Native American Nations and European

¶ … Native American Nations and European invaders. Specifically it will discuss and evaluate the diplomacy, warfare, and the politics of negotiating relationships between Indian Nations and European invaders. When the French, British, Spanish, and Dutch explorers and colonists came to this country, they encountered many different Native American tribes and nations, and eventually, they displaced or eradicated many of these nations.

Clearly, some Native Americans had courteous and even happy relationships with the European invaders. Pocahontas married an Englishman, Joseph Brant fought on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War, and Squanto traveled to England and helped the Pilgrims during their first year in America. French fur traders also had good relationships with the Natives, because they depended on them for furs and trade throughout Canada and the northern U.S. The French often abided by Native rules, at first. A Web site notes "Europeans at first conducted business according to Native-imposed rules. The European system simply grafted itself onto a pre-existing aboriginal trade network, adapting to local customs."

In other areas, like New England, many of the Natives helped the Pilgrims when they first came to the country, and continued to help them adapt to the rigors of the New World. Many of these early settlers recognized the Natives had strong governments and societies, and they recognized them because they realized they were better friends that enemies. "These Indians formed governments that Europeans recognized, [...] because contention for control of territory among Europeans and the vulnerability of European settlements required the recognition of Indian nations."

They got along together so they would not turn to violence and attack.

Of course, not all the relationships were so harmonious. As European settlers began to encroach on Native lands, skirmishes developed, and all out wars occurred, often with the settlers with their guns, against the Natives without guns, leading to outright massacres of the Native tribes. Many also succumbed to diseases that they had never encountered before, like smallpox, which ravaged many tribes in North and South America.

Thus, there was diplomacy among settlers and the Native tribes in many cases, and there were treaties and negotiations that were upheld by both parties. However, the Europeans claimed the lands they conquered, and in many cases, they decimated the Natives, such as the Inca and Aztec Empires, where the Spanish conquered them, killed many of them, and then many more died from the European diseases the conquistadors brought with them, like smallpox.

The English learned to negotiate with the Natives, and the fledgling U.S. Government did too, for a time. A historian writes, "In the early years of the republic, the U.S. government was forced to negotiate with Native peoples who could ally themselves with the Spanish or the British because it could not afford protracted Indian wars politically, militarily, or economically."

However, the politics of these negotiations changed, and often the settlers reneged on their negotiations, pushing the Natives further and further away from their native lands, leading to conflict, hatred, and distrust. The politics were simple. The Government and the settlers had all the power, ultimately the Natives did not, and so, the settlers and the government subjugated the Natives and forced them into treaties that only served the European settlers. Another writer notes, "In 1983 Richard White argued in the Roots of Dependency that Euro-Indian relations in various parts of North America had in common the 'attempt... By whites to bring Indian resources, land, and labor into the market.'"

Of course, they brought them into that "market" on their own terms most often, rather than that of the Natives.

Joseph Brant - Mohawk leader - British Army officer - Studied at "Moor's Indian Charity School - Translator for Department of Indian Affairs - Responsible for restoring lands to the Mohawk people.

Wampum belt - Fashioned from seashells - Used as money or for trade - Given during times of peace making - Means "white strings of beads" - Made in different patterns.

Hurons - Allied with French - Name comes from the French language - Member of the Iroquois Tribe - Met early French fur traders in Ontario - Gradually settled in northern areas of the U.S.