Impact of Colonization on Native Americans Essay

Aztecs in Mexico ? Pueblos of Southwest ? Mound Builders in Mississippi Valley ? 300 separate languages by 1492 REASONS WHY EARLY HARMONIOUS LIVING ENDEND ? No immunologic protection against European diseases – up to 90% of native population died in the first century of contact ? Native people had different spiritual beliefs and ideas about land ownership than Europeans. Many resisted Christianity, and the idea of buying and selling land was unthinkable to them. ? With the exception of the Five Nation Iroquois, most Indian tribes lacked unity, and were often rivals with each other. They were very vulnerable to the Europeans with their superior weapon technology EUROPEAN TREATMENT OF NATIVE AMERICANS: Spanish Policy: ? Approach was to conquer, rule and intermarry ? Established missions to convert Indians to Christianity ? Took over their economy ? A rigid class system developed that was dominated by pure-blooded Spaniards English Policy: ? Initial sharing of ideas about agriculture, traded in furs, and coexisted ? Eventually gives way to conflict and open warfare ? English had no respect for Native American cultures; viewed as primitive or savage ? Native Americans saw their way of life threatened with increasing English population ? Cultural Clash in the Chesapeake †¢ At first, Powhatan possibly considered the new colonists potential allies and tried to be friendly with them, but as time passed and colonists raided Indian food supplies, relations deteriorated and eventually, war occurred. †¢ The First Anglo-Powhatan War ended in 1614 with a peace settlement sealed by the marriage of Pocahontas to colonist John Rolfe. †¢ Eight years later, in 1622, the Indians struck again with a series of attacks that left 347 settlers, including John Rolfe, dead. †¢ The Second Anglo-Powhatan War began in 1644, ended in 1646, and effectively banished the Chesapeake Indians from their ancestral lands. †¢ After the settlers began to grow their own food, the Indians were useless, and were therefore banished. ? The Iroquois †¢ In what is now New York State, the Iroquois once were a great power. †¢ They were made up of the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Deganawidah, and the Hiawatha. †¢ They vied with neighboring Indians and later French, English, and Dutch for supremacy. †¢ The longhouse was the building block of Iroquois society. †¢ The Mohawks were middlemen with European traders. †¢ The Senecas were fur suppliers. †¢ The Five Nations of the Iroquois’ rivals, the neighboring Hurons, Eries, and Petuns, were vanquished. †¢ Throughout the 1600s and 1700s, the Iroquois allied with the British and French (whichever more beneficial). †¢ When the American Revolution broke out, the decision to side with who was split. Most sided with the British, but not all. †¢ Afterwards, the Iroquois were forced to reservations, which proved to be unbearable to these proud people. ? Puritans vs. Indians †¢ Before the Puritans had arrived in 1620, an epidemic had swept through the Indians, killing over three quarters of them. †¢ At first, Indians tried to befriend the Whites – Squanto, a Wampanoag, helped keep relative peace. †¢ In 1637, though, after mounting tensions exploded, English settlers and the powerful Pequot tribe fought in the Pequot War, in which the English set fire to a Pequot village on Connecticut’s Mystic River, annihilating the Indians and bringing about forty years of tentative peace. †¢ In an attempt to save face, the Puritans did try to convert some of the Indians, though with less zeal than that of the Spanish and French. †¢ In 1675, Metacom (called King Philip by the English) united neighboring Indians in a last-ditched attack that failed. †¢ The King Philip’s War slowed colonial western march, but Metacom was beheaded and quartered and his head was stuck on a sharp pike for all to see, his wife and son sold to slavery. ? Roger Williams in Rhode Island and Quakers in Pennsylvania most tolerant of Native Americans French Policy: ? Maintained relatively good relations with Native American tribes ? French soldiers assisted Huron in fighting Iroquois ? Built forts along Great Lakes – exchanged French goods for Indian furs ? Few colonists, farms & towns posed very little threat.