Europeans Arrive in America The debate of who came first to America Spain, France, and Britain dominated the struggle for domination and had the most enduring effects on Indian America Native America through European Lens – judged Indians by European values, social orders, and gender norms Europeans did not think they were displacing existing civilizations

The notion of Indians as “noble savages” endured due to the writings of Columbus and those that followed Columbian Exchange – an exchange of goods and ideas between Native Americans and European colonists Biological Catastrophes – small pox, measles, bubonic plagues, influenza, cholera, etc. The impacts of increased warfare, slave raiding, famine, and other traumas of colonization caused numbers in Indian populations to decrease

A Mission for Gold & God Following 1492, Spaniards came into contact with Indians from Florida to California, to the Great Plains The Spanish believed they had a divine and royal mandate to reduce Indian people to submission Requerimiento – a document allowing Spaniards to justify conquest & atrocities that occurred in the “New World”

Spanish Expeditions Hernan Cortes’ topple of the Aztec empire encouraged Spaniards to explore other areas of America Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca’s adventures in America Hernando de Soto’s brutality in southeastern U.S. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado’s expeditions

Valladolid Debate ( ) VS. Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda Bartolomé de las Casas

Las CasasSepúlveda Natives are human beings “created in God’s image” “All the peoples of the world are men and thus possess natural rights, including the right to liberty.” No to slavery. The natives natural society and customs, however horrible, express a desire for the good. The natives have an inborn and instinctive sense of God and worship this supreme power according to their own customs Natives are naturally inferior, submissive, and according to Aristotle “slaves by nature” Conquering people is good when it helps the growth of the Christian religion. Natives are “inferior to the Spaniards just as children are to adults, women to men, and indeed, one might say, as apes are to men.”

To Colonize & Christianize Spaniards established missionaries throughout the Americas and aimed in Christianizing Indian people and utilize them for labor Encomienda system – a compromise in which Indian workers worked for a plantation owner in exchange for learning Christianity Repartimiento system -

Indians Confront the French Montagnais Indians confront the French Early French explores of present day Quebec and Montreal – Jacques Cartier & Samuel de Champlain “Our young men will marry your daughters, and we shall be one people” Learning Native languages and ways of living allowed the French to gain access to fur territories

The Natives pursued alliances with the French as a means of securing European trade goods The Catholic religion in New France Kateri Tekakwitha – a Mohawk woman who was a devout Catholic Confronted with the threat of English settlers intruding on their lands, many Indians saw the French as their best hope for protection and military support

Indians Confront the English The English were latecomers in the invasion and colonization of North America King James I eyed North America as a possible location for English colonies that could be as profitable as the Spanish colonies Treaty of Tordesillas – A treaty signed between Spain & Portugal The Virginia Company – English investors who financed colonies in North America

Chesapeake Colonies in the 17 th century

Jamestown Settlement Englishmen arrived at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on April 26, 1607 Were cautious of Native American and Spanish attacks Powhatan’s people defended Virginia as their own Settlers confronted hardships such as starvation and harsh weather

This engraving, published in 1612, was copied from an original drawing John White made in 1585 when he visited the village of Secotan on the coast of North Carolina The drawing provides a schematic view of daily life in the village, which may have resembled one of Powhatan’s settlements

In 1612, John Smith published a detailed map that showed not only geographic features of early Virginia but also the limits of exploration (indicated by small crosses), locations of houses of he Indian “kings” (indicated by red boxes), and “original houses” of indigenous people (indicated by dots)

In 1612, John Smith published this list of the English equivalents of words used by Powhatan’s people, almost the only record of the coastal Algonquian language that exists

This was an advertisement for the Jamestown settlers Virginia imported thousands of indentured servants to labor in the tobacco fields, but the colony also advertised in 1631 for settlers like those pictured here The notice features men and women in the Chesapeake region

Cooperation & Conflict Between Natives & Newcomers The Virginia Company boasted that the settlers bought from the Indians “the pearls of earth [corn] and [sold] to them the pearls of heaven [Christianity]” Powhatan’s people regarded the English with suspicion but concluded that they would make better allies than enemies The trade that supplied the Indians with European conveniences: food

Why were the settlers unable to feed themselves for more than a decade? Too sick to be productive members of the colony & few farmers came to Virginia in the early years Growing enough corn to feed the English boosted the workload of Indian women and altered age old patterns of village life Before 1622, the colonist depended on the natives to stay alive, after 1622, the natives were considered their personal enemies

Puritans in the Americas Puritans who emigrated aspired to escape the turmoil and persecution of England and to build a new, orderly, Puritan version of England Established the first small settlement in New England in 1620 and expanded to Massachusetts Puritan missionaries worked to convert Natives to Christianity

New England Colonies in the 17 th century