Relationship Between Europeans And Native Americans

The first documented contact between Native Americans and Europeans was actually an accident. The Spanish dispatched Christopher Columbus in hopes to find a faster trade route to Asia. Only one fourth of the way there Columbus landed in the Bahamas where he was met by the Arawak Indians as they swam out to the Spanish ships to meet him. The Native people gained the title Indians because Columbus believed they had landed in India hence the name Indians. The objective for Columbus then shifted away from finding a path to Asia. instead by finding these "Indians" he realized the amount of resources and man power the natives possessed. He returned to Europe with information of the wealth the new world held. Thus opened the flood gates for the Europeans to pour into new world …show more content…
Servants were seen as second hand citizens. and could not hold property or even marry unless their master allowed it. Servants began to protest more and more. Servants were finding their conditions unacceptable though most saw rebellion not to be the answer. Many servants began to flee. which led to laws being made to punish escaping servants. more than half the Europeans who arrived in the colonies were indentured servants. But as time went on the indentured servants began to gain their freedom. some gained land, though most simply became poor landless white colonists if they didn't return to Europe. Smaller plantations mostly worked with remaining servants and poor whites whom worked for small pay. The distinction between rich and poor began to widen.The large plantations could not support themselves solely with indentured servants and white tenants. Native American slaves proved to be too difficult to keep in large amounts due to the natives knowledge of the local terrain. this made it difficult to keep natives from running away. Black slaves began to pour into the Americas to replace the Native slaves and indentured