Early encounters between Europeans and American Indians led to an assortment of relationships among different cultures

Early encounters between Europeans and American Indians led to an assortment of relationships among different cultures. American Indians and Europeans made these relationships in New England, Massachusetts and Chesapeake, Virginia. The Europeans set sail and came to land where they met Indians who welcomed them with food, water, and gifts. Many of the Indians were not familiar with the tools that the Europeans brought, but were willing to trade. The Europeans were only interested in wealth so they brought many Indians on the ships and sold them as slaves and made them work. Gold was what the Europeans most wanted, they made the Indian slaves go to the river to find whatever gold that they can find and if they didn’t come back with any they would face harsh consequences like bleeding out due to their hands being cut off. Actions taken by American Indians and European colonists shaped their relationships in New England and Chesapeake by their expansions and need for wealth.
In 1492, the Europeans met the Indians by coming across the land where the Indians lived. The Indians met Christopher Columbus and gave him food, water, and gifts, Columbus thought the Indians were remarkable for their way of welcoming strangers into their homeland. The Europeans introduced their weapons such as swords to the Indians, they knew nothing about the weaponry and ended up harming themselves. Columbus was after gold, and with this want to be rich Columbus took aboard about fifteen hundred Indians with the intention of selling them as slaves. Most of the Indians lost their lives on the journey back to Columbus’ homeland. The Indians were sent to scavenge for gold by the river or anywhere they can find gold, if one had come back without gold they were punished by having their hand cut off, but if one were to flee the dogs would be let loose to hunt them down and kill them. The relationship the Europeans first had with the Indians was that one would gain while the other would be harmed.
In 1620, New England was the home of the place where the English settled. During the first year of the colony everything went wrong because the settlers didn’t know how to grow or plant crops so that they can survive in a land that is new to them. During the year 1621 the Native Americans offered help and were able to flourish. Being that the Indians lent a hand to the Europeans it led to an established relationship between the two. The English ended up moving the Indians from their land, trying to change their faith, and infecting them with their European diseases. New conflicts between the Indians and the colonists arose when they made the settlement of New England move faster. Because the colonists sped up the settlement the Native Americans acted out by killing people. Because of the Native Americans actions they forced out of their homes and killed.
In 1492 when Christopher Columbus and other Europeans met the Indians they were automatically in charge, this led to the future generations of Indians and Europeans or other cultures have dominance over the Indians. The Indians had an amazing trait of hospitality towards new people, this led to people taking advantage of them like when they were taken aboard ships to be sold as slaves and when they lent a hand to the English who were struggling with agricultural production so that they can survive only to be infected with viruses and having to change their religion. The past relationship between Europeans and Indians gave way to a future relationship which makes the Indians less than the people they meet.
In Chesapeake Bay the ruling people were the Powhatan Tribes. The Powhatan Tribes were greeted by new colonists who wanted more and more land. Because the colonists wanted to take over the tribes land a great deal of tension arose between the two. The colonists came with a shortage of food which led them to steal from the neighboring tribes. The Natives were not fond of the idea of the colonists stealing what is theirs so they fought back by and tried to restore what they originally had. Lord De La Warr announced war against the Powhatan Tribes. During the Powhatan war the colonists fought by lighting their fields on fire and taking their food. A ceasefire was declared to stop the war but the truce didn’t last very long because the Powhatan’s attacked the settlers. The Powhatan’s lost because they became infected with the diseases they the settlers carried. Because the settlers were already immune to the diseases they brought they then had the power over the Powhatan Tribe.
For the generations that the Europeans ruled over the Indians the Europeans always had the upper hand because they brought diseases unto the Indians. Being that the Europeans were always in control this gave way to the descendants of the Europeans to always rule over the Indians because their traits were passed including the immunity of the many deadly diseases that the Indians became infected with.