Explain Three Difficulties Faced by the Europeans During the Early Stages of the New World Settlement
Explain three difficulties faced by the Europeans during the early stages of the new world settlement Three difficulties faced by the Europeans during the early stages of the new world settlement were resistance from the Amerindians, lack of supplies and food and natural disasters. The Europeans could not understand the resistance of the Amerindians. They felt that their culture and weapons were superior to that of the Amerindians and so they felt justified in their use of force against them.
The Europeans forced the Amerindians to labour for them, they raped their women and the animals they brought to the islands destroyed the natives food crops. These injustices caused some of the natives to flee into the mountains, commit suicide and infanticide and to burn the European food supplies. The Kalinagoes were being pushed out of their islands and so they fought back fiercely. The Europeans lacked supplies and food and had to abandon their European diet as most of the food items could not be imported from Europe. Thejr supply ships did not come to the Caribbean regularly.
The natives also did not plant enough food crops. Lastly, they had to face natural disasters, They had to endure hurricanes, insect pests, tropical disease and drought. Give three requirements of the encomienda system Three requirements of the encomienda system were the were granted a number of natives for whom they were to take responsibility and the receiver of the grant was to protect the natives, to educate them and instruct them in the Catholic faith. In return they could extract tribute from them in the form of labour, gold or other products.
The natives were punished or put to death if they resisted. The natives chief was responsible for keeping track of the labourers in the community. They were organized into small harbours called reducciones. Examine four aspects of the cultures of the indigenous peoples that allowed them to travel easily through the region Four aspects of the culture of the indigenous people that allowed them to travel easily through the region would be their knowledge of canoeing, their seafaring skills and trading along the coast and their desire to conquer other tribes through the use of warfare.
The indigenous people were very skilful and they made dugout canoes by ringing and burning of the base of a wide silk-cotton tree. The trunk was hollowed by chipping the upper side and slowly burning out the interior. The canoe was then shaped by wetting the hollowed trunk and inserting wooden wedges of different lengths to widen it in the middle and then slightly taper it at each end. Finally it was buried in damp sand to cure before being dried in the sun. Some canoes were small and some were large. The larger canoes made it possible to carry many men and goods like pottery, cotton cloth, food and hammocks to be traded between settlements.
The close proximity of the islands to one another and the ocean currents also allowed the indigenous people to travel through the islands using their canoes. The Kalinagos were great swimmers. They used their canoes and lines with the sucker fish attached and thrown over the side of the canoe to catch turtles. They caught ducks using gourds. They could also shoot birds with their bow and arrow while swimming in the sea. Their seafaring skills would have allowed them to move easily from island to island. Their war canoes were narrow with high prows at the front.
They were easy to manoeuvre and they could cover great distances. They tied several war canoes together on a platform on which a shelter was built for long voyages. They had more deadly weapons than the Taino. They used fire-tipped and poison-tipped arrows and they also had clubs and spears and these weapons allowed them to kill or capture many of the Taino men and take back the Taino women as wives for their young warriors. The young boys were trained for war and taught how to use the bow and arrows and how to apply poison to he arrowhead. indigenous people were also traders among themselves and they made numerous sea voyages in their canoes to other islands to exchange goods with the other inhabitants. The natives of Gonave island which is now the west coast of Haiti produced wooden bowls which were in great demand. They also traded jewellery, food items, pottery, insect nets and hammocks. The indigenous peoples use of canoes, warfare tactics, their trading and seafaring skills certainly show us how easily they would have travelled through the region.
