Those living in the area where Jamestown was settled must have had mixed feelings about the arrival of the English in 1607. One of their first reactions was hostility based on their previous experience with Spanish explorers along their coastline. They attacked one of the ships before the English actually landed. Yet they soon began to offer food and hospitality to the newcomers. At first, Powhatan, leader of a confederation of tribes around the Chesapeake Bay,
hoped to absorb the newcomers through hospitality and his offerings of food. As the colonists searched for instant wealth, they neglected planting corn and other work necessary to make their colony self-sufficient. They therefore grew more and more dependent on the indigenous people for food. As the colony's fortunes
deteriorated during its first two years, Captain John Smith's leadership saved the colony. Part of this leadership involved exploring the area and establishing trade with local people. Unfortunately for the Native Americans, Smith believed that the English should treat them as the Spanish had: to compel them to "drudgery, work, and slavery," so English colonists could live "like Soldiers upon the fruit of their labor." Thus, when his negotiations for food occasionally failed, Smith took what he
wanted by force. By 1609, Powhatan realized that the English intended to stay. Moreover, he was disappointed that the English did not return his hospitality nor would they marry Native American women. He knew that the English "invade my people, possess my country." Native Americans thus began attacking settlers, killing their livestock, and burning such crops as they planted. All the while, Powhatan claimed he simply could not control the young men who were committing these acts without his knowledge or permission. Keep in mind, however, that Powhatan's reactions and statements were reported by John Smith, hardly an unbiased observer. In the next decade, the colonists conducted search and destroy raids on Native American settlements. They burned villages and corn crops (ironic, in that the English were often starving). Both sides committed atrocities against the other. Powhatan was finally forced into a truce of sorts. Colonists captured Powhatan's favorite daughter, Pocahontas, who soon married John Rolfe. Their marriage did help relations between Native Americans and colonists. With the reorganization of the colony under Sir Edwin Sandys, liberal land policies led to dispersion of English settlements along the James River. Increasing cultivation of tobacco required more land (since tobacco wore out the soil in three or four years) and clearing forest areas to make land fit for planting. Expanding English settlements meant more encroachment on Native American lands and somewhat greater contact with Native Americans. It also left settlers more vulnerable to attack. By this time, the Native American fully realized what continued English presence in Virginia meant--more plantations, the felling of more forests, the killing of more game--in sum, a greater threat to their way of life. The self-proclaimed humanitarian efforts of people like George Thorpe--who sought to convert Indian children to Christianity through education--did not help either. Finally, the deaths of Powhatan and Pocahontas further hastened hostilities. The Native Americans, led by Powhatan's brother Opechancanough, bided their time. Pretending friendship, they were waiting for an opportunity to strike the English and dislodge them from Virginia. In early 1622, they struck. In all, nearly 350 colonists were killed; Jamestown itself was saved only by the warning of an Native American Christian convert. One result was an ever-hardening English attitude toward the Native American. Another was bloody reprisals against local tribes. For additional documents related to these topics, it is probably best to focus on John Smith's Generall Historie of Virginia and Peter Force's collection of tracts. Both these items are in The Capital and the Bay. Another good source of information is the Records of the
Virginia Company, in the Thomas Jefferson Papers. In addition to browsing these sources, use the terms found in the documents to the right of the page. Documents
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Which of the following best describes the relationship between colonists and the American Indians in early American colonial history?Which of the following best describes the relationship between colonists and the American Indians in early American colonial history? RIGHT The two groups established trade relations.
What was life like when settlers came to America?Life in the early 1600s at Jamestown consisted mainly of danger, hardship, disease and death. The first settlers at the English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia hoped to forge new lives away from England―but life in the early 1600s at Jamestown consisted mainly of danger, hardship, disease and death.
What approach did the new American government take toward Native Americans in the years following the revolution quizlet?A new approach was undertaken during the New Deal, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, with the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which ended allotment, banned further sale of Native American land, and returned some lands to the tribes.
Which statement is true about Native Americans who lived in the Western Hemisphere prior to the arrival of Europeans?Which statement is true about Native Americans who lived in the Western Hemisphere prior to the arrival of Europeans? They descended from people who are believed to have arrived in North America from Asia between 15,000 and 60,000 years ago, via a land bridge across the Bering Strait.
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Which of the following best describes the attitudes of early settlers of the US in regards to government?
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