Stories of North America: The Native Americans and the European Settlers

Neha Prakash
Dr. Brenton E. Riffel, PhD
HIST 111
17 Janurary 2025

Stories of North America: the Native Americans and the European Settlers

The three major powers of Europe when Prussia was still in reign, Spain, France, and England, each had a little part of North America, but did they really make it successful or was it already blooming before they took away that prosperity? To understand this drastic change that would affect the lives of both the future colonists and the Indian natives, one must first understand the terrain that was North America before Christopher Columbus made his first voyage in 1492 and before the major powers took interest in the riches of the “supposed” New World. As the future colonies bordered the coastline that would be later known as the East Coast that consisted of the original 13 colonies, so did the numerous Native American tribes that lived there, such as the Iroquis, the Wampanoags, the Powhatan, and other prominent tribes that were supportive or objective of the development of permanent English, French, and/or Spainish settlements. Prior to Columbus’ voyage, North America had been peaceful and prosperous under the reign and cultivation of the Indian natives who knew their terrain well and who had much knowledge of survival, and were now facing rebellious European settlers who were trying to take the land that had always belonged to these natives, hence leading to either allied forces between the two against other tribes or enemies and trying to push the European settlers out of North America.

Before 1492, when Christopher Columbus first discovered the “New World” that consisted of North America and soon to be Central and South America, North America was a land of prosperity and culture full of numerous Native American tribes whose knowledge of the lands they traveled and lived in spread extensively, far beyond what any other foreigner could have hoped to learn. An early account to prove this would be that of the stories from Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca’s Relacion (1542), where he recalls that in return for “curing them,” the Indian natives they encountered often repaid them with “...many tunas (fruit of the prickly pear cactus), and a piece of venison, something [they] did not know any more what it was…” (History Matters). Henceforth from his account, it is understood that Cabeza de Vaca and his three other men that were still alive after the hurricane that swept Galveston, Texas, did not know much of the terrain, and that if they hadn’t relied on the Indian natives to help provide food and shelter, they most likely would have not survived. More so, as the winter season was coming, the men were not as prepared as the natives were, with no sources of food, fire, or shelter. Thus, it is only fair to mention that North America was suitable for people who knew the land as much as the natives did, and without adequate preparation and relying heavily on the natives, which to them may seem more of a burden than Cabeza de Vaca’s view of their “adoration,” these settlers and explorers thrived much less than if they had continued to live in their own native Europe.

Then, of course, were there not so much controversy among the Native Americans, in particular the Powhatan when Jamestown settled somewhat shakingly but sturdily, whether these settlers were subject to leaving North America or staying in the little colony without expansion, or would they expand and settle permanently without care in Powhatan’s own lands? Powhatan was primarily first concerned about how his land was being taken and built anew without his permission, but now that these settlers looked to be busying themselves with finding gold more than anything else pertaining to survival, Powhatan must have realized that they were to forever stay on his land, which he disdained greatly, and retaliated. However, it is around this time that Jamestown was suffering greatly, as the environment was odd and not entirely suitable for them and the conflicts with the Powhatan didn’t help so much, so the colony leaders sent Captain John Smith to negotiate with the Powhatan for supplies and other necessities “due to the ability of Smith to speak and negotiate with the Powhatan tribes” (Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation). Here is Smith’s attempt at establishing peace with the Powhatan, as Jamestown was deteriorating and there were only around forty settlers left at the colony, the rest dead. In order to ensure their survival while also pursuing gold, Smith, who was “adopted” into the Powhatan tribe for his bravery before execution, and who would get famously and inevitably saved by Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas (also known as Matoaka), was the lifeline needed. He would secure food and supplies from Powhatan and use that for Jamestown. However, this didn’t last as Smith endured a gunpowder injury and was forced to return to England, and Powhatan was told Smith had died, and tensions began to revert to their original state. As the Powhatan and other tribes would soon find out, these settlers were not open to appeasement, but to further permanent colonization and expansion under “the Crown,” requiring these tribes to cooperate.

There were many native tribes that did not like European settlement in their lands, and desired to drive them out of North America and back to the lands they were better suited for, which was native Europe. Whatever Native Americans the settlers did happen to meet, they were often always trying to convert the natives from their original culture to assimilate into Puritanism, which led to cultural identity crisis. On part of the natives, it was odd and forceful, more so to the natives that worked as slaves under the settlers. Increase Mather, a Puritan minister in the colony in the Massachusetts Bay area, often referred to these natives as “savage” and remarked that by spreading the word of God and God’s work led to a part of religiously following their duties (University of Conneticut). Thus, this force of losing culture and land was detested by most Native American tribes. The most offended one was Metacom, often referred to by the settlers as King Philip of the Wampanoag Tribe, who believed these settlers were taking too much advantage of them, that when the tribe had long shown kindness the settlers paid in bloodshed, particularly through the poisoning of Massasoit, King Philip’s father. What’s more, the tribe still had a lack of knowledge in Puritanism and in the English language, nor did they know much about the customs of the settlers, which the settlers used as an advantage to cheat through fake and vague negotiations that the natives could not understand. War broke out quite quickly, fueled by King Philip’s desire to remove the burden of these English settlers from his own people. The war ended in bloodshed and brutality, with loss on part of the Wampanoag Tribe, and so the English settlers won, but now they had lost the experts of the land in which it had originally been theirs, and this loss of culture and great importance is what is being grieved for today.

The question occurs again, was European settlement a great blessing to the lands and plains of North America, or was it a disaster to those who had long known it as their home? Well, there had been many attempts at peace, and by wrong on the part of the English mainly the natives were always at harm and at fault unknowingly, their land stolen and wanted back, their people’s prosperity long gone, their loved ones gone to slavery, a fate seemingly now worse than death itself. That question can never be understood and answered by one side of the settlers or by the other that supports the Native Americans, as now history had long taken its course, and in the future one could argue that the English settlement led to America’s greatness, but decidedly without that could they have not achieved such greatness without the suffering of the natives and the loss of their lives and culture, slowly dripping away from today’s memory? Can’t they live in Virgil’s words, “[no] day shall erase you from the memory of time…”

Works Cited

“"All over the Land Nothing Else Was Spoken of ": Cabeza de Vaca Takes up Residence as a Medicine Man in the Southwest, 1530s.”
Historymatters.gmu.edu,
historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6385.

“Native American’s Story.” King Philip’s War, github.uconn.edu/pages/apw14002/kingPhillipWar/indians.html.
Accessed 17 Jan. 2025.

What Was the Relationship between the Powhatan and the English? | Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, VA,
www.jyfmuseums.org/learn/research-and-collections/essays/what-was-the-relationship-between-the-powhatan-and-the-english.
Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.