What was the native American genocide?

Answer 1

The Native American Indian genocide was a deliberate, calculated and insidious attempt at destroying the native peoples. It is considered to be one of the most horrific genocides known to man. It has been estimated that there were up to 25 million natives in North America before the white man came. By the 1890's there were known only to be approximately 250,000. Of course those figures cannot be truly known just by their nature and time period, but the point is the devastation percentage wise is unequaled. The white man, given their belief in their basic right to the lands and their arrogance in thinking they were superior to everyone else, systematically set to destroy the Indian. This was accomplished in many ways. First, their weapons were superior. Then there were diseases, murder of infants, children and women to erradicate the native on that level, poisoning of water sources, destruction of food sources, etc etc. The Indian also has to absorb some responsibility. They trusted these new people to live up to their words. They didn't band together until much too late. So many young abandoned the old ways and embraced alchohol. In the end, the American Indian was not totally defeated. Those who held on to their spirituality survived the ongoing war against the Indian. What happened was inevitable. The way it happened was unconscionable.

Answer 2

That depends upon who you ask. Generally, estimates range from ten to twenty-five million Indians roamed North America. It may never be known exactly how many native peoples actually were here around 1500 AD. However, what is a fact is that by the 1890's there were just about 250,000 Indians remaining. This makes it the worst genocide in the history of man.

Answer 3

Genocide or the deliberate extermination of one ethnic group by another is not new, for example in 1937 the Pequot Indians were exterminated by the Colonists when they burned their villages in Mystic, Connecticut, and then shot all the other people - including women and children - who tried to escape. The United States Government has refused to ratify the U.N. convention on genocide.

There are many facets of genocide which have been implemented upon indigenous peoples of North America. The list of American genocidal policies includes: Mass-execution, Biological warfare, Forced Removal from homelands, Incarceration, Indoctrination of non-indigenous values, forced surgical sterilization of native women, Prevention of religious practices, just to name a few.

By mass-execution prior to the arrival of Columbus the land defined as the 48 contiguous states of America numbered in excess of 12 million. Four centuries later, it had been reduced by 95% (237 thousand). How? When Columbus returned in 1493 he brought a force of 17 ships. He began to implement slavery and mass-extermination of the Taino population of the Caribbean. Within three years five million were dead. Fifty years later the Spanish census recorded only 200 living! Las Casas, the primary historian of the Columbian era, writes of numerous accounts of the horrendous acts that the Spanish colonists inflicted upon the indigenous people, which included hanging them en masse, roasting them on spits, hacking their children into pieces to be used as dog food, and the list continues.

This did not end with Columbus' departure, the European colonies and the newly declared United States continued similar conquests. Massacres occurred across the land such as the Wounded Knee Massacre. Not only was the method of massacre used, other methods for "Indian Removal" and "clearing" included military slaughter of tribal villages, bounties on native scalps, and biological warfare. British agents intentionally gave Tribes blankets that were intentionally contaminated with smallpox. Over 100 thousand died among the Mingo, Delaware, Shawnee and other Ohio River nations. The U.S. army followed suit and used the same method on the Plains tribal populations with similar success.

The Indian Removal Act began in 1830. Forced marches at bayonet-point to relocation settlements resulted in high mortality rates. It's been well documented that the killing of Indigenous people in the Western Hemisphere since the beginning of colonization has been estimated at 120 million.

The North American Indian holocaust was studied by South Africa for their apartheid program and by Hitler for his genocide of the Jews during World War II. Hitler commented that he admired the great job Americans had done in taking care of the Indian problem.

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Answer 4

no