Why did Native Americans exercise more power in their relations with the Dutch and the French than with the English?

Adventurers from this group decided that the ways of the native americans were superior to what they knew? a. french c. dutch b. spanish d. english

why did the native americans not trust the U.S in 1812

Early explorers in north america found pines stripped of their bark by native americans. the primary reason that native americans did this was?

4. What views did Native Americans hold about the land?

Guided Reading Cont. pribson bebiya Gol Both the French and the Dutch established settlements in North America. French forts and settlements came to b ...

Why did the Dutch have difficulty finding settlers for New Netherland? A. The land was controlled by a few rich landowners. B. The colony was always a ...

Briefly explain one effect english colonization had on the native americans on the east coast of north america.

During European colonization, how did the French, Spanish, and Dutch view the Native Americans and how did their interaction differ? What affect did their interaction have on colonization?

Answer

Interactions among Europeans and Native Americans varied from place to place, and members of each nation forged relationships with Indians in very different ways, depending on a variety of economic, social and political factors. While we should be mindful of this diversity, we can still make certain generalizations. Few Europeans considered Native Americans their equals, because of differences in religion, agricultural practice, housing, dress, and other characteristics that—to Europeans—indicated Native American inferiority. However, the French, Spanish, and Dutch sought profit through trade and exploitation of New World resources, and they knew that the native people would be important to their success. Europeans also wanted to convert Native Americans to Christianity. Therefore, economic gain and religion were the two factors that most affected the dynamics of European and indigenous American relationships.

The Spanish:
Spain, the most powerful monarchy in Europe and the Americas, wished to enrich themselves with the New World’s natural resources. After enslaving indigenous peoples in the Caribbean and the southern parts of the Americas to grow crops and mine for gold, silver, and other valuables, the Spanish moved into North America where they concentrated their efforts in what is now the southwestern and southeastern United States. In Florida, for example, Spain established a military post at San Augustín, (today called St. Augustine) but only a small number of Spaniards settled there. Catholic missionaries labored to convert the Indians to Christianity, and they experienced some success baptizing and transforming the Guale and Timucuan peoples into farmers. But even the most cooperative Indians continued to maintain their own religious and cultural traditions, and many priests concluded that the Indians were inferior and incapable of understanding Christianity. Indigenous populations declined over the seventeenth century as epidemics brought by the Spanish killed large numbers of natives. San Augustín remained a small outpost throughout the Spanish colonial period; a sort of multicultural crossroads where indigenous peoples came to trade with Spaniards and intermarriage between Spanish men and American Indian women was common.

The French:
Like the Spanish colonies in North America, New France did not attract many French settlers. Instead of enslaving Native Americans in farming and mining operations, the French exploited existing inter-tribal alliances and rivalries to establish trade relationships with the Huron, Montagnais, and Algonquins along the St. Lawrence River and further inland toward the Great Lakes. These Native Americans competed for exclusive status as intermediaries between other Indian traders and the French. Although Native Americans did most of the work, tracking, trapping, and skinning the animals and transporting the pelts to French traders, they drove hard bargains for their furs. French traders exchanged textiles, weapons, and metal goods for the furs of animals such as beavers, bears, and wolves. The trade strengthened traditional clan leaders' positions by allowing them to distribute these trade goods to their clan members as they saw fit. Jesuit (Catholic) missionaries managed to convert considerable numbers of Huron because the priests learned the local languages and exhibited bravery in the face of danger. French officials offered additional incentive for conversion by allowing Christian Hurons to purchase French muskets. In the eighteenth century, the Dutch and English competed with the French for trade and territory, which gave local Indians continued economic, diplomatic, and military leverage as Europeans competed for their trade and military alliances through the seventeenth century.

The Dutch:
Unlike the French and Spanish, the Dutch did not emphasize religious conversion in their relationships with Native Americans. Instead, they focused on trade with American Indians in present-day New York and New Jersey. They established a fur trade alliance with the Iroquois confederacy, the most powerful Native American empire in 17th-century North America. Although smallpox and other European diseases drastically reduced the Iroquois population, the confederation remained strong because they negotiated an advantageous alliance with the Dutch. Dutch weapons helped the Iroquois to defeat the Huron, who were leaders of the other major pan-Indian confederacy in the area.

Native Americans:
As often as possible, Native Americans took advantage of rivalries among European powers to maintain or enhance their own political and economic positions. Wars between England and the Netherlands spilled into North America, and in 1664 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, England seized control over New Netherland and renamed the colony New York. The Iroquois quickly signed an alliance and trade treaty with the English. However, they also maintained friendly relations with the French and welcomed Jesuit missionaries into their midst. The Iroquois were generally successful at playing the French and English off one another until the English drove the French out of North America at the end of the French and Indian War (1763).

Axtell, James. Natives and Newcomers: The Cultural Origins of North America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Richter, Daniel K., Ordeal of the Longhouse: The Peoples of the Iroquois League in the Era of European Colonization. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1992.

White, Richard. The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

The French enjoyed much better relations with Native Americans than other European groups when they first came to American shores. Here are the reasons why.

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There are all kinds of stories of hostilities between early American colonists and the Native people who were already there. However, these hostilities did not occur with every European group who came. The French are a notable exception to this, and in fact, enjoyed excellent relations with the Natives almost from the very beginning.

Why were the French different? The main reason is that they did not try to change the Natives. They also did not compete with the Natives for land. When the French first came to the Americas in the 1530s and 1540s to engage in seasonal fur trading, they immediately established strong trading ties with the local Natives they found there. The Natives already dealt extensively in furs.

The French quickly discovered they could go back to France in the winter months with ships laden with furs they had purchased from the Natives with European wares, such as metal cooking pots, weapons, horses, and other goods not accessible to the Natives at that time. The Natives also accompanied the French on hunting parties and showed them where the good fur animals could be found. The French made it a point to learn the Native languages and ways, and established good relations that were based on equality with all of the tribes in the area.

The French began to stay year-round in the early 1600s, establishing their first permanent settlement at Quebec in 1608, one year after the English founded Jamestown in Virginia. They did not displace any Natives in the establishment of their settlement and continued to work closely with them in the fur trade. They respected Native territories, their ways, and treated them as the human beings they were. The Natives, in turn, treated the French as trusted friends. More intermarriages took place between French settlers and Native Americans than with any other European group.

This close alliance, which was based on mutual respect and good treatment from both sides, led the Natives to side with the French in their conflicts with the English settlers that came later in the 1600s and into the mid-1700s. Relations between the Natives and the English were not nearly as good.

The English treated the Natives as inferior, believed they stood in the way of their God-given right to the land in America and tried to subject the Natives to their laws as they established their colonies. The Spanish didn’t have any better relations with the Natives, as they tried to enslave them when they first came to America, and later established missions where they tried to force them to convert from their traditional religions to Catholicism. The Natives did not appreciate any of this.

The key to the friendly relations the French enjoyed with the Natives was all in the way they treated them when they first encountered them, and how they continued to treat them afterward. As long as the French maintained settlements in America, they enjoyed excellent relations with each other. For those who have early American French ancestry, or French settler ancestors who married Native Americans, the vast majority of those records can be found in the provincial archives of Quebec (some records there might lead back to France if the settler returned there with his Native American bride).

These records provide a fascinating look at relations between Natives and Europeans and show just how different things could have been if all the European people who came to America had been as progressive in their treatment of the Natives as the French were.

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