Did the Conflict Between Natives and Settlers in the Seventeenth Century English Colonies Reflect Competing Interests
During the seventeenth century Britain launched multiple and full-scale attempts to colonise the Americas, that were in comparison to other attempts very successful. ... One of the major problems was conflict with the natives but did this conflict reflect competing interests or an unavoidable clash of cultural values? The first attempts to colonise the Americas took place before the seventeenth century in the 1570s. ... This colony did not do well but not through conflict with the natives or by their own error. It has been proven through the study of tree age rings that the area experienced an extreme drought between 1587 and 1589. ... However by the early seventeenth century there was great economic change and social unrest in Britain. ... British officials saw this as over population and a threat to society and concluded that extensive new colonies could be created in the Americas to ease the pressure on Britain. ... The other main reason for the seventeenth century migration to the Americas was great religious change in Europe. ... To some extent Elizabeth I tolerated religious diversity during her reign but her cousin and successor James I had no time for the emerging Calvinists, or Puritans as they had become known because of their desire to purify the English Church. ... The first settlers from England in the seventeenth century were inspired mainly by a lust for riches through trade routes and precious metals. ... This was a place called Tsenacomoco by the natives and was in modern day Virginia. ... Through no human fault the settlers landed in the middle of the worst drought the region had seen in nearly 800 years, which went on for another 5 years. ... The settlers had come over to the America ill equipped for colonial life. ... Despite harsh and desperate circumstances the settlers retained fanciful British dress codes and casual work habits resisting the much-needed hard labour. ... On his departure though the settlement experienced another famine during the winter of 1609 when some settlers even resorted to cannibalism. ... ” The initial failures of the Jamestown settlement was not due to conflict with the natives. ... The native’s toleration of the settlers and their willingness to trade with them were two of the greatest saviours of the Jamestown settlement. However the originally good-natured relationship between the settlers and natives ended violently. Although the relationship between the Jamestown settlers and the native Americans was uneasy they had many cultural similarities, especially with the Algonquian and Iroquois tribes. Even though the Natives were polytheistic and the settlers monotheistic they both were steeped in a deep religious tradition. Both natives and settlers were agriculturally based societies and both races worked on specific gender roles within the household and the community. ... The coastal natives lived in fixed villages, building sturdy long houses with wooden parapets and ditches as defences unlike the more nomadic hunting tribes of inland America.