The Response of the Native Tribes of America to Foreign Colonists

The encounters between Europeans and Native Americans are no longer perceived through an old lens through which the founders of the New World find a 'wilderness' inhabited by 'savages. It is rather a story of diverse ways of lives relating with the civilized Europeans ultimately subduing the local population, although not before both sides had acquired techniques and practices from the other. The early responses of the Natives towards the colonists was an uneasy blend of conflict and cooperation. Some Native Americans responded in a calm, welcoming way leading to an exemplary relationship which prevailed during the first half century of Pennsylvania's existence. Consequently, others responded by conflicting with the settlers through a series of wars and battles that almost invariably led to an Indian conquest and loss of land.

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Approximately five thousand kilometres to the west, the Pueblo Indians ascended against the Spanish preachers in the regions around New Mexico's Taos. For the subsequent years, the Pueblo took control of their ex-land once more, only to see it taken back by the Spanish. Around six decades later, another Indian revolution occurred when the Pima Indians went into war with the Spanish in what is currently Arizona. The Iroquois, who occupied the region underneath Erie in Pennsylvania and northern New York, and Lakes Ontario, were more effective in opposing the European progression. In 1570 five clans joined to establish the most independent country in history; the League of the Iroquois or rather known as the "Ho-De-No-Sau-Nee."A committee controlled the League made up of fifty delegates from every one of the five-member tribes. The assembly managed matters of commonality in all the clans, yet it had nothing to do with how the free tribes responded to the colonist's appearance and their influence on their tribe's cultures.

Through the league, the Native American tribes formed a strong power during the 1600s and the 1700s which dealt in fur trades with Europeans and decided to side with them creating a revolution against the French in the fight for America's dominance between 1754 and 1763. The League remained firm until the American Revolution. At that point, for the first time, the committee was unable to achieve a consistent choice on whose side to be. Tribal members made their own decisions, as others decided to remain neutral, some sided with the Europeans, while others fought against the colonists. Subsequently, everybody battled against the Iroquois.

The old land of America had been inherited by the Native Americans whose lives were eventually destroyed by the European colonists in the new world of South and North America. After the arrival and settlement of the Europeans, the Native Americans culture changed for the worst. After the coming of the colonists, the Indians tried to be of help to the settlers who in turn were not grateful and became even more greedy. Not only did the European colonists bring with them several diseases which would, later on, help in killing several Native American tribes, but also a mentality in which they felt superior to the Natives. This superiority feeling resulted in an outbreak of violence and several civil wars. As a result of the colonists and Native Americans irreconcilable differences, there were several victims from both sides resulting in new conflicts which led to the displacement of several Native tribes.

Works Cited

Salisbury, Neal. "The Indians' old world: Native Americans and the coming of Europeans." Colonial America and the Early Republic. Routledge, 2017. 1-24. Accessed from HYPERLINK "http://www.jstor.org/stable/2947200" http://www.jstor.org/stable/2947200

Adelman, Jeremy, and Stephen Aron. "From Borderlands to borders: Empires, nation-states, and the peoples in between in North American history." The American Historical Review104.3 (1999): 814-841. Accessed from https://www.jstor.org/stable/2650990

Merrell, James H. The Indians' new world: Catawbas and their neighbours from European contact through the era of removal. UNC Press Books, 2012.