The primary factors that caused friction between English colonists and Native Americans was the struggle over land and its resources. The English believed that their own civilization was greatly superior to that of the natives. The natives were mostly settled farmers whose villages were surrounded by fields in which they grew a variety of crops. These farmlands took up large amounts of land in supporting their population.
As the English population increased so did their need for land and food. They hunted for food and also concentrated on raising domestic animals so that they could increase their own livestock. English settlers then continued to move deeper into native territory clearing forests and driving away animals on which the natives depended on. The natives became angry and retaliated with force trying to protect their people and territory. The natives, however, could not compete against the advanced weaponry the English used against them. In my opinion the struggle for land and the battle for civilization could not be avoided during this time period.
There were attempts to protect native territory by the English government. They tried to establish treaties promising the natives their own territory, but these treaties failed because of the rapid growth of the white population. For example, in 1637, hostilities broke out between English settlers in the Connecticut Valley and the Pequot Indians of that region. This was a result of the competition between the whites and the Pequots over land. This became known as the Pequot War, hundreds of Indians died and those that survived were hunted down, captured, and sold as slaves. The Pequot tribe was almost wiped out.
The Essay on Native American Land European Americans
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the movements to explore the new world increased rapidly. Among them was the arrival of the early Europeans on Americas. Only in a few decades this arrival has changed the land and the people of the Americas both on the physical the non-physical outcomes. On the physical outcomes, within a few decades after the arrival of European Ships on October 12, ...
Furthermore, in 1675 King Philip’s War took place. The Indian tribe called Wampanoags, under the chief known to the whites as King Philip, fought against English settlement into their lands. Many English were killed and this war greatly weakened both the society and economy of Massachusetts.
