APUSH 1.6 Cultural Interactions Between Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans

• Mutual misunderstanding defined early years of interaction
• Over time, conflicts and compromise created creolized versions of the different cultures
• Native Americans did their best to defend their land and maintain their religious, political, and social practices
  • This was done by entering a series of treaties with settlers and engaging in military resistance
• Many early European settlers thought Asia and the New World were replete with Silver, Gold, and other riches
  • Particularly the Spanish, who sought to conquer and convert as many people as possible to Catholicism
  • Part of this colonization involved using natives as a free (involuntary) labor pool
• Africa was also said to be a source of untold wealth
  • In the 15th century, Europeans began a trade in enslaving Africans

Resistance to Enslavement and Forced Labor

• Native Americans and Africans rebelled and tried to escape their conditions
• Whenever possible Native Americans could escape and disappear into the large areas that they knew, but the settlers didn’t
• Africans were occasionally able to escape, despite not knowing the land as well, and created communities of formerly enslaved people
  • These were called Maroon Colonies/Communities
  • The largest consisted of about 2,000 people in what eventually became Virginia and North Carolina’s Great Dismal Swamp
  • In the late 1600’s, they joined communities of Native Americans who had made the swamp their refuge

A Difference of Interpretation

• Prior to exploration, most Europeans had not had contact with anyone different from them
  • They thought their way of life was the only acceptable way, and was “civilized”
  • When contact with other groups was established, Europeans viewed themselves and their society as more advanced and moral

Defining Superior and Inferior/Civilized and Primitive

• Racism and the notion of “civility” were the measures by which Europeans viewed others
  • Western ideas of religion (Christianity,) family (Heterosexual monogamy,) Gender Roles (Women focused on domesticity,) and Government (Exclusively male,) were the standards by which others were regarded
  • If a society did not include these features, Europeans deemed them uncivilized

Christianity as a Tool of Control

• After the Crusades, Christians felt as if their reason for being was the spread the gospel
  • Often forcefully, missionaries imposed their religion onto others
• Natives, whether they were forced to convert or did so voluntarily, often merged their traditional practices with tenets of Christianity
• Similarly, Africans merged their traditional forms of worship with those of Christianity
• Both Native Americans and Africans developed a “creolized” form of Christianity that was reflective of their respective cultures

Increased Migration and Resulting Conflict

• As other Europeans groups came to the New World, they competed with one another for land, resources, and the conquest of Native populations
• The first permanent settlement in North America was St. Augustine, Florida, established by the Spanish in 1565
• The first permanent British settlement in North America was Jamestown, Virginia, established in 1607
• The development and progress of the new colonies in North America relied on free labor
  • Eventually, all of the British colonies instituted slavery as the foundation for success and survival
• In time, the competition among Europeans resulted in major conflicts including the Seven Years War