History is the study of the past chronological events. These events may have affected the humankind directly or indirectly. The study of history is important to the learners as it helps them understand the world and have knowledge about the occurrences that are being experienced today. It explains how the events and happenings in the past learn how they have changed and what figures and personalities that aided in their change. In addition to this, the study of history helps us to understand the cultures of the humankind in the past from different parts of the world, as it is diverse. We can use the past knowledge of the past cultures to relate to the present to come up with clear comparisons of the past life to the present. Lastly, history helps us to accept the aspect of change in life. This follows the fact that, after a comprehensive study of the past, we are enlightened that there are possibilities of changes in each aspect of life, both structural and geographical.
The Native Americans are believed to have originated from East Asian population about 23,000 years ago. This group arrived at a single wave and settled in different parts of the American soil. About 13,000 years later, another group arrived from the Northeast Asia crossing the Bering Land Bridge that lies between Alaska and the Northeast Asia. This latter migration is recent compared to other theories on the migration of the Native Americans. After a successful migration to the American soil, the settlers split into various groups forming the cultural and genetic diversity that is seen today.
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The settlement of the Native Americans was majorly influenced by agriculture. This is because it was the major source of livelihood to the settlers. They mostly grew food crops like maize and later changed to cotton, that is in early 1800. The migrants moved mostly westwards to cover the fertile land of America. The expansion of frontier and rapid growth in the numbers of settlers led to opening up of larger new farms, and the farmers majorly concentrated on the clearing of the land and making it useful. Another factor that influenced the movement of the people was a trade. The harvestings from the farm were in large scale, and that means that there were surpluses and they needed to dispose of them off to obtain other utilities that they did not produce. Since agriculture became the livelihood for about 90% of the total America population, trade became diverse as many farmers came to dispose of their surplus. Depending on the location of the trading centers, the farmers moved from one place to the other to access the market. Most farmers preferred settling around the trading centers so that they can easily access the market to avoid tedious movement with the bulky goods. The agricultural tools became another factor that influenced the settlement and movement of the early American farmers. This is because the new inventions made the framers to be more interested in the faster and efficient methods of cultivation. Therefore they moved around to access these tools.
The European quest for God, gold, and glory became a motivating factor for the Europeans. These goals made them move to different parts of the world to acquire these aspects. They struggled and conquered most part of the world to colonize them and acquire the available resources that they could obtain from their lands. Gold was their major goal as they used it for trade and as a sign of wealth. They established very many mining sites where they extracted gold and imported them back to their country. In the event of colonization, the Europeans took that initiative to spread their Christianity to their conquered countries and transformed them from their traditional worship to the Christianity. They sent missionaries to different parts of the world to do expeditions and to spread their Christianity. It was believed that the high number of countries you conquered, the more powerful you became. Therefore, the European colonists ensured that they claimed and colonized larger part of the world.
The study of these motivating factors is important in the life of a Historian as it gives information on how civilization found its way to the life of the humankind in the world. These motivating factors also led to inventions and discovery of new items that aided in making the world a better place. This study motivates the present humankind to continue with the work of the ancient humankind in making discoveries and inventions for new items.
- Gary Walton, F. James Shepherd. (1979). The Economic Rise of Early America.
- Douglas Hurt. (2015) Agricultural and the Confederacy: Policy, Productivity, and Power in the Civil War South. Ch1