Original subtitles

When we hear the term Indian, we often think of a history that started around

the time of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World, when in fact

Americans have lived on the lands of North, South, and Central America for

thousands of centuries.

Because much information on the early history of man was not documented, The

early years of the Native American people is referred to as prehistory or,

accurately, pre -contact.

Over time, archaeologists have discovered artifacts such as pottery,

weapons, and tools, as well as some written records that give us some

into these ancient peoples.

With these clues, we have learned that their civilizations

date back to as early as 75 ,000 B .C., when the Bering Land Bridge was exposed,

making it possible for humans to travel to the Americas from Asia.

Before Christopher Columbus reached the Bahamas and made contact with the

natives, the New World, which has also been referred to as pre -Columbian

America,

already consisted of a multitude of diverse cultures.

The Mayans, Aztecs, and the Inca, found in South and Central America,

were powerful and organized societies, able to strengthen and expand as large

cities through the development and use of complex language and writing systems,

while sharing some basic similarities with each other.

Education and religious beliefs in these empires did vary.

The Mayan culture was religion -focused, heavily basing many of their beliefs on

astrology and astronomy.

They were also extremely artistic and developed highly sophisticated calendars

that both supported their religious beliefs and gave proof of their artistic

skills.

The Aztecs were also religion -based, taking human sacrifice to a higher level

than any other ancient New World civilization.

In one instance, 84 ,400 prisoners were documented as having been sacrificed

for the sake of appeasing the gods, just over the course of four days.

Structurally speaking, however, they were a culture primarily based on a

economic system.

Religion, in addition to politics, was also significant to the Incas.

They believed that their emperor was a descendant of the Inca sun god, and

absolute authority fell into the hands of this one person.

The Incan emperor appointed all regional and village leaders, and this created a

rather large and intricate bureaucracy.

While this may have been cause for social imbalance and stirred

among the Incas, they had an intense interest in education.

When it came to conquering other cities, the emperor would do so by bribing the

leaders of these desired lands with riches and promise of privileges.

Because many cooperated with this tactic, the Incas were the largest and

the most peaceful cultures to spread throughout pre -Columbian South America.

For all that, Spanish explorers claimed that these early cultures were savages.

At their peak, these empires were just as civilized as the Spanish.

Whereas the civilizations of Central and South American regions were larger and

structured as cities, the native cultures of North America were made up

smaller groups, which allowed them to spread out over greater distances.

Due to deforestation, excessive hunting, and a general reduction of resources,

and even drought, many of these groups were forced to become nomadic and move

different territories of the continent.

They formed tribes that often interacted with one another for the sake of

trading for much -needed items such as food.

Through the help of archaeology, bone, shells, Stone and plant fibers have been

found far from their origins, giving evidence to these extensive trading

relations. As expansion and trade increased, the Southwest Indians

for corn from New Mexico.

When cultivated along with beans and squash, each plant provided important

nutrients to the soil, thereby benefiting each other in successful

The corn, when dried and ground could also be stored for longer periods of

in the event that food should become scarce due to poor weather conditions.

Corn was a very important addition to the lives of many North American natives

and was associated with the importance of women to these societies.

As a symbol of life and rebirth, these cultures were matrilineal, meaning that

the mother's family line was documented.

versus the fathers.

Primarily, women were put in care of the seeds, as well as the agricultural

process of planting, tending, and harvesting.

Some tribes credited women with the very existence of corn because of its value

as a life -sustaining source.

The southeastern Mississippian natives considered women to be spiritually

powerful, and many annual rituals often related to agriculture, were held in

honor of women, life, and renewal.

While the women were tending to the crops, the men were in charge of the

hunting, which created a balance between the sexes, as both contributed equally

to their communities.

Women also played a large role in politics and warfare by deciding on the

of captives and whether or not to go to war.

Along with this balance there was also separation.

Men and women had different tools and gender -specific terms for some of the

same items.

At certain times of the year men and women would live separately in

for war or for hunting.

For many of the tribes spear and arrowheads were fashioned out of flint

used in hunting and fishing.

As horses had not yet been introduced by the Spanish Into these pre -contact

cultures, hunting was done on foot, often in groups to surround and corner

prey.

In addition to building communities through hunting and farming, hierarchies

were developed within each individual tribe, giving political and religious

power to only a few or even just one person.

While this created great imbalance within these smaller tribes' social

structures, It was a system that was implemented and respected.

As with the different civilizations in South America, religious ceremonies and

other priorities varied from one area of North America to another.

For those along the northwest coast of what we now know as the United States

Canada, marine resources, fish, shellfish, and whales were

abundant.

This allowed for the natives to build permanent villages in the form of cedar

wood longhouses.

Their close proximity to water created the need for the building of canoes, and

with forestry as a major resource, these people became master woodcrafters.

Totem poles would become a significant symbol of family lines for their

As part of their hierarchical arrangement, the chief, who was

tribe's leading family, would be held responsible for reciprocating generosity

to his people.

When a significant event, such as a marriage or death, was celebrated, the

would hold a gathering known as a potlatch.

The members of the tribe would be invited to a feast that could last for

days.

Honorary stories and explanations for the event would be shared.

The holding of a potlatch was a symbol of one's status.

showing the wealth and generosity of a family.

And often, the chief's wealth would be redistributed amongst the people as a

of upholding the reflection of community within the tribe.

It was then the obligation of other tribe members to hold a potlatch of

own as a continuation of this reciprocity.

Just south, in what would be California, the native tribes who shared in this

hierarchical structure were also...

quite rich in oceanic resources.

In addition to this, they had access to an abundance of acorn -bearing oak

trees. The acorns would be gathered and made edible by treating them through

careful means to rid them of their toxic properties.

Because acorn meal also stored well in colder months, this was a valuable and

highly sought -after food source, and its discovery caused the population of

California to grow quite dense.

very quickly.

The growth of tobacco crops also drew attention from outlying tribes and

contributed to the growth of the communities.

This became one of the most highly populated areas of pre -contact America

would become one of the biggest trade areas in the entire continent.

In the southwest, the Anasazi culture hit its peak between the years 900 and

1300.

having created large towns of multi -story and multi -room buildings.

They had more intricate irrigation canals and water systems than other

and they were the first to grow beans, squash, and corn together for richer and

more productive crops.

Their grand cities would be the draw for the interest of many Spanish

expeditions and equally for many battles.

To the east, out on the plains of Central North America, buffalo were a

resource.

But when it came to hunting this large, herd -oriented beast, the natives had to

use a very different tactic in order to hunt them without excessive injury to

themselves.

The natives would have buffalo drives, which involved steering the animals

towards cliffs by making noise, sometimes by waving fire.

in order to startle the buffalo into a stampede.

The herds were then directed to the cliffs, where they would unsuspectingly

to certain death.

Though the natives would use as much of the animals as they could, meat for

food, hides for clothing, and bone for tools and weapons, they could not

the number of bewildered animals that died, and much would go to waste.

Heads smashed in.

is a well -preserved site of further buffalo drives in Alberta, Canada.

The hunting of buffalo became easier when the use of bow and arrows spread

the northern natives to the plains Indians around the year 1000.

And when the Spanish introduced horses in the New World, hunting bison changed

entirely.

Archaeologists have found that not only were the Native Americans not landlocked

on the continent, But there was contact made, albeit intermittently, well before

the infamous Spanish conquistadors arrived.

Fishermen from northern Spain and Bristol, England, may have come to the

coast of North America well before 1492.

Native American boats were found shipwrecked in the Netherlands sometime

60 B .C.

There is also reason to believe that Africans may have journeyed to Brazil,

Haiti, and Panama as early as 1000 BC.

Around 5000 BC, Japanese sailors are believed to have reached Ecuador.

Whereas these points of contact were most likely accidental and less likely

result of greed, talk of other lands and new worlds was sparking the interest of

Europeans.

Italian -born Christopher Columbus was a mariner with dreams of opening the

first sea trade route to China, India, and the Asian islands, all of which were

unreachable by a direct land route controlled by the Ottoman Empire.

Testing out a new route by sea would need funding that Columbus did not have,

and so he met with King John II.

of Portugal, in the hopes of getting the financial backing necessary to make the

voyage. When that failed, Columbus went to Spain, only to have King Ferdinand

and Queen Isabella deny him as well.

Not just once, but twice.

It wasn't until the Spanish conquered the Moorish kingdom of Granada in the

beginning of 1492 that the king and queen agreed to support the expedition.

Like others, Columbus believed that the world was round.

He also believed the world was much smaller than it truly was, with the idea

that East Asia would be approximately where North America actually stood.

As there was no knowledge yet of the presence of the Pacific Ocean, making

voyage was not considered an impossibility.

So, when Columbus set out on August 3, 1492,

With his three small ships, the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, he and

everyone else believed that he was aiming for the East Indies. Because of

gross miscalculation, the expedition ended up in the Caribbean.

Still unaware of this fact, when Columbus sighted Cuba, he thought that

in fact seeing mainland China.

As a result, Columbus also believed the first natives he encountered were

Indians.

This misnomer would endure from that moment in history on, and his mistaken

landing on the island of Hispaniola would be the commencement of the Spanish

conquest of the Americas.

Though there had been prior contact with the natives by other explorers, it was

Columbus's discovery that gained widespread European recognition.

and earned him the title of Admiral of the Ocean Sea.

Not only that, but as the Spanish monarchs were Catholic and Spain had

succeeded in a centuries -long religious conquest, further royal patronage from

the king and queen was granted in the hopes of expanding this religious

This led to three more expeditions by Columbus to the Caribbean.

The Spanish Catholic Church, had little to no tolerance for non -Catholics and

was set upon making it their mission to forcefully convert those who were not

already part of the Church.

When Columbus discovered the Indians on the island of Hispaniola, he reported

back, through his letters to Spain, that these natives were non -Christian and

therefore not civilized.

This account quickly spread through Europe.

giving people an immediate, negative opinion of a society they had never seen

for themselves.

The image of this discovered people as irrational, often violent, and godless

fueled the idea in many European minds that these natives were fair game for

enslavement.

Legal structures were immediately fabricated to justify the claiming of

lands and the people found on them.

In 1493, the Catholic Church granted legal authority for Spain to overtake

and all newly discovered American land, primarily for the sake of spreading

Christianity, and with the colonization of these lands would come the conversion

of Indians to Catholicism.

Within a year's time, the Hispaniola Indians endured widespread enslavement

a rampant pillaging of their gold.

At the hands of the Spanish, thousands of natives died in the process.

Despite what the church had had in mind in supporting the Spanish expeditions,

next to no religious conversion occurred.

By 1512, the laws of Burgos and the encomienda system

outlawed Indian slavery, harsh punishment, and the maltreatment of

colonists. This did not, however, outlaw natives from being put into heavy labor

under the command of their new Spanish masters.

These indentured servants were required to move to land where a Spanish master

held a grant from the Spanish crown, and nine out of twelve months a year they

were expected to dedicate their lives to mining, farming, ranching, or anything

else their master required.

This was nothing short.

of glorified slavery, and it did nothing to sway the abusive treatment shown

toward the Indians.

In 1513, Spain issued an amendment to the encomienda system, the

requerimiento, which stated that any encountered Indian would be willingly

converted to the Catholic faith and thereby accept the monarchs of Spain as

only rulers of their land.

If they refused, they would be taken once again as slaves.

With so few Native Americans able to understand Spanish, this was really

more than just another justification to take lands and people under rule and

against their will and to convert them to Catholicism whether they agreed to it

or not.

Along with the enslavement of natives and the forceful thieving of land and

gold, the Spanish introduced a series of viral diseases to the Indians.

Because the natives had never been exposed to these maladies, they had no

immunity against them.

Measles, typhoid, whooping cough, cholera, even the bubonic plague

ran rampant among the communities, with smallpox being the single biggest

European epidemic to hit North America.

Over an estimated 80 % of Native Americans were killed by smallpox.

shortly after contact with the Spanish.

Tribes adjusted to the loss of their people by becoming more isolated and

unified. They took advantage of rival tribes by seizing resources while the

crippling effects of disease were taking place.

In addition to deadly diseases, the Europeans also brought several species

plants and animals to America.

Donkeys, mules, pigs, cattle, Sheep, goats, and

chickens altered the dietary options of the natives.

Large dogs, cats, and bees were also introduced.

Horses would be the most valuable addition to Native American lives.

Despite the few positive additions to Native American existence, the arrival

the Spanish in the Americas can only be described as an invasive disaster.

By 1496, Indian populations in the Caribbean that had once numbered in the

millions had been devastated.

Between 1519 and 1521, Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec

Empire in central Mexico.

And by 1520, the first European disease epidemics reached North America.

In 1533, the Pizarro brothers would kill the Incan emperor and topple the

Incan Empire.

Regardless of artificial laws forbidding enslavement, the Indians were prisoners

in their own lands.

English writer and early American colonist Daniel Denton sent some of the

English accounts of the New World back to London in 1670.

His piece, A Brief Description of New York, formerly called New Netherlands,

was written in an effort to draw more colonists to North America by describing

the geography, climate, economy, and the pre -existing inhabitants of the New

York and New Jersey areas.

His description of what he observed in settlers moving in on American lands was

meant to be enticing to prospective colonists.

by removing or cutting off the Indians, either by wars one with the other, or by

some raging mortal disease.

But the truth of the matter was that the lives of a complex people, civilized in

their own right, had been turned upside down, and this was far from the end of

it.

As more and more stories of the New World and the prospect of obtaining gold

other precious minerals reached the ears of Spanish explorers.

More and more expeditions were made.

Though Cortes had made quite a name for himself by conquering the Aztecs, and

for the amount of gold he gained in the process, this painted a very unrealistic

picture for future conquistadors who were looking for a similar fortune.

Multiple invasions were made into the southwest of North America.

where very little gold was found.

And what was discovered was often the spoils of Spanish shipwrecks that had

occurred off the west coast.

These bits of gold were gathered by coastal tribes and traded farther

giving a false depiction of what treasures the Spanish would find there.

Still, the stories of great fortune and the abundance of obtainable slaves

continued to spread, and invasions persisted.

Because of this, the Spanish were rarely met with warmth or any sort of

invitation from the natives, and they often found themselves instead in

or at the mercy of the climate and diminishing supplies.

Juan Ponce de Leon, who was a member of Columbus's second expedition, had

already established the colony of Puerto Rico.

But when he tried in 1513, and again, In 1521, to do the same in Florida,

the Calusa Indians rebelled and killed Ponce de Leon.

In 1526, Lucas Vasquez de Elion, a successful sugar

planter on Hispaniola, set out to the Atlantic coasts of Georgia and South

Carolina, along with around 500 colonists, livestock, and supplies, in

of expansion.

Elion. died within three months and those who were left in the expedition

disease, dwindling supplies, and the threat of unwelcoming Indians.

Only 150 of the original colonists survived to return to Hispaniola.

These failed expeditions were not enough to stop others who arrogantly insisted

on finding their fortune in America.

In 1528,

Panfilo de Narvaez led 400 men from Spain to Tampa Bay and then traveled

north through Florida.

They met with the Timacuas and the Apalachis, and after a brief trading

with these tribes, relations became hostile.

The Spanish retreated and were able to return to the coast of the Florida

Corridor, where they built ships in the hopes of sailing back to Hispaniola.

A hurricane claimed many lives, and disease and drought -induced starvation

nearly the rest. Of 400 colonists, only four survived.

Among them were an Indian slave named Estavanico and a chronicler named Alvar

Núñez Cabeza de Vaca.

Between 1534 and 1536, these four men trekked on foot through the

southwest,

and living with several different Indian tribes along the way.

Though there were only these four out of the 400 remaining from the failed

Narvaez expedition, their successful travel and interactions with multiple

tribes were inspiring to others, and the expeditions continued.

Because of Cabeza de Vaca's report, and through Estevanico's translation, the

Spanish were made aware of the city of Cibola.

This city was a Zuni pueblo in New Mexico, thought to be rich in

turquoise and other precious stones.

It became an immediate target for the Spanish, as they suspected it was one of

the seven cities of gold rumored to be somewhere in the Americas.

Fray Marcos de Niza led the expedition into Cibola, with Estevenico as his

guide. But the Zunis met the group in Jauica in 1538, killed

Estevenico, and sent the rest of the expedition running.

Having gotten only a glimpse of the large city on the hill, the Spanish were

still convinced that Jauica was indeed holding the riches that they were after.

New Spain Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza sent yet another expedition,

this one led by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado.

Coronado, along with three hundred Spanish soldiers,

one thousand Mexican Indians, and Denisa as their guide, went to Jahuica with

the intention of taking this presumed excess of treasure.

They found nothing of the sort, and in retaliation for their disappointment,

Coronado and his troop seized the town.

and everyone in it.

Awika would henceforth become a Spanish base from where other expeditions could

stem.

It wasn't long before Coronado learned of another large city, this one being a

Hopi Pueblo in northwest Arizona.

His expedition there was met with immediate opposition, and a violent

confrontation ensued.

Coronado and his army.

earned a well -deserved reputation for ruthlessness as they brutalized the

Pueblo people, stealing food and supplies, raping the women, and

Pueblos as they headed east.

Hundreds of Indians were killed at his command.

News of Coronado's reputation spread, and with the help of a plains Indian

as the Turk, Coronado and his soldiers were purposely misled, to Pawnee

and Wichita villages of eastern Kansas.

When it was learned that the Turk had steered Coronado there in an effort to

starve him and his army through the winter months, Coronado ordered the Turk

be killed.

The Spanish leader and his men were forced to retreat to the Rio Grande

in 1541, but returned to Mexico City a year later.

The constant and unyielding resistance of the Indians was enough to stop the

first major European assault on the Southwest, and it would be 80 years

the Spanish would try again.

The next time, however, it would not be only in an effort to profit through

forced Indian labor, but it would be a renewed mission to convert every last

encountered native to Christianity.

existed long before Europeans brought Africans to the continent.

Indian slaves were often owned by other tribes.

Some worked in the silver mines in Peru.

Others were kept for religious purposes, as with the Aztecs and some Pacific

Northwest tribes.

Others still became slaves as a result of intertribal warfare, as the American

colonies were undergoing development and growth.

Native Americans were forced to labor as slaves, along with Africans, as miners,

apprentices for artisans, and plantation workers.

Oftentimes, Native Americans were moved across North America for enslavement,

while those in Central America would be sent to the West Indies.

After the arrival of Columbus in the New World and his discovery of its people,

he ships natives back to Spain.

to help pay off the expenses of his expedition.

It didn't take long for Native Americans to be heavily included in the existing

African slave trade, and within a few decades, they were taken from the island

of Hispaniola and sent to Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Cuba, and the Bahamas.

But due to the drastic increase in warfare and disease -related deaths in

indigenous island's population, the Spanish moved into Central America.

where they enslaved nearly 650 ,000 Indians during the 16th century.

When the conquistadors entered North America, slavery continued, and the

were either sent back to Europe for profit or kept on in the New World as

By the middle of the 1500s, general enslavement was outlawed by Spain.

There were, of course, exceptions to this.

Anyone thought to be a cannibal, for instance, was still fair game for

enslavement. The Spanish colonists found other ways to get around the no

-slavery laws and created alternatives for keeping Indians in servitude.

Though African slavery predominated, Indians were still drafted into unfree

labor with little or no pay for their services.

North of Mexico, Indians enslaved and sold other Indians to colonists in

exchange for goods and to keep alliances strong against rival tribes.

Much of the slavery conducted by natives against other natives was done in an

effort to keep from being targeted during European raids.

Early colonists used slavery to fund their economic expansion, and between

and 1720, there were more Indians shipped out of Charleston, South

than there were Africans imported as slaves.

It wasn't until the middle of the 18th century that the slavery of Indians in

the colonies began to decline.

This was greatly due to a larger number of Indians who had once participated in

the trade, now refusing.

Much of the native slave trade moved westward, under the control of the

Comanche.

In the South, along with African slavery, the enslavement of Indians

heavily into the 19th century.

An attempt was made to put an end to Indian slavery in the West.

But despite all efforts, the trade continued and even flourished in

with the event of the gold rush.

This was done without any legal authority, and many slave owners simply

neglected to inform their slaves that such servitude, had become prohibited.

The invasion of European immigrants continued, and as California's Indian

populations were stripped of their vital food sources, they had little choice

but to counterattack in the mining towns and settlements around them and search

for provisions.

Instead of protecting the native people, the California legislature passed the

Indenture Act, giving legal authorization for settlers to go ahead

Native Americans once again.

Many who fell victim to this retribution were children who were kidnapped and

sold into slavery, sometimes by their own tribe's people.

After the arrival of the Spanish in the New World, the only resource more

valuable for trade between tribes and slaves or food was horses.

Though horses had existed in North America during the Paleo -Indian period,

around 10 ,000 years before.

Rather than as a mode of transportation, they were a food source that

disappeared during the Ice Age.

One of the few positive contributions from the Spanish was the reintroduction

horses to the continent in the 1400s.

This accidental benefit, first taken advantage of by the Southwestern tribes,

proved to be essential to Native American lives.

as it increased mobility, created an additional asset in trade, and changed

intertribal warfare.

Once horses had reached the plains Indians, their use also eased the

buffalo, thus changing the food supply for many tribes.

Horses also became a status symbol, as their acquisition was made by either

stealing from European explorers or having to capture strays that had

from Spanish holdings.

horses were not easily obtainable.

As trade spread from tribe to tribe and across greater distances, like

agricultural advancements, horses eventually became a highly thought

commodity.

Because dogs were the only animals on the plains prior to horses that could

transport any kind of burden, the reintroduction of the larger animals

lives of the natives made it possible for them to move even greater amounts of

items at a time.

It enabled tribes who had been living sedentary lives to become nomadic,

increasing resources and trade availability with other tribes.

When horses reached Nebraska around the late 1600s and upper Missouri by the mid

-1700s, the Apache were able to move horse herds south to Kansas and east to

Dakotas. further expanding trade and mobility to the tribes they encountered.

In the 1700s, the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho, who resided in Nebraska,

were able to leave the Great Lakes region and move to the plains.

The possession of horses gave the natives new options for their cultures,

with that, gave them a greater advantage against those who invaded their lands.

On May 8, 1587,

Nearly 100 years after the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the New World,

colonists sailed across the Atlantic from England to North America.

John White led this voyage of men, women, and children aiming for the

Bay.

After ending their journey early out of concern for weather unsuitable for

travel, they landed on what would later be known as Roanoke Island, just off the

northern coast of North Carolina.

Shortly after their arrival, White's daughter gave birth to Virginia Dare,

first child of European parents to be born on American soil.

As many of the Spanish had discovered, life in the New World was not the

paradise or the land of riches that the colonists had heard about and expected.

Within only three months after arriving, supplies ran low, and the settlement

lacked the necessary tools for the upkeep of their establishment.

Their dealings with natives, though not hostile at that point, had been less

than friendly, and they were in constant fear of attack from nearby tribes.

With the intention of restocking greatly needed supplies, White returned to

England with some of his men.

and left the other colonists behind.

His return would not come as quickly as he had hoped.

With England at war with Spain, White's timing was very poor, and the lack of an

available ship necessary for his return to Roanoke Island put three years

between him and his arrival.

When he finally reached the colony, he did not find the thriving community that

he and the settlers had hoped to build.

What he did find...

was that every last colonist, including his daughter and granddaughter, had

vanished.

So where did this entire colony go?

There are several theories to this unsolved mystery, none of which have

been entirely proven.

During the three years in which White was away, Roanoke Island underwent one

the worst droughts the area had ever seen.

Had this caused the settlers to simply pack up and move on?

The houses and other structures had all been dismantled, not destroyed,

suggesting that if they had moved on, it was done in a methodical manner, rather

than a hurried or forced departure.

White also found the word Croatoan carved into a fence post,

and C.

carved into a nearby tree.

The Croatoans were one of a few native tribes with whom the settlers had

established a sometimes rocky relationship.

Was it possible that things had gone that sour and the settlers had met an

untimely end from an Indian attack?

Two years before the settlers had even arrived, a writer by the name of Thomas

Harriet

had visited Roanoke Island and reported that relations between the natives and

nearby English settlers were mutually calm and prosperous.

This was contradictory to the idea of whites colonists meeting a tragic fate

the hands of natives, though it still remains a great possibility.

The missing settlement of Roanoke Island was not the first group of English to

come to the area.

Another group, founded by Sir Walter Raleigh, had arrived in 1585.

They were met with a multitude of challenges, ranging from lack of food

to Indian attacks.

Their interactions with the Indian tribes had started amicably enough, but

developed after a local Indian chief was accused of theft.

The colonists avenged this petty crime by burning the Indian village.

and the Indians in turn refused any further trading of food to the

Even with a peace conference between the Roanoke chief, Wingina, and English

military commander, Ralph Lane, friendly exchanges could not be reestablished,

and natives in the area rejected any further cooperation with the settlers.

After White and his colony had arrived, and having heard of how things had

previously gone awry with the natives, Retribution was mistakenly made on the

Croatoans, one of the last tribes in the area that was still friendly with the

English.

While it was no secret that the natives did not want more English invading and

stealing their land, there had never been enough exact evidence to prove that

the lost colony met with such a gruesome end, though a full -scale massacre

could explain.

why the buildings in the settlement had been taken down as they had.

Two accounts have led to this conclusion, the first coming to King

Royal Council from Jamestown leader, Captain John Smith.

Smith learned from chronicler Samuel Purchase that Powhatan tribe chief Wahun

Sunakak, or Chief Powhatan as he was known, had seen to the slaughter

The second account was made by William Strachey, Secretary of the Jamestown

Colony. In his report, The History of Travail into Virginia -Britannia,

Strachey told of how the missing colonists had lived peacefully near the

Chesapeans for nearly 20 years since their arrival.

But because of unsavory prophecies made by Chief Powhatan's priests that

described his demise at the hands of English invaders, the chief had the

settlers killed.

This was suspected to have happened shortly before Christopher Newport

with a ship of new settlers into Chesapeake Bay.

Search missions were held in the hopes of finding survivors of this possible

attack, but none were ever found, nor was there ever any substantial evidence

uphold Strachey's writings.

It is quite possible that the English persisted in fabricating this image of

villainous natives in the hopes of continuous support of the crown.

A very different theory suggests that the settlers were the ones to

their housing and use the materials to build boats or rafts to move the entire

population of the colony from the island.

While it's likely that the Croatoan natives weren't anxious for further

with English settlers,

they may have found a way to integrate and accept a coexistence.

From early 1600 through the 1800s, there were tales of Europeans encountering

Indians with gray or light -colored eyes near to Roanoke Island.

Though also not proven through any verified accounts, this detail could be

indicative of at least some of the missing settlers having gone.

either willingly or forced, to live with nearby tribes.

A few other theories on the lost colony have been put forth.

One of these is the possibility that disease had wiped out the settlement.

But to date, there has been no evidence found leading to a mass of illness

-related deaths.

No bodies or graves were ever found, and it would not have fully explained the

missing structures.

even a severe storm or hurricane had been suspected, but ruled out, as

responsible for the disappearance of both people and houses.

This, due to the fact that the fence in which Croatoan was carved was still

standing, and likely would have been destroyed in such an event.

To this day, historians have not been able to pinpoint just what exactly

happened to the Roanoke Island settlement and its people.

All theories aside, And to the long -standing bafflement of those who have

to solve the mystery, the colonists simply disappeared without a trace.

On May 13, 1607, after nearly five months at sea, an expedition

known as the Virginia Company of London, and consisting of 104 English settlers,

arrived at a peninsula on the James River.

At that point, The entire east coast, north of Florida, was considered

named such after the virgin queen, Queen Elizabeth I.

The purpose of this voyage to the New World was to obtain valuable resources,

such as gold and silver, and deliver them to their English sponsor.

After great difficulty and setback, this settlement would be the first permanent

English community established on North American soil.

First known as James Fort, and then James City after King James I, the

settlement would eventually be named Jamestown.

This little village consisted of a triangular wooden fort with a storehouse

supplies, several living quarters, and even a church.

After only a few months of being in the New World, the commander of this

expedition,

Christopher Newport took two ships and 40 crew members and headed back to

England for more supplies.

It wasn't until January of 1608 that he would return.

Like colonists that had arrived before them, the Jamestown settlers met with

their share of challenges.

Famine, disease, and the constant threat of conflict with local Indian tribes,

this time the Powhatans.

a powerful chiefdom of over 30 villages, had the colony on the verge of failing

within the first two years.

This tribe had conquered the Kickoftons a decade before the arrival of the

Virginia Company and defeated the Chesapeakes around 1607.

There was some speculation that English survivors of the Roanoke colony had

lived among the Chesapeake Indians, and with rumors of the fall of Chief

Powhatan's empire, making him defensive toward the English, the settlers had

much to fear in the way of native retaliation.

John Smith, a former mercenary and now part of Jamestown's governing council,

was able to establish an understanding with Chief Powhatan in 1608, which

enabled the settlers to have, albeit somewhat unstable, trade relations with

Powhatan's tribe.

This at least made it possible for the settlers to have access to corn in

exchange for beads, metal tools, and weapons, which helped to ease the lack

food.

Both groups had interests in survival and expansion and would have to depend

one another to meet those goals.

But the Powhatans grew resentful of the English settlers, finding them incapable

of sustaining themselves and of making a poor choice.

in where to establish a settlement, and for taking corn from Indian villages

while believing they were culturally superior to the natives.

At the end of 1607, the Palatans kidnapped John Smith, interrogated him

months, and then declared him an allegorical member of their own tribe in

effort to merge Jamestown with their community.

When Newport returned in January, he attempted to do the same, to Chief

Powhatan, making him a subject of King James for the sake of gaining ownership

of Powhatan land.

This conflict of interest would lead to a hostile eruption in relations in 1609,

resulting in the Powhatans blockading the Jamestown settlers in the hopes of

either starving them out or forcing abandonment of the colony.

The skirmish only ended when the English instigated the kidnapping of Powhatan's

daughter, Pocahontas.

The colony would know a period of peace after the marriage of Pocahontas to

another settler, John Roth.

This was an historically groundbreaking union, whose harmony between people

would be crucial to the survival of the colony and any possible hope of future

expansion.

English dreams and ambitions aside,

This would be the catalyst for approximately five to six hundred

English casualties, and seemingly no peace between cultures in sight.

The history of Native Americans is as complex and worthy of note as the

people to whom it belongs.

For thousands of years, hundreds of thousands of communities have been

and warring with each other as city and tribe, adapting to change and fully

utilizing the resources available to them.

While not all of their history has been peaceful, and there has, at times, been

social imbalance within, Native Americans have created their own customs

which they've lived.

With the arrival of Europeans, namely the Spanish conquistadors to the

continents,

the natives were exposed to some of the most unnatural and destructive changes

their cultures would ever know.

Violent conflict and disease would kill off thousands within a short amount of

time.

Complete cities and empires would collapse, and entire populations would

forever wiped out of existence, all in the name of greed and the intolerance

of a difference.

in beliefs.

The greatest of injustices would be served to masses of people who had done

nothing but continue with the only ways they'd ever known.

And this would continue for centuries to come.

Despite the many European invasions, the injustices, and strife, the Native

American people have been resilient.

They have carried their beliefs, their stories, and their traditions throughout

the years with pride and hope, many of them having willingly shared their

culture with those around them.