King of Portugal describing how beautiful everything was in Brazil, but actually the Europeans and the Brazilian people had many clashes with one another and did not get along that well. Eventually, however, the male Brazilian soldiers began to mingle with the native women and have children with them.

The largest majority of the population was soon made up of these mixed-race individuals, for two reasons. First, because the soldiers bred with the native women at a rapid rate. Second, because the Europeans brought diseases with them that they did not get sick from but that the indigenous Brazilian people had no natural immunity against. Because of this the indigenous people begin dying at a rapid and alarming rate since they were not able to fight off the germs that the settlers brought with them.

In addition to the obvious problems of human suffering that this caused there was another problem created by this. The population of indigenous Brazilians became so low that they could no longer support all of the agriculture and crop-growing that the European settlers had started. Since this was the case, and since the crops had to be taken care of, the European settlers were forced to go to Africa and get black slaves. These slaves were then used in place of the indigenous peoples to prepare crops, harvest them, and perform other agricultural tasks, which allowed the European settlers to continue to grow and prosper as they spread throughout Brazil, unintentionally laying waste to the indigenous people.

As the European settlers continued to inhabit more of Brazil, the Portuguese people were not the only ones that found their way to the coast line and tried to inhabit the land. Settlers from other European countries also made their way to Brazil, intrigued by the reports that they had heard of the beauty of the land. Through the interest of all of these Europeans, Brazil was slowly taken over and inhabited by others that were not indigenous people. As they moved through the country they cut down trees, destroyed wildlife, and disrupted the lives of the Brazilian people, forever changing that country. The way that Brazil is now would likely have been very different had the European settlers not arrived when they did and changed so many things about the country. Much of the beauty of the rainforests and tropical climate has been lost to development and the desire for more timber.

Comparison and Conclusion

As can be seen from the examinations of the Native American population and the indigenous Brazilian population, settlers from other areas caused the problems for both of these groups. This does not mean that the settlers should be condemned, however, because they were doing what they thought was right at the time and they were doing these things for a specific cause. There have been many, many cases throughout history of someone or a group of people doing exactly what they think they should be doing but causing harm to others. Sometimes this is intentional, but overall this is something that just happens as an unfortunate side effect of expansion and growth, both economically and in the population of an area.

Where the Native Americans and the Brazilian indigenous people were concerned it appears that there were both accidental and deliberate problems that were caused by the settlers. Accidental problems include many of the changes that the countries and the people went through when the settlers arrived. Even if the settlers tried to make peace with the indigenous people and become their friends there were still unforeseen issues that took place. The main one of these was the threat of disease. Both the European settlers that went to Brazil and the settlers that arrived in America brought diseases with them that the people in other lands were not used to. Because of this they had no natural immunity to these diseases and suffered from them, many times to the point of death.

This was, of course, regrettable and upsetting, but there was little that could be done about it once it began to happen. The Native Americans and the indigenous Brazilian people simply had to build up an immunity to the diseases that the settlers brought with them. This took some time and many people died as a result of it. Those that survived, however, were made stronger by this and in some ways this could be seen as a benefit to the native people of these countries. However, the tragic loss of life was not a good start for relations between the people that lived there first and the 'new' people in the form of the settlers that moved in and took over land.

Had the settlers been more willing to adapt to native customs, things also might have been quite different. Instead, however, those that came from Europe and tried to settle these new areas were determined to change the indigenous people that they found. Often, the settlers felt as though their religion was the only 'right' one and they wanted to 'save' the poor, naive people that they found. This was admirable if done for the right reasons, but most of these people were actually interested in forcing the indigenous people to become like the Europeans. If they did not, or they were not able to due to a lack of understanding, they were often killed by the settlers in the name of their religion.

Surprisingly, the settlers often saw nothing wrong with killing these individuals, largely because they were believed to be 'ungodly.' One can only wonder what life would have been like for people all over the world today if the settlers would not have behaved this way and instead just integrated their cultures with the cultures of people that they encountered during their travels. This question, however, will never be answered. History has already been made and it cannot be changed now. What can be changed, however, is the future, in that individuals can be aware of what has taken place in the past and can then use that knowledge as an attempt not to repeat the damage that was caused to others.