Three hundred years ago the life of the nomadic plains indians was pretty much the same that it had been for the last several thousand years. They followed the buffalo. The buffalo provided everything they needed. Meat to eat and hides for protection from the elements.
Then they discovered the horse. Some of the horses that the Spainards brought to the new world somehow made their way north. The Plains Indians adapted just fine. In the next hundred years they became some of the finest horsemen that the world had ever seen. The horse made their life much easier. It was a LOT easier to hunt a buffalo from a horse than from afoot.
Then the 'white man' arrived. The goods the white man brought made the Indians life easier. A steel hand ax was much better than one made from Flint. A steel pot served it's purpose much better than anything else they had. The same could be said for all the other trade goods. The Indians adapted and had a better life.
Briefly.
The white man continued to come in greater and greater numbers. The Indians couldn't adapt. Those that survived were forced to live on reservations.
That's the way of the world. Adapt or die. It's happening today. Technology is increasing at warp speed. We are witnessing more change in five years than previous generations saw in their life times.