The Colonial Period Apush free essay sample

The New World was thought to be the answer for struggling Europeans. Hundreds began sailing across the Atlantic in hope to transform their lives. However, when they arrived, the land was already occupied by strangers. These strangers were known as the Native Americans. The Native Americans were courteous to the Europeans but with time, conflicts between the American Indians and Europeans arose and resulted in death and despair. These two forces spent majority of the 1600s with negative tension, especially in the New England and Chesapeake regions. Wars broke out throughout this time period and relationships were put on the line due to measures taken by both sides. In the New England region, wars stretched out between the Indians and colonist through the 1600s. One of the first significant wars in this area was the Pequot War that took place in 1637. Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth colonies and two Native American tribes formed an alliance and fought against the Pequot tribe. We will write a custom essay sample on The Colonial Period Apush or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Encounters of the Europeans and Native Americans led to the indigenous people of America fighting against their neighborly tribes. Afterwards, the New England Confederation came into play to provide defense against the Dutch, French, and Native Americans. The confederation fell after defeating King Philips War. The conflict arose and caused additional alliances between Europeans and Native Americans. These two groups cooperated and fought against Metacomet’s tribe and his other allied tribes. This showed that the colonists turned a tribe against one another and breaking a relationship they once had. However, relationships took an even more major down fall when a tribe began massacring in New Amsterdam. Killing by the thousands, the tribe would show no mercy to the Dutch. The Dutch beforehand had murdered the tribe’s women and children. Furious, the tribe sets out to massacre New Amsterdam were Anne Hutchinson happened to settle there with her children after her exile. Relationships were being tested and got to a point where most were broken and throughout the land, other regions had the same issue. Conflicts were always in the mist between the Europeans and Native Americans especially in the Chesapeake region. When John Rolfe introduced the tobacco cash crop to Virginia, the slave labor began to increase. The Headright System came into place shortly afterwards because of the economy boom due to tobacco, more land was needed which required more slave labor. Indians were slowly being pushed off their lands forming negative relationship because the Indians were now upset that they are being forced off their own land. Later on the two Powhatan wars further expanded the negative relationship. The Powhatan wars were two wars between the English settlers in the Chesapeake region against the Indians of the Powhatan Confederacy. After the war, it had left the Virginian Native Americans with very little land and the Powhatan tribe was wiped out. The actions of the colonists murdered an entire tribe which left the Indians infuriated and these group of people where left with negative tensions. Later in the 1600s, Bacons rebellion came into the lives of many settlers in the region. Nathaniel Bacon and his followers believed Sir Berkley was not defending the frontiers against Indians. This showed that the Native Americans were furious with the colonists that it got to a point where they were attacking them creating a negative relationship. By this point in time the relationship between Europeans and Indians was a thin line. Throughout the 1600s, the bond between Europeans and Native Americans thinned with time. New England and Chesapeake were two areas where encounter between these two groups had many conflicts. The New World was supposed to be a new start for the Europeans; a place where they would not have to worry about the poverty they were leaving behind or the ashamed life. When they arrived to see the land occupied, it never stopped them from achieving their wishes. Native Americans and Europeans relationships were spread too thin due to the measures they took.