Colonial Encounters: European Influence on Native Americans

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Recommended: Relationship Between Native Americans and Europeans

Christina Smith
October 10, 2014
Bonds 241-11
Cowboys Colonists vs. Indians

The European explorers and colonizers and Native Americans had varied relationships during their encounters in the New World. They both feared and misunderstood each other. This fear led to the two groups often mistreating each other. However, there were always times where they depended on each other’s kindness and treated each other with care. There are examples of both in the following narratives: In the letter by Christopher Columbus, he talks about the natives being timid and how he uses them to help him. In “from Richard Frethorne, to His Parents”, Frethorne tells about the Indians destroying crops and killing people. In the Soveraignty and Goodness of God by Mary Rowaldson, the author tells about her eleven weeks in captivity by the Indians. At times, they behaved as lawless savages. At other times, they showed her kindness and care. In the letter by Christopher Columbus, colonization was a disaster for domestic inhabitants because ancient religious practices and cultural traditions were destroyed by colonists determined to impose European culture and spread Catholicism. In addition to being exposed to diseases to which they had no immunity, the native populations were frequently subjected to enslavement or slaughter. Columbus said “The people all go naked” (Columbus, 70). He felt they were all very timid, until they loose this fear and then they are “so guileless and generous with all that they …show more content…

This is true in the letter to Queen Isabella by Christopher Columbus, the letter “from Richard Frethorne, to His Parents”, and in the Soveraignty and Goodness of God by Mary Rowaldson. The relationship between the colonists and the Indians was often based on lack of knowledge and fear. This made for a difficult relationship, and yet there were times when the two groups supported and helped each

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