Initial Colonization of North America and Treatment of Native Americans

Social Studies 7WYWLA.2014K.GLODEN

Colonial Population Estimates

40,000 French in entire colonial region.

50,000 Spanish spread throughout Latin America and the Southwest.

1 to 2 million British in the tiny strip along the Atlantic.

Colonial America before 1763.

Compare and contrast the settlement

patterns of the Spanish, French

and British.

New Spain’s Treatment of the Native Peoples

New Spain was larger, richer and lasted ¼ century longer than British Empire. Suppress Native religion and Christianize.

Requerimiento—Spanish requirement for native people to receive the Church or face war—It was read in Spanish when they entered a village. Rationalized servitude as education—Slavery was banned in the 1630s and replaced with the Encomienda (forced labor) system.

Repartimiento—Tax system through mining and farming labor seen as more humane.

Spanish gave a “cane” to the Native American they wished to give sovereignty to—Then they dealt with that person.

1598 to 1680—Spanish conquest of the Southwest—Native ceremonies pushed into the night until the successful Pueblo Revolt (Pope’s Rebellion) in 1680 which gave Pueblo freedom for the next 12 years.

Dominican priests argued against enslavement of Native Americans—Opened dialogue on the issue.

Missionaries spread Christianity to the native

peoples.

Early Images of the Native Peoples

Illustrators made their visual representations based upon fantastic descriptions sent back to Europe—They used cultural differences, such as feathers in braided hair to depict natives. Early images showed handsome insatiable cannibals, grilling limbs and distributing boiled human parts to women and children.

New France and the Native Peoples

Set out to find gold—Forts became the backbone of a thriving fur trade—Meant overkill for the environment.

Searched for Northwest Passage to the Pacific.

Cartier and Champlain, father of New France who established the fur trade.

La Salle sailed down the Mississippi and claimed everything that flowed into it. Resource based—Craze for fur in Europe (beaver hats)—Enslavement

wouldn’t work—Introduced brandy before dealing—Used coercion as last resort.

French population had grown slowly with no representative assemblies—Only Catholics were allowed to settle the “New World.”

Recognized Native Sovereignty using diplomacy rather than force—Didn’t force new language or relocate the people—Established posts and forts with Native permission.

Made alliances (Huron and Montagnais) with enemies of those who opposed them (Iroquois and Algonquian)

Jesuits accompanied to establish missions to Christianize the natives.

Encouraged intermarriage.

The British Colonies and the Native Peoples

Just prior to Pilgrim arrival at Plymouth in 1620, more than ¾ of native population of the coastal tribes wiped out by epidemic—More intertribal rivalries especially between smaller tribes and the Pequot. Viewed them as unfortunate heathens—Initially expected coexistence and forced Christianity.

Missionary zeal never equaled the Spanish and French Catholics

England partially modeled its North American colonization, including its harsh treatment of the native population, on its prior imperial experience in Ireland.

Culture Clash—Powhatan Wars, Pequot War, King Philip’s War.

Initial English Efforts

English were about 50 years behind the Spanish—No large navy, no standing army—Converting to the Church of England and dealing with religious diversity—Distracted with colonizing Ireland.

1585—English set up Roanoke—Make settlement, go for supplies.

1587—Go for supplies again—When return, no settlers left—Complete setback seen as total disaster!

Sir Walter Raleigh funded and authorized expeditions

to Roanoke Island.

First landing at Roanoke Island.

Initial English Efforts in the Chesapeake

1606—Joint Stock Company—To find silver/gold—Colonists weren’t ready to be farmers—They didn’t want to be “uncivilized” and plant corn as the native peoples did.

1607—The Chesapeake

Jamestown founded—Out of 200, 35 survive to spring—John Smith institutes military structure—Still, during the “Starving Time” from 1609-1610, only about 60 out of 400 survive—They were reduced to eating “Dogges, Catts, Ratts, and Myce.”

1610—Dictatorship set up—Specific jobs, death penalty for most everything—10 years later, colony in same condition.

Early 1600s—New interest. Growing number of homeless—Colonize the New World with

them. Crown wanted to get rid of religious dissidents. Merchant class wants exploration. Nobility supports exploration for younger sons who don’t get

inheritance.

Effort of planting went into tobacco, creating a boom-bust economy.

By 1625, Virginia only had 1200 survivors of the nearly 8000 in what the Governor described as a “slum in the wilderness.”

In 1624, King James I, distrustful of the House of Burgesses, revoked Virginia Company charter and made it a royal colony.

John Rolfe became the father of the tobacco industry and the economic savior of the Virginia colony.

Tobacco was ruinous to the soil and it made the prosperity of Virginia dependant on the fluctuating price of a sing cash crop.

This very labor-intensive crop led to the exploration of labor beginning with indentured servitude and leading to the development of the American slave system.

In 1619, the colonists assembled the House of Burgesses, the first of many miniature parliaments in America.

Initial English Efforts in the Chesapeake