Early explorers also found it necessary to kill Indians. The Spanish in southern regions of America saw Indians as savages and not fully human. The Spanish killed off whole cultures. In addition to killing all of the people, they would also destroy records and documents of the tribe’s history. The Spanish wanted to eliminate the Native Americans and spread Christianity in the new world. Many more conflicts between the Native Americans and the Europeans would arise in the future.
The Native Americans did experience some positive results from European settlers. The Europeans brought new crops and animals to America. While the Indians were used to hunting and eating wild animals, the Europeans introduced them to the cultivation of livestock, like cows and sheep, as well as the horse. The Europeans introduced crops, such as sugar and bananas. Likewise, the Europeans learned many agricultural techniques from the Indians as well. Economically, the Native Americans benefited from the Europeans because of fur trading. The Native Americans would hunt animals and sell the pelts to the French. This trade established alliances between the Native Americans and the Europeans.
Though much interaction between the natives and the Europeans was violent and brutal, there were some instances that the two cultures got along and live in harmony. The early Spanish immigrants married Indian women and people of mixed race dominated several colonies in the early Spanish Empire. Throughout colonization many Indians married Europeans and then converted to Christianity and completely assimilated into European culture. For example, Pocahontas, the daughter of the chief of the Powhattan tribe converted to Christianity in 1614, and married her husband, John Rolfe. Pocahontas moved to England with Rolfe.
The colonization of Europeans brought many changes for the Native Americans. Disease, agriculture, economy, and assimilation were all major changes in the Native American culture, but no change was more significant than the fight for land. Before Europeans discovered the new world, Native Americans had plenty of land. Europeans began exploring the land, and over time successful colonies emerged. As the colonists became more prosperous their populations increased as well, as the amount of immigration from Europe. This caused the Europeans to move westward. The European demand for land was the primary conflict between them and the natives. Much blood was shed on both sides in the fight for land and freedom. In order for the Europeans to expand their territory they had to either suppress the Indians in the area, or fight them.
In the mid 1600’s the Virginia colony was expanding and moving west, causing conflicts between natives and the new colonists. Due to all of the conflicts the English tried to set up lines where west of the line, settlements was prohibited, so the Indians could have their own land. However, the settlers moved further west despite the Indians. By 1652 there were three counties in the Virginia territory that were given to the Indians, but these lines were broken and conflicts arose. The intrusion on Indian land caused the Indians to attack. For example, in 1675 Bacon’s Rebellion took place. The Deog Indians were tired of invasions of their land, so they raided plantations, killing white servants. The Europeans fought back and killed Indians in return. Bacon’s rebellion showed that the settlers were unwilling to abide by their agreements with the Native Americans.
The Puritans of New England also felt that they had to destroy the natives. Though the Puritans did not attack and brutally kill the natives, the Puritans felt the need to ‘civilize’ the ‘savages’. There were countless instances of conflict between the two cultures. In 1637 the Pequot War in the Connecticut Valley took place. During this event the English attacked the Pequot tribe, and burned the people and the village. The expansion of the Europeans also hurt the Indians because food became scarce. Wild animals decreased in numbers because of the increase in the European population, and forests were being lost. The Native Americans were losing their land piece by piece.
Conflicts between the Native Americans and the Europeans continued through the sixteenth century. In 1795 the Treaty of Greenville was signed. This treaty gave the Indians their own land and was the first acknowledgement by the United States government to the sovereignty of the Indian tribes. Prior to this treaty the United States did not believe that the Native Americans had any legal rights to keep the land they called their own. This was a major step in protecting the Native Americans from further westward expansion in the Ohio Valley, and kept the Indians’ land protected for at least a short time.
The Native Americans went through great change when Europeans began colonizing in the United States. The Native Americans learned new trades and customs, but also suffered immensely. The Native Americans were killed by both European diseases and at the hands of the new settlers. At the beginning of the seventeenth century there were over 100,000 Indians in New England, by 1675, however, only about 10,000 remained. The colonization of America caused great hardships for the Native Americans.
