Were the native americans savages?

Question

I have seen many films with native americans brutally killing animal and humans for no reason then running away screaming like wild animals. do you think that they were savages?

Answer 1

No. I have seen many movies with whites killing animals and humans for no reason too, especially in the horror section at Blockbuster.

Put it this way, if we were blood thirsty savages, natives would have slaughtered every white that anchored ashore. We didn't have to let colonists settle in anywhere, the explorers and the early colonists could have been easily killed by millions of "savages", if that was our nature.

Since you are bringing up racist stereotypes, allow me to join in on the fun. While the colonists thought we were "savage", the natives thought colonists were:

- Foul ( wore too many clothes + did not bathe = strong body odor, rotten teeth/halitosis)

- Strange (appearance, language, delusions of granduer, land ownership, fascination with metallic rocks, no respect for wildlife, no respect for other cultures).

- Pathetic (the early colonists were "gentlemen", they thought they were too good to get dirty and grow their own food, they completely depended on trade with the local tribes for food, some of the colonists starved to death, when they weren't able to successfully trade with the local natives.)

- Dishonorable (Treaties.)

And of course some colonists were rapists, murderers, and thieves.

It was European diseases (germ warfare) from the U.S. government that descimated native tribes. Not "technology".

Who cares if natives fought with other natives before the whites arrived, my tribe has never pretended to be innocent of tribal warfare.

There are millions of dead natives that can attest to the savagery of colonialism, and I liked Dances with Wolves.

Answer 2

well I have no idea if I have time to answer this but here it goes. The tribes of the North and south americas where on different levels of technological scales. The Tribes existed on many different subsistence types. Any thing from hunter/gathering to High intensive agriculture. The use of human sacrifice is common through human existence. The most recorded form of human sacrifice in the Americas was the Mesoamerican peoples who often killed the captured enemies for their Gods. Also Many tribes overlapped each other and sometimes competed for land. The Iquiros and the Seneca had very similar tribal customs but fought over growing space shell fishing areas The Navajo and the Hopi often found to have over lapping land and practiced and still practice Horticulture and a low form of pastoralism (mostly sheep now). Savage is a very subjective term. What determines savage behavior or a savage culture?

Answer 3

Of course not. I don't believe Native Americans were in the practice of killing without reason.

It’s ironic that in the films that portrayed the first Thanksgiving celebration, Native Americans were portrayed as supportive and friendly. They helped the first white settlers and kept them from starving to death. But then later in our history, Native Americans (whose lands and belongings we wanted for ourselves) seemed to all-of-the-sudden become “savages.” Could it be that we were only justifying our appalling and shameful treatment of them? To say Native Americans were "savage" indicates that they were violent and vicious. What they were was different from many of the white settlers who wanted what the Native Americans possessed, made no attempt to understand or learn from them, and feared them for their differences.

America has benefited so much and in so many ways with the advances made by the Civil Rights movement. My children do not remember a time when they did not live in integrated neighborhoods, go to integrated schools, and count children of other races, religions and cultures among their closest friends. I wonder sometimes how much more our country could have been had we done more to respect and incorporate Native Americans – their talents, their knowledge, and yes, their differences – into our culture rather than trying to exterminate them. What a loss!

Answer 4

What exactly is a "savage"?
Killing of an animal for food, we never killed for sport like the White Man, is not a clean and peaceful endeavor, neither is the killing of a person in war, be it members of another tribe or the White Man it was "war".
As for the screaming ? It was used to impart fear into the enemy, and after the fact it was used as a joyous outburst.
We weren't the only ones to scream, ever heard of the "Rebel Yell"? It was meant to do the same thing.
So to answer your question. No more than the next guy.

Answer 5

I dont think it was for no reason. They killed the animals because they needed to eat and I believe they used the fur from some of the animals to keep warm, not sure about that though. And they killed humans because maybe tribes didn't like each other so they went to war. I know when people started immigrating over here they began to take over their land and some Native Americans rebeled. I think it is sort of a victory scream after they have made a kill. And like another poster said I don't think the Native Americans went around killing things for no reason. I'm not a historian or anything just my opinion.

Answer 6

I don't think that Native Americans were any more savage then their surroundings made them be. Think about it, if you had your whole family and everyone you knew brutally murdered, and then their body parts were chopped off and worn as ornaments, wouldn't you be just a little miffed? If you had a governing body trying to make you conform to a cultural ideal totally opposite of yours, by force if necessary, wouldn't you respond in whatever way was necessary? So no, I don't think that Native Americans were any more savage then the people they had to interact with.

Answer 7

The first problem is that the word "savage" is defined by the culture that uses it in relation to a different culture. Some accuracy for that term is going to be lost due to that filter. And the second problem is that not all Native American tribes were anywhere alike, yet that sort of attitude paints them all with the same paint brush.

Answer 8

Perception is everything. If the film displays the native Americans as savages because they are trying to accurately depict the colonists perceptions, then maybe that's acceptable. I have a friend who is a very successful native American actor, and he plays those roles because they are usually historically accurate and violence was sometimes seen differently by those cultures than by whites.

If 'Dances With Wolves' is innacurate, then why did the Sioux tribe endorse it?

Answer 9

Movies are not real...most are not accurate and the old ones are especially prejudiced in trying to depict people in a way the film makers and society wanted when it wasn't even true.

All humans have fought forever, and have killed if necessary to protect their people's survival, but most people in this country prior to others invading it did not generally fight for reasons other then that. The concept of war and killing strictly out of hate did not originate with them, that's on the rest of the world.

In all honesty, by means and reasons behind killing and trying to terminate people and cultures, whites were the savage ones.

Answer 10

I think each tribe acted in different ways but certainly they were somewhat primitive, and even engaged in wars before America was discovered. I don't think they killed anything unless there was a purpose and obviously very proud when the task was accomplished successfully.
Please see link below to see an actual prisoner exchange document and notice at the end where it is noted that a recent Indian attack had occured in the Cumberland Gap and the damage was not as bad as first thought, only 4 family's were killed and not 40.