The Conflict Between The Indigenous And The European Settlers

Beginning in the sixteenth century, Europeans made the voyage to a “new world” in order to achieve dreams of opportunity and riches. In this other world the Europeans came upon another people, which naturally led to a cultural exchange between different groups of people. Although we commonly refer to European and Indian relations as being between just two very different groups of people, it is important to recognize this is not entirely true. Although the settlers of the new world are singularly referred to as Europeans, each group of people came from a different nation and with different motives and expectations of the new world. Similarly, the Indians were neither a united group nor necessarily friendly with each other. Due to the

Throughout the course of history there have been numerous accounts regarding Native American and European interaction. From first contact to Indian removal, the interaction was somewhat of a roller coaster ride, leading from times of peace to mini wars and rebellions staged by the Native American tribes. The first part of this essay will briefly discuss the pre-Columbian Indian civilizations in North America and provide simple awareness of their cultures, while the second part of this essay will explore all major Native American contact leading up to, and through, the American Revolution while emphasizing the impact of Spanish, French, and English explorers and colonies on Native American culture and vice versa. The third, and final, part of this essay will explore Native American interaction after the American Revolution with emphasis on westward expansion and the Jacksonian Era leading into Indian removal. Furthermore, this essay will attempt to provide insight into aspects of Native American/European interaction that are often ignored such as: gender relations between European men and Native American women, slavery and captivity of native peoples, trade between Native Americans and European colonists, and the effects of religion on Native American tribes.

From the very first interaction, the social and political relations between the Native Americans and the Europeans had begun with much tension. Many Europeans came to the Americas with the intention of discovery. However, when it became apparent that these new lands were inhibited the motives changed, and then the natives were colonized, abused, and in many cases killed. From then and throughout the impending periods of time, the relations between the natives and the Europeans had a few points of mutual peacefulness, but were overall negative.

“In what ways did Indigenous peoples resist the non-Indigenous settlement of Australia in the frontier period and how did non-Indigenous peoples retaliate? In your answer, discuss and analyse the initial and ongoing impact on Indigenous communities.”

In 1788 the colonists had to follow Governor Phillip’s instructions, which declared that “the Aboriginals were to be protected and friendly relations were encouraged.” Phillip had to follow and pass on these instructions as they were given to him in the document labelled today as the ‘Draught Instructions for Governor Phillip,’ which can be seen in Source 2. However, as the British began to settle they cleared the land and fenced waterholes. They showed no respect for sacred sites and broke laws the Indigenous people had followed for many ages. The Europeans did not understand their way of life but as they gained knowledge they continued taking land and breaking indigenous laws. Slowly more encounters between Europeans and Aboriginal people occurred. In May, 1788, two convicts were found dead in Rushcutters Bay, killed by Aborigines. In Source 1, the proclamation to the Aboriginal people can be seen. It gives an example of how the British were still planning to treat the Aboriginal people equally, if they obeyed the law. However, it stated that the law was for the Aboriginal people to live in the European ways, which took away their own traditional customs. This illustrates conflict that arose, but peace was still trying to be made through positive relationships between

The battle between the settlers and Aborigines increased when Macquarie became Governor and believed that the Aborigines should be civilised. This is another way of saying to convert Aboriginal ways into European ways. Macquarie tried very hard to teach new techniques or educating them however these failures made him very mad and desperate. In his perspective the rightful last resort was to put the Aboriginal land and people under his control by saying anyone is permitted to shoot Aborigines if they retaliated or resisted.

Although white European settlers and the native Indians had existed moderately peaceful for around 40 years pressures rose in the mid-seventh century. Conflict arose due to decline in Indian territories, population, and their cultural integrity. These differences ultimately lead to conflicts in which collectively became known as King Philip’s War. What types of complaints did the Indians have against the settlers? How were the Indians expected to survive if the settlers kept taking their land? The primary sources in this collection of source documents touch upon on what each group (Indian or white settlers) did to survive: an excerpt from a narrative written by John Easton, a second hand account written by Thomas Church, a report written to the English leaders by Edward Randolph, a petition written by an Indian named William Nahton, and an excerpt of an account from a book written by Mary Rowlandson. These documents illustrate the main causes that sparked the war between the Native Indians and the white English settlers, narratives written by both sides to find peaceful solutions, and actual accounts of people who survived the conflict. The second hand account written about Benjamin Church’s meeting with the Indian group known as the Sakonnet Indians displays that the Indians knew their only chance of survival was to fight while the report written to English leaders by Randolph suggest that the settlers who viewed the Indians as uncivilized had ultimately forced the Indians

The moment when Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas was the beginning of the interactions between American Indians and European colonists. These very first interactions were mostly positive due to the the generosity of the Indians but turned violent when the Europeans began to mistreat, kidnap, enslave, and kill the American Indians. Actions taken by the American Indians and European Colonists, especially actions of violence, during the 1600s caused the relationship between the two parties to be negative and conflicting in New England and Chesapeake.

Many prominent historians argue a clash between culture and religious philosophy was the primary cause of conflict between European settlers in North America and Native Americans. However, a closer analysis of American history suggests otherwise. While a clash in cultures and religious differences did exist, the European domination of Native Americans was primarily fueled by European economic motivations, a desire for valuable natural resources and a craving to expand the American colonial system. Due to this, the conflict was inevitable.

-White settlement affected the Indigenous people in a number of ways”{They} made them (the Aboriginals) outcasts on their own land*” by calling it terra nullius under the English Law, despite knowing the existence of the Aboriginals. Terra nullius is a latin term that means “land that belongs to no one.”They believed it belonged to no one because the Aboriginals didn’t use the land in the same way as the British. The Aboriginals believed that Mother Nature would provide them with what they needed, so they didn’t need to hunt and mark the land. The British completely ignored the deep spiritual connections the Aboriginals had with the land. They cut down trees, put up fences and built towns. They believed they had to own the land. But the Aboriginals were outraged when saw the settlers building farms where they had originally been hunting and gathering at, this was because there wasn’t enough food for them. They killed many white settlers in revenge and a clash of cultures began. Pemulwuy was an Aboriginal warrior that lead raids against the British. He also speared John McIntyre, Governor Phillip's gamekeeper, in December 1790. When the Indigenous people resisted the British, it lead to many conflicts which eventually left a irreversible damage to the lives of Indigenous people.

The process of colonisation by European powers, as might be expected, has had a radical effect on Aboriginal culture. The settlers viewed the natives as barbarians, seizing tribal land and, in many cases, following a policy of pacification by force. Many others died of disease, starvation, cultural dislocation and neglect. Today, there are fewer than 230,000 Aborigines in Australia, less than 2% of the population.

From the first colony established for penal settlement in 1788 at Port Jackson, it all seemed to begin peacefully in the start. In reality, as the white settlers expands their territories with more colonies established, those movements destroyed not only the lives but also the trusts from the aborigines, unlike such as initially when Governor Arthur Phillip issued the Letters Patent establishing the colony of South Australia in 1836 with the confidence that “nothing should affect the rights of the natives in regard to their enjoyment or occupation of the land” . Over the past, Aborigines had their own complex social organisation, yet they had different language and customs in various tribes but have managed to live peacefully with one another. Still the British settlers saw the Aborigines as an inferior and a primitive group, simply because they have a lack of what they are used to, westernization. Such as a visible administration and therefore, they introduced the nation-state and complex political institutions along with the rise of new class, race, and gender concepts, which these are all parts of the preface towards modernity and civilisation.

In his essay, “Peaceable Kingdom Lost: The Paxton Boys and the Destruction of William Penn’s Holy Experiment” Kevin Kenny argues that conflict between Europeans and Native Americans was indeed inevitable. William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, attempted a sort of “holy experiment”; a utopian land of equality and peace. Kenny argues that, despite the fact that “…Penn purchased land from Indians fairly and openly,” he did not do so for the Natives’ sakes (29). He had an agenda to sell the land to settlers and pay off prior debts. Still, Pen did want harmony and peace with the neighboring tribes and his legacy endured through hundreds of years (30). Despite William Penn’s efforts in creating a peaceful land with equality for settlers and natives alike, it all came to an end in a massive collapse eighty years later when the Paxton Boys entered the scene. The Paxton Boys were made up of a group of 50 or more “frontier militiamen” who went around to Native American villages, massacring whole tribes and then seizing and claiming the Natives’ lands for themselves (Kenny 29). Because these “Irish ruffians” or “squatters” weren’t really punished for killing entire Native American villages, other colonists started to follow suit and violent seizure of Native American lands became the norm. Kevin Kenny’s argument states that any chance of peace through William Penn’s vision was condemned by “…European colonists’

As a result of the Europeans killing their people and stealing their land, the Aborigines did fight back. Even though settlers seemingly had much better weapons, Indigenous Australians had a much better understanding of the land they lived on and had other means of resisting the ways of the Europeans. Pemulwuy, for example, was respected by both his people, and the white men who opposed him. He fought for the lives of his people, to protect them and preserve the beliefs and practices that the Europeans wanted to eradicate. The Indigenous Australians’ culture is still often taught and practiced these days, so even though Pemulwuy was murdered in 1802, along with many others, the impact of their efforts was necessary for the development of the Australian multicultural society.

The European colonists and the Native Americans of North America had very different views on nearly everything they encountered in their lives. Living in vastly different cultures lead both groups to have two extremely different outlooks on four main topics; religious beliefs, the environment, social relations, and slavery, differences which the colonists used to their advantage when conquering the peoples of the New World.