Eary European Exploration

European explorers first landed on the shores of what would later become North America more than 500 years ago. Not long after the first explorers had entered the “New World” they found out that they were not alone on this new frontier. Their neighbors in this new land were the Native Americans who had been there for centuries, virtually unaware of life outside the continent. Thus began an inconsistent and often times unstable relationship between the European settlers and the North American Indians. Two nations who had particularly interesting relationships with the Native Americans were the British and the French, both of whom took different approaches to their relations with the Indians economically as well as culturally. Neither nation had complete trust for the Indians, nor did the Indians ever completely trust the men who arrived on “floating islands with many tall trees”. Nonetheless, they did interact with one another in their daily lives. Both economically and culturally the French and British went about their interactions with the Native Americans differently. Through first hand writings and documents as well as observations by historians, it is evident that the British and French interacted with the Indians of North America in different ways.

In the early beginnings of exploration, both the British and French had relatively good relationships with the Indians because of the economic success that came with simple cooperation. The fur trade with the Native Americans quickly proved successful because of the outrageously high prices it could be sold for in Europe. Years later the economic goals shifted and so did relations with the Native Americans. The French, headed by Samuel de Champlain, maintained a fur trading network in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence regions and so attempted to improve relations with the Huron Indians of that area. The relationship escalated to the point of an alliance in which the French helped the Hurons fight their enemy the Iroquois Confederacy. Champlain became so successful with the Indians that he eventually sent traders out to live alongside the Hurons, adopt their culture and language and at the same time monitor the flow of furs to the newly settled Quebec. Not nearly as profitable as the fur trade was their export of crops, which only started because they used the farming techniques that the Native had shown to them. Though the French was relationship with the Indians was not spotless, it did prove to be economically beneficial to both the French and the Indians.

The British colonization had a slower start than that of the French due to their war with Spain at the time. This late start, however, did not hinder them from quickly squeezing the new world of all of its economic benefits. One of the first major English settlements of the new world was Jamestown, in present-day Virginia. Here they encountered the huge empire of the Algonquian tribes. Having had a bad experience with the Spanish, who brought disease, the Algonquian leaders reluctantly accepted the arrival of the English, in hopes they would prove beneficial in trade as well as war. The British however, had different ideas about the situation. Within the first few years the two groups were at war. The British were successful and therefore the colony of Jamestown stayed in existence. Out of Jamestown came a huge agricultural boom based on tobacco. Eventually the British settlers became greedy and sought after the Indians’ lands, who did not believe in land ownership in the first place. This eventually led to war between the two. This pattern of good beginnings between the Indians and English, eventually ending in some form of conflict was seen many times throughout the new world. Even so, from an economic standpoint, the British were easily as successful as the French, achieving this differently however.

Culture