The Discovery Of The Indigenous Native Peoples

Before the arrivals of the Europeans, the Powhatan Indians were a tribe that lived on the coastal parts of Virginia. Their native language was Algonquian, which was used by various tribes along the east coast. The Powhatan tribe had an interesting culture compared to the Europeans. They were a powerful tribe at the time and had control most areas of what is now today Virginia. They were called the Powhatan Confederacy which was a league with over 30 Algonquian speaking tribes. It took one man named Powhatan, as known as Wahunsonacock, to build the most powerful tribes in Eastern America.

What is now called the “ Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom ” by, present day researchers , was decimated in 1646. He high death rates in the Powhatan tribe was caused by diseases brought over by the English , which the natives had never been exposed to . One of the main diseases that was brought over by the English was smallpox . Also measles was a very infectious disease among the Native Americans . The natives had no immunity to these diseases so they were highly contagious and deadly , especially to the children of the tribes . These diseases in a wholes greatly decreased and wiped out a lot of the Native Americans in the area . By the 17 th century , the English settlers began to run low on labor, so they began to enslave African Americans to do their heavy lifting . Not long after this began the slaves started to run away and join the surrounding Native American tribes . Blacks and Native Americans began to intermarry . Not long after Bacons rebellion in the year 1676 , the colonies started to capture Native Americans to be slave to show that they control the land

The long history between Native American and Europeans are a strained and bloody one. For the time of Columbus’s subsequent visits to the new world, native culture has

The relationship between the English and the Native Americans in 1600 to 1700 is one of the most fluctuating and the most profound relationships in American history. On the one side of the picture, the harmony between Wampanoag and Puritans even inspires them to celebrate “first Thanksgiving”; while, by contrast, the conflicts between the Pequots and the English urge them to antagonize each other, and even wage a war. In addition, the mystery of why the European settlers, including English, become the dominant power in American world, instead of the indigenous people, or Indians, can be solved from the examination of the relationship. In a variety of ways, the relationship drastically alters how people think about and relate to the aborigines. Politically, the relationship changes to establish the supremacy of the English; the English intends to obtain the land and rules over it. Socially, the relationship changes to present the majority of the English settlers; the dominating population is mostly the English settlers. Economically, the relationship changes to obtain the benefit of the English settlers; they gain profit from the massive resource in America. Therefore, the relationship does, in fact, change to foreshadow the discordance of the two groups of people.

1)Paleo-Indians, the first Americans lived in bands of fifteen to fifty people, and traveled within their territory to hunt. Archaic Indians experienced a warming climate. One of the results of the warming climate was better hunting. Forest grew larger with a greater variety of plants and animals. The changes allowed some Indians to reside in permanent homes. The ample supply of food allowed more peoples to live on less acreage. The weather also allowed for specialization of caring for plants; this was the beginning of controlling crops to better supply the people.

Beginning in the Sixteenth Century, Europeans sought to escape religious and class persecution by engaging on a journey to the New World. However, they were unaware that this “New World” was already inhabited by many groups of Native Americans, who had been established on the continent for thousands of years. At first, the two ethnic groups lived in relative peace. The colonists of Jamestown survived due to Powhatan’s tribe teaching them how to cultivate the land. However, things took a twisted turn as the colonists grew greedy. Due to cultural differences, there was stark tension between the Indian groups and European settlers in New England prior to 1750, which tremendously influenced early political means, social life, and the economy.

On February 28, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson, with the approval of congress, created the Corps of Discovery. Their mission was to map the newly acquired western lands of the Louisianna Purchase, almost 1803—828,000 square miles of unexplored territory, as well as find a route to the Pacific Ocean. This expedition was led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. During their adventure, the group encountered many hostile Native American groups, and if not for Sacagawea, these tribes would have surely jeopardized their operation. Due to her role as a helpful guide, Sacagawea was crucial in the encounter between the Corps of Discovery and the Native Americans because she negotiated and traded between the groups, functioned as a peace token, and served as an interpreter.

Columbus mistakenly found the New World in 1492, when sailing from Europe in hopes of sailing to Asia. He hit shore on what is now Virginia, and came in contact with the Indians, who were already settled. Columbus came with a group of colonial men and brought with him “cotton, parrots, javelins, and other things too numerous to mention,” (Doc. 1). The Indians perceived the colonial men as a different culture and welcomed them by inviting them into their religious faith, this way there would be no tension between the parties. Consequently, both parties ended up fighting over control over the land, the Indians with bows and arrows and the colonial men with swords and armor (Doc. 5).

While Pocahontas and “The Labor Problem” describe in great detail a few years at most, “The Indians’ New World” provides a much more comprehensive overview of Virginia from the early 17th to 19th centuries. Its lengthy time span enables it to present multiple stages of the colony’s history and the Indians’ peaks and valleys. For instance, early interaction is characterized by disease and depopulation on the Indian side. A smallpox epidemic, according to John Lawson, could destroy “ ‘whole Towns without leaving one Indian alive in the Village’ ” (Merell 543). Only “The Indians’ New World” recounts these deadly epidemics, some of which erased generations of wisdom and traditions. Another case is the merging of various Indian peoples, which receives attention in both “The Indians’ New World” and Pocahontas. However, Pocahontas implies that a union would only occur during a war, and afterwards the Indian groups would return to their respective ancestral lands. In actuality, once the Indians left the land of their ancestors’ spirits, very few were able to return to their homeland (Merell 546). Furthermore, “The Indians’ New World” illustrates the high level of trade between

In 1607, when English settlers arrived in North America, over ten thousand Native Americans were already inhabiting Virginia. English leader, John Smith, negotiated trade terms with the Indian leader Powhatan. Powhatan was only interested in trade involving weapons, but John Smith denied any weapons on account that there was none to spare. Powhatan the denied there was any corn to spare that the English wanted. The intentions for the trade brought about many questions from both parties. Powhatan questioned Smith as to why they would need all the weapons if they had come there “all being friends;” whereas Smith was wary of Powhatan and his deep interest in their swords (Foner, VOF, Document 7). This encounter between John Smith and Powhatan displays one of the many instances of conflict between European settlers and Native Americans.

In the period termed pre-contact the indigenous peoples living in the Chesapeake Bay region were known collectively as the Powhatan people. This name was used for the collective of the Algonquian speaking tribes in the Chesapeake Bay and, during the time of interest, was led by Chief Powhatan, who took his tribe name as his ruling name. Chief Powhatan inherited the rule of six tribes when he became chief, as well as having accumulated a multitude of tribes during his reign to create the Powhatan confederacy. Within this confederacy, each distinct tribe was responsible for providing military support when requested, as well as were required to provide taxes in the form of pelts, food, copper and pearls. Notably, at no point was gold objectively mined by the Powhatan people. These people left no written records and thus the information available in modern times about the

1. They all wanted to have something done about the Native Americans. England wanted to make them civilized and add them to their colonies. They wanted them to be "civilized" to be clothed, cristianized, fed, and instructed on the English ways, for their native ways were considered "barbaric". But not everyone wanted them included in their new life, many tribes were chased or wiped out. The Native Americans were racially predjeduced by many, which was one of the main reasons they were forced to abandon their traditions and original ways just for survival, and many didn't last long in the Europeans customs and environments.

The coming of the European to the Americas did ultimately bring an end to many indigenous ways of life, including that of the Powhatan, a key factor in this outcome being the struggle for land and the opposing ideologies regarding it. More specifically, it was the British who played a major role in the breakdown of the Powhatan civilisation- their idea of colonisation and the owning of land clashed with the ideals of the Powhatan; who were a semi-nomadic people. These contrasting ideologies resulted in broken treaties, attacks and many deaths- of both people and eventually an entire culture.

In the early 1600’s, when the European settlers arrived in Jamestown, there were already around 15,000-25,000 Indians living around the area. The leader of the most prominent tribe in the area, Powhatan, stayed in a neutral relationship with the English in the area for the first couple of years after Jamestown following the start of the colony. During the time the Indians

Canadian citizens understand genocide to be a terrible thing that other countries have done, or are doing. The eradication of an entire population of civilian women, men, and children along with their culture and national sovereignty is something we condemn in our media. When we see genocide happening elsewhere, we debate when we should step in with economic sanctions or military action when it is time to put a stop to a crime against humanity. Rarely, if ever, do we examine our own history long enough to understand that Canada was created by people who committed genocide against the people who were already living here.