Compare and Contrast how white settlers and Native Americans viewed nature.

White settlers thought of nature as something else we have that we can do whatever we want with. Native Americans thought of nature as something else. They thought of it as something that can be used up and should be taken care of.

For the Native peoples of America, "nature" is something sacred. In many cultures it is considered the "Mother Earth". In these thoughts, we (human beings) are part of nature and whatever we do in it we also do it to ourselves. These communities took care of the actions that the human species did in the environment in which they lived. For example, hunting and fishing cycles were regulated through myths. They also performed actions to restore balance and harmony.

White colonizers saw nature as a source of wealth. The logic of conquest implied owning territories to exploit "resources" and obtain wealth from them. They did not consider any element as sacred and the idea behind its way of acting is that the human race can control and dominate nature.

For example, gold for the native communities was related to the sun, was considered a gift from the gods and for the colonizers it was the raw material that symbolized economic wealth.