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The Relationship Between European Settlers and Native Americans
Native Americans and European settlers share a complicated and troubled history that dates back to the colonialization of British colonization of North America. Due to a series of broken promises and unfavorable treaties, the native Americans mounted a sustained resistance against the incoming Europeans. The natives resisted the Europeans efforts to dominate their lands through lopsided diplomatic efforts and war. Consequently, the natives and the Europeans endured an uneasy relationship characterized by bloody conflicts and bouts of deadly diseases, all of which cemented centuries-long animosity between the two groups.
European settlers came to North America to pursue conflicting interests, which would later trigger protracted conflicts among them. While some Europeans explored North America to find religious freedom, most were interested in Native American land and its rich mineral reserves, such as gold (Louis 1). The divergent interests and the resulting conflicts between the various European empires often caught the Native American communities in the middle, compelling them to defend against their land the different European settler groups. The frequent conflicts forced most Native Americans out of their ancestral lands in the face of prolonged armed resistance (Louis 1). The displacement of natives from their homes by Europeans established a lasting enmity between the two groups.
The relationship between the Native Americans and the European settlers was not always antagonistic as there were instances when they formed convenient alliances to defeat common enemies. In the 17th century, some European settlers formed alliances and signed treaties with the Native American tribes to gain a numerical advantage over their rivals. For instance, the British empire allied with the Iroquois Confederacy in the North East to defeat the French during the French and Indian War (1754–1763) (Louis 3). During the same war, Algonquian speaking natives joined forces with the French and the Spanish to bolster their resistance against the English. However, the alliances between the Native Americans and the European settlers were always short-lived because the Europeans often continued their aggressive territorial expansion into the native American lands once a European rival had been defeated (Oberg 5). In some instances, the alliances with the European empires pitted the native communities against each other, which weakened anti-European resistance.
Slavery was a major cause of prolonged mistrust and conflict between the Native American tribes and the European settlers. By forming alliances with the various European groups during the wars between European empires, Native Americans were captured as prisoners of war before being sold or confined into slavery back in Europe or in plantation farms across North America (Oberg 7). Native Americans’ captivity in faraway places like Canada and England to serve as slaves left permanent scars that continue to strain the relationship between the European settlers and Native Americans to-date. Besides, most Natives who were shipped to Europe or places like Canada contracted and succumbed to European diseases like smallpox.
The struggle among Native Americans to hold onto their ancestral lands, their culture, and their traditions throughout the European settlers’ invasion has endured for centuries. The Europeans’ sustained efforts to impose western civilization on the native communities only worsened the already strained relationships between the two groups (Oberg 9). For instance, the Native Americans’ view of their confinement in Indian Residential Schools in the United States as an act of cultural genocide emboldened their resistance (Anderson 3).
The European exploration and settlement in North America met sustained resistance from the Native American communities. The opposition and ensuing conflicts created a lasting hatred and suspicion between the Europeans and the Natives, which lasted nearly 500 years.
Works Cited
Anderson, Gary C. Ethnic Cleansing and the Indian: The Crime That Should Haunt America. , 2014.
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Louis, David L. Native Americans and European Settlers. PowerKids, Press 2019.
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Oberg, Michael L. Dominion and Civility – English Imperialism, Native America, and the First. Cornell University Press, 2003.
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