Native Americans and European settlers had thorny relationship during the colonial period. As Europeans progressed from exploration to colonization of the Americas, they brought changes to nearly every aspect of the land and its people, from trade and hunting to warfare and personal property. Native Americans resisted European attempt to take more of their land and control through both warfare and diplomacy. However, new diseases, the slave trade and the ever increasing European population in Northern America caused problem for Native Americans, preventing them from achieving their goals.
As European fought to claim already occupied land in the “New world,” in the 17th century some leaders formed alliances with Native Americans nations to fight foreign powers, (National Geographic Guide).During the French and Indian War of 1754–1763,some notable alliances were formed. The English formed an alliance with the Iroquois Confederacy while the Algonquian-speaking tribes joined forces with the French and the Spanish. The English won the war and took control of everything east of the Mississippi River. The English-allied Native Americans were given portion of that land, which they hoped would put an end to European expansion-but only postponed it. Following the Indian and French war, Europeans continued to enter the country and fought against Native Americans. Native Americans were also vulnerable during the colonial period because they had never been exposed to diseases such as smallpox, and thus lacked immunity to the diseases, which some Europeans did. When Europeans arrived they came along with this diseases and the illness decimated Native Americans, killing as much of 90 percent of their population, according to some estimate. Several large epidemics occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries among various Native Americans populations. Despite the fact that epidemics happened prior to the colonial era in the 1500s.With the population sickening and shrinking, it became increasingly difficult to oppose Europeans expansion.
When European colonists arrived in North America, Native Americans changed their slavery practices dramatically (Slavery in the United States, 2018, pp. 145-146 ). Rather than integrating war captives into their own societies as some had done previously, Native Americans began selling them to Europeans. The Spanish enslaved Native Americans in Florida and the Southwest using various legal means. The encomienda system was one tool; Formalized paraphrase, The New Laws of 1542 prohibited the formation of new encomiendas, but existing ones were allowed to continue, and the 1542 restriction was lifted in 1545. As the demand for labor in the West Indies increased due to the cultivation of sugarcane, Europeans exported enslaved Native Americans to the “sugar islands. Slavery in the United States ,estimates that between 1670 and 1715, 24,000 to 51,000 captive Native Americans were exported through Carolina ports, with more than half, 15,000-30,000, coming from then-Spanish Florida. The English empire’s expansion in the American South was centered on the trade in Indian slaves.
Native Americans life changed during colonization era. Europeans introduction of diseases affected both Native Americans and some of Europeans .Population decreased affecting labors since people working for Europeans died due to diseases. However, Native Americans began to sell weapons to Europeans rather than using them for fighting other tribes. Slave trade enhanced development among Native Americans since availability of labor in sugarcane cultivation was productivity in terms of economic.
