Native Americans had no central government before the first whites arrived. Each family was bound to have several cultures over a large geographic area. The system and beliefs that each tribe had were followed with honor rather than of fear or punishment. Each tribe had their own means to survive. Some were in agriculture/hunting and gathering while others relied in aquaculture/fishing. Native Americans lived in harmony with the nature. A log fell in the creek will not be removed as it was believed as a natural course of nature. When the sun arose, that signaled a very good time to hunt and gather berries. They viewed land as is, a land wherein they can get food, a land that can give them a shelter and other needs that would enable to them to live.
Pattern of technological advancements also varied with Native Americans and Europeans. The first had refined mathematics and astronomy but did not develop the wheel. On the other hand, the latter shared cultures with other civilizations like the Chinese, which resulted to astounding technological development. Seclusion of Native Americans' civilization then resulted to incompatibility of their technology with the Europeans.
The Native Americans followed the belief on many Gods while the Europeans were believer of Catholicism. And we all know, that religion held power during the ancient times and is continuously holding one nowadays.
Women of America gained the same respect as that of the men within their tribe. They were strong and as productive as men and can even become the tribal chieftains. This scenario had been one of the unexpected things Native Europeans had seen in the land. European...
They were just seen as objects whose functions were just for sex, giving birth and servitude.
On top of the differences that Native Americans and Native Europeans had, both culture had similarities though. One similarity is the embodiment of myth and fableswhich had become a belief on the nature. Myths and fables, which originated from the encounter of man's existence with the nature, had become significant as they were treated as a guiding principle of those living within it. One common myth and fable that Native Americans and Europeans had were their belief on the wolves. Although Native Americans saw it as having a positive representation and the Europeans treated the opposite, both were bonded by their beliefs of the wolf myth which made each group unified.
Another salient similarity of the two cultures was their attribution with the creation myths (religious beliefs). They sacrificed and offered prayers to their respective deities to ask guidance and sustain each one's communities whenever crises occur.
It was also recognized that Native Americans had their sense of territorial expansion even before the conquests of the Native Europeans. Ice Age forced them to do so. This fact had become another semblance of the first with the latter; the expansion of territories and considerable technological sophistication.
Sources:
Koppel, Tom. (2003). Lost World: Prehistory -- How New Science is Tracing America's Ice Age Mariners. NY: Atria.
West, Rebecca. (2003). Survivors in Mexico. Connecticut: Yale University Press.
