The relationship between the Native Americans and the English settlers was a mixed one. When the English settlers first arrived, some Native American tribes welcomed them and showed them how to survive. One example of this was the efforts of Squanto and the Wampanoag tribe. Squanto showed the English settlers where to farm, what crops to grow, and how to survive the rough New England winters. Squanto also helped smooth relations when misunderstandings developed.
However, these friendly relations didn’t always exist between the Native Americans and the English settlers. The Native Americans feared the British presence, as the British had advanced weaponry and technology. In many cases, the British viewed the Native Americans as a threat, because they believed the Native Americans were holding back the spread of the British way of life and hindering British expansion. Unlike the French, who married Native American women, converted the Native Americans to Christianity, and demonstrated that they didn’t want their lands, the British often attempted to take Native American lands by force and tried to enslave the Native Americans. Additionally, many Native Americans died from diseases as a result of their exposure to the English settlers. As a result, a very hostile and contentious relationship existed between many Native American tribes and the English settlers, especially after the settlers were less dependent on the Native Americans for survival.
There were multiple factors as to why English colonists had a rough relationship with Native Americans in the beginning. Some of those factors were language, culture, and beliefs, and past experiences. Native Americans were not to thrilled when they first met the English in 1607 because of their past experience with the Spanish explorers. in fact, their initial response was one of hostility but that quickly changed to a relationship of hospitality. They soon began to offer food along with their Indian hospitality to the new English settlers.
The English in return accepted the hospitality of the Native Americans and welcomed all the food and help they could get. Most of them that had came to America were in search for one thing and that was wealth. Over time though this proved to hurt the new settlers because as they focused on attaining wealth they neglected planting and maintaining their crops along with all other work to make their colony self sufficient. This led the settlers to rely on the Native Americans more and more which in turn put stress on the relationship.
Much like what history tells us when you can get what you want, you take what you need. That is exactly what they did the English took what they needed when negotiations for food failed. This led the Native Americans to retaliate with violence especially after they showed such hospitality to the settlers. They were disappointed and even infuriated by the actions of the English and the relationship they developed of friendship and cooperation quickly became one of anger and retaliation. Not to long after, raids were formed and Native Americans killed settler and vice versa the English set out to kill Natives to take what they had.
The relationship between the English colonists and the Native Americans they encountered when arriving in North America was a troubled and complicated one from the start. When the colonists first landed in Jamestown in 1607, the Native population initially reacted with hostility due to their prior experience with Spanish explorers. This aggression, however, gave way to welcoming efforts, with the Native Americans offering up food to the colonists, who were neglecting their planting and farming duties in favor of seeking out wealth.
Unfortunately, the colonists were quick to take advantage of their native neighbors; when food was no longer freely offered by the Native Americans, colonists would take what they needed by force, subscribing to the notion that the native population ought to be forced to engage in "drudgery, work, and slavery."
Native Americans responded to this affront to their dignity by attacking the settlers, killing their livestock, and burning their crops; the colonists lashed back by destroying Indian villages and their crops. Although temporary peace was established with the marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe, the encroaching settlement of colonists on native land resulted in greater conflict. An attack in 1622 left 350 colonists dead, followed by acts of revenge from the colonists, and so the cycle of violence and hostility continued.
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/colonial/indians/
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