Native American from the Colonial American Era - Research Paper Example

NATIVE AMERICAN FROM THE COLONIAL AMERICAN ERA Events which took place in the United s of America in the of the 17thcentury were of critical significance to the country’s history. It was during this period that relations between Anglo-Saxon colonists, like the British, and the Native Americans, evolved owing to prolonged interactions and mutual transformation. The relations between Natives and Caucasian colonists varied from one tribe to another, as exemplified by the Indian tribe and the native inhabitants of Narragansett in their respective interactions with the British colonizers.

These relationships altered and shaped the path of history in both cultures, effectively laying the foundation for the contemporary multicultural American society. Archaeological proof places the native tribe of Narragansett at the similarly named Narragansett Bay, currently known as Rhode Island, at least 30000 years ago1. The British colonizers arrived at Narragansett Bay in the year 1635. The tribe chiefs acted very friendly at first2. They even agreed to give Roger William, a Briton rejected by the neighboring native authorities, a track of land to create Providence; a settlement characterized by religious and political non-conformists.

Roger William quickly learned the Narragansett language and became popular, spearheading friendly relations between the Narragansett and the British. The Narragansett even sought help from the British to fight against their long time tribal enemies, the Pequot, in an effort to regain territorial dominance. However, the mutual British-Narragansett relationship did not last for more than a decade. In 1675, war erupted between the two. The European attacked Narragansett for resisting their quest for more land.

King Philip led the native warriors in fighting the British. However, the Narragansett lost the battle and were thrown out of their land. They later joined other native tribes in retaliation. Indians, unlike their Narragansett counterparts, were very suspicious from the beginning3. They showed mixed reactions; sometimes friendly, sometimes hostile. Part of their corporation is the batter trade that existed between them and the British. The British would give them weapons that they used to fight their native enemies.

This case is similar to that of the Narragansett where the British were directly involved in fighting for Narragansett. In return to this favor, the Indians gave out fur. Unlike the Narragansett, they were very careful not to trade their land. The Indian-British relationship also ended in war. The Pequot war of 1637 was to resist more encroachment by the British4. In 1675, just like the Narragansett, the Indian joined King Phillip in war against the colonizers. They also lost their battle and later staged revenge by killing some European missionaries, five years later.

The relationships between British colonizers and the native tribes of its colonies in America were clearly varied in nature, and they altered, as well as, shaped the path of history in both cultures. For instance, the association between the Narragansett Tribe and the British exhibited a conspicuous transition from a friendly and mutually beneficial collaboration, to eventual disagreement and defeat of the former in a war. Contrarily, the British-Indian relationship was marred by distrust from the very beginning and also culminated in war that suppressed the native inhabitants.

Eventually, the British and Native Americans had to coexist, hence the modern day multicultural America.BibliographyAndy, Hancock. Narragansett. Native American History. Washington DC: Elsevier. 2014.Blair, Kein. Colonial-Indian Relations: American History. New York: University of Groningen Press. 2012.Vaughan, Alden. New England Frontier: Puritans and Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 1995.Wilson, James. The Earth Shall Weep: History of Native America. New York: Groove Press. 1999.