Because Indians lived in scattered groups and had little contact with each other, they developed different cultures. They spoke over 1000 different languages, wore different types of clothes and made their living in different ways. Indians who settled in northern areas hunted and fished. Those who settled in the east and southwest farmed. Despite their many differences, most Indians shared the belief that people should live in harmony with nature. They believed that people should not own land because the land, like the air, stars and water, belonged to everyone.
The English settlers believed in the ownership of private property. These two widely different ways of life were the basis of the many conflicts between the Indians and the European settlers.
In the early years of discovery and exploration between 1492 and the mid 1600s, relations with the Indians were, for the most part, friendly. But as more and more settlers arrived, conflicts developed. Indian tribe leaders were worried and angry because settlers were crowding people off their land. When Indians 'sold' land to the settlers, the Indians misunderstood and thought they were only giving the whites the right to use the land. Many Europeans tried to understand the Indian way of life and treat them fairly. But others cheated them and took their land. While the Indians always fought for their rights, they were unable to stop the advance of thousands of settlers and the US army. Indians won some battles but they always ended up being pushed farther west. By 1780, fighting had stopped. Finally the whites moved almost all the remaining Indians onto reservations. Today, most Indians still do not follow white men's ways.
Only about half of the Indians live in reservations today. They are those who do prefer to preserve their tribal customs and ways of life. But discrimination by non-Indians, unwillingness by Indians to adopt new ways, and a basic distrust of the federal government, has kept many Indians out of the mainstream of the modern life.
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