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Essay Early European Exploration

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Early European Exploration European explorers first landed on the shores of what would later become North America more than 500 years ago. Not long after the first explorers had entered the "New World" they found out that they were not alone on this new frontier. Their neighbors in this new land were the Native Americans who had been there for centuries, virtually unaware of life outside the continent. Thus began an inconsistent and often times unstable relationship between the European settlers and the North American Indians. Two nations who had particularly interesting relationships with the Native Americans were the British and the French, both of whom took different approaches to their relations with the Indians economically as well …show more content…

The relationship escalated to the point of an alliance in which the French helped the Hurons fight their enemy the Iroquois Confederacy. Champlain became so successful with the Indians that he eventually sent traders out to live alongside the Hurons, adopt their culture and language and at the same time monitor the flow of furs to the newly settled Quebec. Not nearly as profitable as the fur trade was their export of crops, which only started because they used the farming techniques that the Native had shown to them. Though the French was relationship with the Indians was not spotless, it did prove to be economically beneficial to both the French and the Indians. The British colonization had a slower start than that of the French due to their war with Spain at the time. This late start, however, did not hinder them from quickly squeezing the new world of all of its economic benefits. One of the first major English settlements of the new world was Jamestown, in present-day Virginia. Here they encountered the huge empire of the Algonquian tribes. Having had a bad experience with the Spanish, who brought disease, the Algonquian leaders reluctantly accepted the arrival of the English, in hopes they would prove beneficial in trade as well as war. The British however, had different ideas about the situation. Within the first few years the two groups were at war. The British were successful and therefore the colony of Jamestown

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