How can land be someone's property? Native Americans believed there was no such thing as land ownership. On the other hand, Europeans claimed ownership of land all over the world. Attitudes towards land ownership differ greatly. Europeans believed that a person had the right to own land, while Indians had common ownership. The Indians believed that the land was for gathering and hunting, so they did not have to own the land in order to use it and share it with other members of their tribes. Although Europeans believed that Indians were savages, Indians were very civilized people. According to Eric Foner's Give Me Liberty, Indians had roads, cities, trade networks, and other structures that indicated they had complex societies. However complex their societies might be, they firmly believed that land could not be something owned by man. They had many policies about owning the right to use the land for hunting or harvesting. The crops and the meat of the prey were for all members of the tribes. Many believe that this communal or shared ownership of land was the foundation of the economic life of Indian tribes. “Few, if any, Indian societies were familiar with the idea of ​​an enclosed piece of land that belonged forever to a single individual or family.”1 Europeans had no fear of Indian attitudes toward property. Europeans believed that Indians were nomadic and could not have stable communities, which also meant that Indians were incapable of using the land properly. They thought that by reclaiming the land they would make the land better. They believed that by reclaiming the land they would do a better job... middle of paper... the discovery of America in Europe. Although the Indians were more peaceful and probably more diplomatic people, they lost the war and with it lost their land. The Indians had a society where no one went hungry; there was no poverty among the Indian tribes. There may have been hierarchies within different tribes, but since harvesting and hunting were common resources, everyone was fed. On the other hand, Europeans came to the Americas exclusively to make money. They established trading posts, created large monopolistic corporations, and took land from the Indians. The Indians did not allow the Europeans, who would later become Americans, to conquer the land without a fight. There were many battles and even a land war. Although the Indians fought for their land, their communal holdings were eradicated by Europeans, and the Americans fenced off the landowners.