Metal

Among the items first brought over by the colonial settlers horses and metal would top the list of technological breakthroughs.
Metal was a wonderful change. Suddenly copper and cast iron pots made life easier. Cooking was less work. A pot on the stove, a tea pot, metal utensils.
Weapons were also improved although wood and stone war clubs are still popular. Sometimes even these have metal incorporated in them, for example the war club now included one of more metal spikes. Armour and helms were now used with the old way of decorating, feathers, porcupines quill work, beads. The old patterns were not engraved into breastplate and gauntlets. Arrowheads became metal with more types of designs. Chainmail replaced bone breastplate.
The introduction of horses to the world also brought great change. Suddenly great distances could be traveled quickly and with ease. Trade between areas increased. Cross trade which had never taken place before was possible. Goods found in one part could eventually be found on the other side of the continent. Nations could encroach on other territories. Armies could more faster. Raids and battles happened more frequently and were deadlier. Alliances were expanded to protect each other and to gain lands Groups of colonial settlers were played against each other as much or more then they played the indigenous nations against themselves.
When they unleashed the pestilence on the continent through their greed, it was the colonial settlers who were weakened to the point the indigenous nations United to throw off the shackles. Once the settlers were no longer a threat they could decide who ruled where. The post colonial settler wars lasted for generations and are still going on.
Metal and horse once introduced to the lands changed how people lived and died forever, the effects of these two technologies still ripple through the lands.