Jamestown's Relationship with Native Americans

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Jamestown's relationship with Native Americans The relationship between Jamestown Colonist and the Native Americans was very strange. They had a love/hate relationship. Sometimes the Natives wanted to trade with the Colonist but other times, they just wanted to kill the Colonist. The Jamestown Colonist needed a lot of help when it came to trade for food and supplies. What the Jamestown Colonist failed to realize is that they when they decided to move to Virginia that the land was already occupied by many Indian tribes. So over the next 80 years the relationship between the Colonist and the Native Americans had a lot of ups and downs. When the Jamestown Colonist first arrived in Virginia in 1607 the Paspahegh Indian tribe immediately attacked them. The English were careful to settle only on uninhabited land and looked forward to trade and cooperation, but naturally the Indians saw the English as invaders and disliked them. In 1607 a fire destroys Jamestown. Pocahontas brought food to the colony and they called a meeting and decided to trade men to act as interpreters. Tomas Savage was sent to live with the Indians and Namontack (a Indian) was sent to live in Jamestown. This was the beginning of a friendship. In 1609 John Ratcliffe is captured and killed by Indian women. Colonist were afraid to leave and hunt in fear that they would be attacked by the Indians. As retaliation in 1613 Pocahontas is captured and held as a prisoner by the Colonist. She converted to Christianity and was trded back to her people in exchange for food. By 1622 The Indian Massacre occurred and they Indians killed over 300 colonist. The colonist retaliated by gifting wine to the Indians, yet the wine was poisoned and killed nearly 200 Native Americans. Jamestown began to grow in size and population, yet this expansion came with a price. There was three consequences that came from growth.

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