In the late 1400's and early 1500's, Europeans began spreading their influence and interacting with communities in the New World. In the New World, Native Americans had long been developing society and tools at their own pace. Having no contact with the western world left them at a major disadvantage and gave the Europeans a sense of superiority. The Native Americans and Europeans lived different lifestyles, as they had extremely different cultures and technologies. Native lifestyle included different tools, a different belief system, and less advanced means of food production. These differences in material culture of the Native Americans and the Europeans, who came overseas in the times after 1492, caused the interactions to be one sided, and eventually resulted in the conquering and slaughtering of the native people. .
The Native American traditional tools were subordinate to the tools used by the Europeans, and the interactions between the two groups were affected by this gap in culture. Natives used animal bone, wood, and stone to build their tools, while the Europeans had tools made of bronze, copper, and iron metals. Stone tools were used for grinding, cutting, and hunting by the native people. The materials were weak and didn't give the groups the surplus needed to take risks in making new types of tools from different materials. Having more advanced tools and machinery not only made the Europeans' everyday life easier, but also allowed them to have better weapons for military use. They were able to create armor out of metals, armor allowed them to withstand more fighting and take more hits without being injured. There are advantages of using metals over stone, wood, and bone. These advantages include harder, longer lasting weapons that can do more damage to the enemy, and also sharper tips for fighting. The less developed material culture of the Native Americans was one of the many reasons the Europeans were able to conquer them so easily.
