Relations between Indians and English Colonists were anything but docile. Neither side was solely at fault. Both the Indians and the colonists held a violent nature with one another. The tensions started to boil increasingly as settlers encroached more and more onto claimed Indian lands. The actions taken by both sides shaped the relationships in a negative way. Some tribes and settlers formed alliances between small tribes and towns; however, the majority of the relationships were murderous. Prior to the French and Indian war, hundreds and hundreds of innocent American Indians were killed, among them women and children. Each region, New England, Chesapeake, Spanish Southwest, New France and New York proved to deal with different issues than a neighboring region. The settlers were not the only violent offenders. American Indians attempted to hold their ground, and a number of tribes even attacked English Colonists. Not only was there violence but many other factors contributed, including religion. Actions committed by both sides shaped the relations in different ways for different regions.

New England relations with American Indians
Initially, the relations between colonists in New England and the coastal Indians were friendly. The Indians offered a helping hand to the colonists. As the Englishmen were developing their colonies, the Indians helped shape the economy.
Settlers were eager to move off the coast and more inland. When the settlers pushed farther and farther inland, they broke apart many Indian tribes and encroached onto their rightful land. Conflict was inevitable between the English and the Natives.
Conflict rose quickly among the two groups. In 1637, a Pequot Indian was accused of murdering a settler by the Massachusetts colonists.
The accusations led to a war between the two, and the Pequot War was initiated.
English settlers lit fires in Pequot Indians homes. The idea of it was to force the Indians out of the house. Once the Pequots fled their huts the Puritans shot and killed them.
Settlers continued to kill aimlessly. By the time the settlers thrust for blood was satisfied and the war was over, nearly all of the Pequots were murdered. The English wiped out a huge sum, almost eradicating the entire tribe.
The years 1675 and 1676 brought upon a bloody war to the New England Colonies. As time progressed, the settlers relations with the American Indians became more stressed.
The tension began to boil in February 10, 1675 when Mary Rowlandson was captured by Indians. The American Indians were raiding houses in Lancaster, Massachusetts, and they were not holding back on the damage. Shots were fired all around, lives were lost, and houses were ruined.
Mary Rowlandson and her three children were among the group to be captured and taken by the Narragansett Indians. Eventually, after about 11 weeks the prisoners were ransomed and then let go.
Mary Rowlandson in describing the account of the attack states, “But to no return: the Indians laid hold of us, pulling me one way, and the children another, and said, “Come along with us”; I told them they would kill me: they answered, if i were willing to go along with them, they would not hurt me” (Lincoln 56).
King Philip’s War (1675-1676) was a bloody war that ensued between the colonists and the American Indian tribes. The tension finally overflowed because of the settlers aggressive expansion and falling out of a trade partnership, and the war was in full blast. Pokunoket chief Metacom — a.k.a. King Philip — was the leader of a brutal uprising/rebellion by the tribes Wampanoag, Nipmuck, Pocumtuck and Narragansett. King Philip’s War last fourteen bloody months, but was ended when Metacom, King Philip, was captured by colonists and beheaded.

Chesapeake relations with American Indians
Jamestown
founded in 1607, was the first permanent settlement
John Smith helped get the priorities straight initiates Martial Law An uprising also occurred in this region. One of the biggest uprisings took place in Virginia.
The Great Indian Uprising of 1622 ensued within a very well known settlement, Jamestown. The Powhatan Indians came to Jamestown bearing a variety of gifts. The Indians appeared to be very docile, and no one was suspicious of the Powhatan’s real intentions.
The nature of the Powhatans’ attack was very brutal. No one was spared from the ferocious massacre.
When describing the nature of the attack one account articulates, “ … sat down at breakfast with our people at their tables, whom immediately with their own tools and weapons, either laid down, or standing in their houses, they basely and barbarously murdered, not sparing either age or sex, man, woman, or child; do sudden in their cruel execution that few or none discerned the weapon or blow that brought them to destruction” (Kingsbury 35).
The Powhatan’s began to attack English settlers without any warning. They were viciously slaughtering hundreds of innocent settlers. After everything was said and done, the number of deaths were estimated to be around 300. Jamestown was on the brinks of extinction.
As it turns out, the settlement actually received a forewarning. A young indian boy spread word of the attack; however, the word did not travel fast enough. Hardly anyone found out about the attack, proving the forewarning to be a waste.
Spanish Southwest relations with American Indians
Cortes came to the Aztecs looking for wealth
He stole all the gold and the precious objects
The Aztecs allowed this because they thought he was a God.
The Spanish Southwest was also filled with unsettled differences between the two different cultures. One major Indian tribe that will prove to be a headache was the Pueblo. They staged a massive revolt.
The Pueblo Indians started an uprising against Spanish colonizers in Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico. Pueblos partly staged this revolt because they were furious with the Colonists. One major issue was the colonists restricting Pueblo access to fertile farmlands and water supply. These actions were affecting Pueblo labor.
Not only were Spanish Colonists cutting off necessary supplies, they also forced the Pueblo tribe to hand over tribute. This often was in the form of ground corn, textiles and labor. The Pueblo revolt resulted in the killings of 400 Spanish settlers. Not only did they kill the settlers, the Pueblos forced the remaining colonists to leave the province.
Even though the Pueblos were successful in gaining back land, the Spanish forced their way back in to regain control about twelve years later.
Another tribe that was infiltrated by Spanish Conquistadors was the Acoma. They were attacked by Zaldivar and his men. The result of this massacre left an estimated 500 dead and many more wounded or enslaved.
The Spanish wanted to convert the Native Americans into Christians
They used this as an excuse the treat Natives poorly
A new race was created
Spanish men and Indians were having children forming a whole new race
New France relations with American Indians
As a result of the tensions between the two different cultures, there were many violent outbursts in this region. The war’s led between American Indians and Colonists led from one right into another.
The first of the string of wars was just simply an attack on Montreal by the Iroquois. The Iroquois wished the control the fur trade. If they defeated the French and all its allies, their tribe could trade freely with the Dutch and English on the Hudson River.
The Iroquois were in an alliance with the Dutch and English as well. The Iroquois, along the Englishmen, occasionally attacked Montreal. It almost became a routine, they tried and failed but tried again.
The English and Iroquois launched a major assault on the French in what is known as King William’s War. Quebec survived this war and a subsequent war against the English; however, England lost many of its fur trading centers on the Hudson.
The Wabanaki tribe were allied with France. They helped fight in the Father Rale’s war against the England. The two groups were fighting to keep England out of Acadia. The Wabanaki tribe and the French fought hard to keep England out, but they failed and England took over Acadia in 1710.
New Yorks relations with American Indians.
For the Plymouth Colony, by 1621 there was little to no communication with American Indians.
Fearful of the possible hostile actions of the Native Americans, the colonists set out to make a militia. They elected and reelected Myles Standish to be the captain of the militia.
Shortly after forming a militia, the Indians made contact with the Plymouth colony. They arranged the meeting among the sachem of the Pokanoket tribe, and John Carver signed an alliance stating they would protect the Pokanoket tribe when they are threatened. Carver dies that year, and the responsibility of upholding the treaty was left for Bradford.
A Pokanoket sachem named Corbitant stirred the pot in the Nemasket Tribe.
Standish sent two men to resolve the conflict, but the men were taken captive by Corbitant. One man escaped and fled the village to warn the colonists about what had happened, but one colonists was being held by Corbitant. Standish returned to the Nemasket tribe and stormed the wigwams while the Indians were sleeping.
Once they stormed the wigwam, they realized Corbitant had escaped and ran away, and the kidnapped victim was unharmed.
When 1626 rolled around, Peter Minuit tried to strike a deal with the Indians. He wanted to purchase Manhattan Island from the Indians. Minuit acquired Manhattan for only $500 in present day terms, clearly a bargain.
A conflict in 1637 arose near the Mystic River. English settlers under the captain John Mason and members of the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes, who were allies, attacked a small village.
May 26, 1637 was a fatal day for the members of the Pequot tribe near Mystic River. John Mason and his men went to the village and set fire to it. They blocked off the entrances and lit the town on fire. Any member who attempted to climb the walls was immediately shot. Mason and his men killed the entire village. The lone survivors were the warriors who left to fight in a near by area.

The American Indians and the Colonists had a long, bumpy road to some what civil natures between the two. The relationships were shaped by all of the behaviors above. Those behaviors embodied how colonists and Indians viewed each other. They were not always peaceful with one another, and the colonists still trespass onto Indian territories after the fact. Some of the relationships and alliances may hold into the near future, but they always end. The usual docile nature of the American Indians was destroyed by the English Colonists who brought out the bottled fire inside the Indians.