How did Native American relationships with the French and with the English differ?
6. We have come a long way from the Indian-European encounters of the late 1400s and early 1500s, when Europeans thought Indians were Orientals and Indians thought Europeans were gods, and when Europeans were vastly outnumbered by Indians and could be intimidated by native shows of force. "First encounters" continued into the nineteenth century, of course, but by 1670, as we have seen, the Indian-European relationship had evolved into a complex web of power brokering. Alliances were made, broken, and renegotiated by both sides. Indians and Europeans knew each other's languages, negotiation traditions, and soft spots, and both made strategic decisions based on decades of experience with the other. "Natives pursued their own interests," writes historian Alan Taylor, "and manipulated the wishful thinking of the colonizers."* In these selections, we consider Indian-European relationships in the late 1600s, when power could still could be won and lost on both sides. Show
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Image: A Leni-Lenape family group (man, woman, and boy), engraving by P. Lindeström, New Sweden, 1654; in Thomas C. Holm, Kirt Beskrifning Om Provincien Nya Swerige uti America, Stockholm, 1702. Reproduced by permission of the Library Company of Philadelphia. *Alan S. Taylor, American Colonies: The Settling of North America (New York: Viking/Penguin, 2001), 113. How did the French differ from the English in their relations with the Native Americans?English settlers were more interested in acquiring Native American lands, while Dutch and French colonists generally developed amicable relations with neighboring Native Americans in order to maintain a prosperous fur trade.
How were relations with American Indians different between the French and the Spanish?French colonists often engaged in cooperative relationships with Native Americans, while their Spanish counterparts seemed more interested in controlling and enslaving large groups of Native Americans.
What was the relationship like between the French and Native Americans?France saw Indigenous nations as allies, and relied on them for survival and fur trade wealth. Indigenous people traded for European goods, established military alliances and hostilities, intermarried, sometimes converted to Christianity, and participated politically in the governance of New France.
How are Native American relations with the French different from their relations with the settlers from other places in Europe?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.
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