Native American In Colonial America

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In the wake of Europe’s Age of Exploration, explorers roamed different parts of the ocean in search of a faster water route to Asia. Along the way, Europeans explorers discovered a whole new continent, America. Thinking that he was in India, Christopher Columbus, an Italian sailor, called the indigenous Native Americans he met “Indians,” a misnomer that is still used frequently even up to this day. Europeans soon shifted their attention away from the water route to Asia but toward the colonization of the New World. With a desire to have a new life different from that of the Old World, many Europeans landed on the shores of the new continent and settled in communities. However, almost all kinds of European colonization faced this archetypal problem – the indigenous people who had occupied the land prior to European colonists. Almost all European colonizers solved the problem with the same solutions – enslavement of the natives, forceful removal in order to gain land, and or the establishment of a hierarchical order where the indigenous were inferior to colonizers. North America was no exception from this model of European colonization. “…Christians venting their rage against them [Native Americans] with so many massacres, so much bloodshed without any just cause…” (de Las Casaa 1552) However, what made the Native Americans different from many other “colonized natives” was that although they were mistreated and belittled, Native Americans have made great political influences that changed the course of American history. These powerful influences are evident, for example, in King Philip’s War, the French and Indian War, and the American Revolution.
At first, Native Americans helped colonies, such as the English colony in Plymouth, by...

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Foner, Eric. Garraty, John A. “American-Indian Wars.” History.com. Last Modified 1991.
Accessed Oct. 28, 2013. http;//www.history.com/topics/american-indian-wars

Foner, Eric. Garraty, John A. “King Philip’s War.” History.com. Last Modified 1991.
Accessed Oct. 28, 2013. http;//www.history.com/topics/king-philips-war

Henry, Alexander. “Minavavana, a Chippewa chief. Addressing trader Alexander Henry.”
1761.

Randolph, Edward. “report on King Philip’s Waar in New England.” 1675. Accessed Oct. 28,
2013. http;//wwww.smithsoniansource.org/display/primarysource/viewdetails
.aspx?TopicId=&PrimarySourceId=1175

“Pontiac’s Rebellion Begins.” History.com. Accessed Nov. 20, 2013. http://www.history.co
m/this-day-in-history/pontiacs-rebellion-begins

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