Before 1490, Native Americans knew nothing about olive-skinned Europeans, and Europeans knew nothing about the seven million Native Americans living in these unknown lands (Henretta et al. 6-7). The development of agriculture began to be practiced as well as gathering and hunting; growing plants, beans, squash and corn and new weapons, such as spear throwers, bows and arrows. These practices began to become the primary economic foundation of the Indians (Henretta et al. 7-8). The contributions, cultural sharing, and few differences between American Indians and Europeans have affected the shaping of all of American history. Most Indian societies were nowhere as complex, rich, and culturally inclined as the Hopewell, Pueblo, and Mississippian peoples (Henretta et al. The Hopewell tribe was known for building enormous mounds, which were ultimately used as places of burial. They lived in large villages and had an extensive trade route that stretched from present-day Louisiana to Wisconsin. Through this system of trade routes, they were able to pass many of their items to neighboring tribes, favoring. thus the spread of agriculture and giving the idea to other Indians to also create a barter system The Indians then began to exchange their animals, their crops, their household items, their clothing or their weapons for different goods in exchange. , but, around 500 BCE, the trade route system as well as the Hopewell tribe began to decline (Farless Lecture 1 + Powerpoint). The Southwest was divided into three tribes, the Hohokams, the Mollogons and the Anasazi. The Hohokams designed pottery, and around 1000 A.D. they began creating larger-scale structures called pueblos. The Mollogon tribe made unique black and white pottery and the last...... middle of paper ...... America was the main civilization. He carefully studied societies and the differences between land, commercial activity and traditions and in doing so he was almost blinded by all the similarities such as love, freedom and humanism, generally referred to as European values, but he noticed that they were appearing. in Indian tribes as well (Goody 22). After the discovery of America, Europeans and Indians began to share beliefs about society, authority, and religious views. The Europeans showed the Indians how to use special armed weapons and the Indians showed the Europeans how to hunt with wooden tools like spears. They traded in food and livestock, causing agriculture to spread across Europe and America. The contributions of Europeans and Indians helped shape the colonial frontier of the time as well as our lives today. (Number of words: 995)