Native Americans and the Colonists

The Spanish conquerors brutally abused and exploited the Native Americans, many of whom died from mistreatment at the hands of their Spanish masters. They forced Native Americans to work for them...

The Puritans believed they were part of God's elect, those lucky few predestined by the Almighty to go to heaven. This gave them a sense of moral superiority over those they regarded as predestined...

Native Americans resisted European colonial expansion in many different ways. They sometimes boycotted white settlers by refusing to trade with them or to provide them with relevant information,...

The Iroquois Confederacy is also similar to the United States government in the sense that we each "elaborately ritualized systems for choosing leaders and making important decisions" (quote taken...

The way that Europeans first communicated with Native Americans upon first contact varied from place to place. However, there were a few methods that many used in order to bridge the language...

When European colonization came to the Americas, the Native Americans on the coasts were affected first. Over time, the conquistadors moved inland and more and more of the tribes were involved....

One could argue that Pocahontas's greatest accomplishment was to bring some measure of peace between her native Powhatan tribe and the English settlers. This was achieved, in the time-honored...

A number of factors gave rise to the outbreak of hostilities between English settlers and the Powhatans. But as was often the case in conflicts between Europeans and Native Americans, the most...

The markedly different understandings of land between the English and Indigenous peoples of America was rooted in completely different ways of living. Prior to the Christian and nation-state...

Here is an "off the top of my head" answer to your question. Frenchmen, I think embraced Amerindians as trading partners, readily married Amerindian women, lived with them, traded with them,...

One interesting aspect of pre-European, Native American life is that most tribes (on the east coast anyway) did not understand the concept of ownership of land or of private property. The...

With regard to trade, the biggest difference was that there was no concept of money within Native American trade before the arrival of the Europeans. Trade was mainly done by swapping items that...

The Native American and European worldviews had some stark differences to say the least. In fact, these differences would culminate in incredibly violent clashes more often than not. The Europeans...

The early relations between the colonists and Native Americans were quite friendly. Both sides were eager to trade and enjoy the new amenities of each other's culture, and there was a new...

Perhaps Samoset's greatest service to the Pilgrims at Plymouth was to assert himself in a friendly manner by coming into their pitiful encampment and greeting them respectfully in English. He came...

Much of the French and Indian War was fought on the British and French frontiers of North America. At the time, little was known of this heavily-forested area to most Europeans and colonists....

There are several primary differences between Puritans and Native Americans. The most evident difference between both is that one group emigrated to the New World, while the other group was...

Since you are asking about the colonists, the time frame for the context of the answer is 1600 to 1876. Before 1600, there were European explorers coming to the Americas, but they were motivated by...

The French, British, and Spanish encountered the Native Americans when they established colonies in the Americas. However, only the French had a good relationship with the Native Americans. The...

Colonialism had, and continues to have, horrific effects upon indigenous tribes and peoples of this land. In North and South America, the indigenous population was reduced by an absolutely...

This is a difficult question because it depends on conceptions of ownership that may differ between cultures. America did steal some Native American land, though it is murky in other areas. Prior...

This question is not an easy question to answer, because most of the historical accounts and records we have today were written or told by Europeans. We cannot know for certain what the Native...

As the other educators mention in their answers, different Native American tribes often played a military role in imperial conflicts. However, they also played an economic role. Remember that the...

Motives for English colonization vary by the area, as do the motivations. Impact on the Native Americans was detrimental in almost every instance. Those who settled the Chesapeake Colonies,...

British attitudes to Native Americans shifted over the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and varied dramatically by exact location. However, historical patterns and trends do emerge regarding...

The Powhatan resented the English settlers because they made regular incursions into their lands without permission. These lands had been occupied by the Powhatan since time immemorial; they were...

There are two main reasons why Native Americans got involved in the wars between European colonial powers. First, they got involved because the Europeans could benefit from their involvement....

There were many reasons. First, the Native Americans were quick to escape from their white masters. They knew the terrain, and there were other tribes willing to help those who escaped. African...

Some of the Native Americans helped some of the first European settlers survive when the Europeans came to North America. Without Native American help, it is very possible that some of the early...

In the 169 years between the founding of Britain's American colonies and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, colonists killed thousands of Native Americans. At the start of...

In can be difficult to pinpoint exactly who was the first Native American to visit England, but the contenders include Manteo of the Croatan tribe of coastal North Carolina, who came in 1584 and...

The following report is what a think tank circa 1750 might have written: The Spanish These were the first Europeans to arrive on the American continent and have now been there over 250 years....

For the most part, Native American tribes were hostile towards the English settlers. After all, America was their land, and the newcomers were taking over that land without permission, disrupting...

In both areas, relationships with the Indians started out well enough but soon became disastrous because of abuses by the Europeans. In Virginia, the Indians showed the colonists how to plant corn...

One important difference between Spanish settlement (1519) and English settlement (1607) of the Americas was that the English came much later than the Spanish. There were other differences as...

British interactions with the Natives Americans in North America might be seen within the broader context of European relations with natives in the New World. The Spanish, who were first to arrive...

This is tough to say because there were good and bad relationships with the Native Americans in all colonies. However, I would argue that the best relationship was between Pennsylvania and the...

There were many battles between the Native Americans and the British and their colonists. Most Native American tribes didn’t trust the British nor the British colonists, but many of these tribes...

The Anglo-Powhatan Wars were a series of battles fought between the Powhatan Native American tribe and English colonists of the Virginia Colony. Virginia historians believe the Powhatan tribe may...

The Native Americans and the colonists interacted in different ways. The colonists often brought new diseases to which the Native Americans had no immunities, leading to widespread illnesses and...

It is hard to determine the actual number of Native Americans killed during this period. Diseases ravaged entire tribes through contact with European explorers and trade. Smallpox had arrived on...

English relations with the Native Americans were complex and could swing between extremes within the various colonies. In Virginia the relationship started off amicably. Without Native America aid,...

As with most, if not all, conflicts between American Indians and English colonists in the seventeenth century, the cause of the Battle of Mystic on May 26, 1637, was not a single event but a...

Basically, the French had better relations with the Indians than did Britain. This is not because the French were morally superior -- it is because they needed the Indians economically where the...

Native American tribes often did rebel against European settlers. In some instances, they could do serious damage, such as when the Powhatan tribe wiped out a quarter of the entire population of...

American colonists from European cultures viewed both Africans and Native Americans as substantially different in many ways. Culturally, of course, both "Indians" and Africans were viewed as from...