English and Spanish Relations With the Native Americans essays

English and Spanish Relations With the Native Americans essays The purpose of this paper is to prove that although both the English and the Spanish saw the natives as uncivilized and vulnerable savages; ultimately, the English, more so than the Spanish, took advantage of these characteristics to lead to bad relations with the Native Americans. Whereas the Spanish settlers, who forced Catholicism on the Pueblos and tried to obliterate Indian practices, ended their problems with hopes of peace, the English took over land with no effort at reconciliation with the Narragansett tribe. When the English first arrived in New England in the mid 1600's, they were much amused at the Indians responses to their European culture. The natives were impressed with European technology and soon expressed a desire to experience the new bits of customs that had arrived on their shores. When the English saw that the natives venerated them for their new and interesting technology as almost supernatural in basis, they perceived this as bond that would be carried throughout settlement. Similarly, good intentions were met in the southwest part of the land where the Spanish sent Franciscan friars into the area of New Mexico to spread the Catholic faith. Beginning their expanse, they were welcomed by the Pueblos mostly because they brought new crops and agricultural technologies that made life much simpler and industrious. Unlike the English Puritans, the Spanish missionaries did not see it necessary to force conversion on the natives. Camaraderie and good associations between the English and Native Americans did not last long. The Indians first noticed that the English had outstayed their welcome when tribes would complain of loss of land, grass, and trees. However, the English reacted no differently to the outlandishly different lifestyle of the natives. Early Massachusetts Bay settler, William Wood, went on to find fault with various aspects of the Indian routine, including treatment of Indian women...