Early Settlement Patterns

Early settlement patterns For the most part economic opportunity for growth was the common motive for all the settlers in the new world. The French, Spanish, English and Dutch all came for the same reasons, they just all handled it in different ways. Some handled it decently and others handled it horribly, at least looking at it from a Native Americans perspective that is. They all tried to make the 'new world' environment seem like old ones, which clearly it wasn't and in my opinion none of which would have survived without the help of Native Americans. Lets start off with the Spanish, who came in hopes of finding gold and silver, which they did, and this made other European powers want a piece of the pie as well. The Spanish were the first of the European colonies to establish settlements in the 'new world'. By the 1570's the Spanish had roughly 200 settlements in North America and they were all centered around mining and plantations. They build many churches and cathedrals, as well as the first university in North America. Religion was a big part of creating the New Spain because they wanted it to mimic the motherland. New Spain refers to all of their land in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. They had all of this new land to mine and to farm so they needed all the workers that they could get: " The Spanish considered using Amerindians [Native Americans] as their labor force, but eventually relied on African slaves. Though Amerindians were often used in the Mexican gold mines, European diseases had decimated the Amerindian population, and the Spanish considered Amerindians too savage and rundown to be good workers" I didn't even know that Native Americans were ever referred to as "Amerindians" until I read that article. On another note, the Spanish also set up strict regulations on the irrigation system they had set up for their crops (squash, corn, beans...) and all of these crops that they were growing, they had learned how to grow them from Native Americans. I read in different places that they did let the natives use the irrigation system to grow their own crops and others saying that they didn't and it was strictly guarded. Even though without the knowledge of the natives, they would have never even known how to go about growing or sustaining these crops. So they basically used the Natives to be able to survive here, then cut them off of their own supply. The French colonized later than the Spanish and the growth of their settlement was a lot slower too, by 1660 there were about 3000 people living in New France, which was nothing compared to the Spanish. The French came mostly for trade, furs had become a bit hit back in Europe and this was profitable for them. It was actually good for both sides, the Natives needed all of the modern tools such as metal knives, axes, fish hooks and cooking utensils that the French could supply, and the French needed the Natives to provide and cure the furs that were in such high demand back home. Another reason the French kept in good relations with the Natives was that the new world was a lot different from the land that they were used to, and without the help of the Natives, they probably wouldn't have survived. One important thing about New France was the ratio of men to woman, there were way too many men in comparison to woman, a ratio of 6 to 1. This doesn't seem all that important, but because of the lack of woman in New France, it lead to some men having children with Native American woman, and their children, called Métis, would be outcasts in both communities. The gender imbalance was corrected slowly though and by the 1700's there were roughly 15,000 settlers in New France. "English colonies in British North America – what would become the United States– followed two very different settlement models. In the southern colonies in Virginia and the Carolinas, the colonies used a plantation model. The settlements of New England and the Middle Colonies – Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware – in contrast, operated on a family-farm model. Both drew large numbers of colonists in their first century; by 1700, the English colonies had a combined 100,000 inhabitants." They came in hopes of finding gold and silver just like the Spanish did, but were unsuccessful. What they were successful at was growing tobacco, which became their main focus and main reason for being here. The settlement in New England was a lot different than the Virginia one, they were more focused on family farm and town life. Their life was more centered around family and religion. The Natives helped out the English the same way that they helped the French, by teaching them how to stay alive and how to survive in this completely different world, but the English weren't so grateful for the help and definitely not so kind in return. Settlers in Virginia would "occasionally shoot Native Americans without provocation" like they are some sort of beast or something. Regardless of the fact that without them, they probably wouldn't have survived at all, it just doesn't make sense to me. As the colonies grew larger and larger, tensions grew as well. In 1622 an attack from the Powatan, who previously controlled the land before the English came in and ripped it away from them, killed 347 colonists. In response the this attack the English, who didn't take it very lightly as you can imagine, retaliated and almost completely wiped out the Powhatan population by 1650. In New England the Native Americans and the colonists were almost always at war. Eventually the steady flow of settlers in the east disrupted the Native way of life and as more and more game was killed off, they had the choice of going hungry, going to war, or moving westward and having conflicts with tribes from the west. Even from the very beginning European colonization was a huge disruption to their way of life. Starting to trap animals just for their fur, and not to eat was way against traditional Native values. But because the Iroquois (and the 5 nations) were doing this, and had such strong relationships with the Dutch, there wasn't much that other tribes that disagreed with it could do. The Dutch had deep relationships with the Iroquois, most likely just to use them in my opinion, like most people did. One huge benefit of having such a healthy relationship with them was that they did get the deal of a life time by buying Manhattan island in New York in 1624 from the Iroquois for $24! Quite the steal, I know my good" friends" would treat me in that same manner and cheat me out of my things for their benefit.. The Dutch would encourage Natives to become Catholic or Protestant to avoid conflict with the Brits. By this time the British had solid colonies established on the east coast and Chesapeake Bay. And by this time the eastern tribes were no strangers to Europeans, although they did benefit from their new technologies, disease and the greediness of the Europeans was a huge threat to the Native way of life, to put it lightly. So in conclusion "settlers generally dealt very harshly with the Native Americans. In New Spain, those who did not die of European diseases were put to work as slaves. English colonists in both New England and Virginia fought regularly with the tribes on their borders. Only the French managed an uneasy equality based on mutual dependence in trade and survival." So basically in my opinion Natives were used and thrown out with no regard. On the flip side, the Natives always helped out the new coming settlers, and I would think that they wouldn't want to after awhile realizing that all they are doing for the most part is robbing them of their knowledge and skills and then tossing them aside as if you were never there to begin with. Taking their land as if it wasn't already occupied by human beings. I understand that Natives have a different way of life and aren't as greedy as European settlers, but enough is enough. The Natives did the best that they could to defend their land and traditions, but eventually there wasn't much that they could do, which sucks, but that's the truth.

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[ 1 ]. http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/HIST103-1.1.3-ComparingSettlementPatterns-FINAL.pdf
[ 2 ]. http://www.saylor.org
[ 3 ]. http://www.saylor.org