The Native Americans and the Colonists of Jamestown affected each other’s lives immensely. They were forced to coexist and live among one another. Their relationship consisted of many factors, but trade was a necessity between these two dominant societies. The colonists needed the Native Americans to survive which they accomplished through trade.
In the book, Colonial America: From Jamestown to Yorktown, written by Mary K. Geiter and W.A. Speck, they talk about the colonists initial arrival to Jamestown and how they were low on supplies and needed food to help prevent starvation. At first the Indians were peaceful and wanted to help the new colonists. They supplied them with food and furs. One extremely important food source for the colonists was corn. The Indians were also generous with this essential crop, and provided them with as much corn as they could. In the book American Slavery, American Freedom, the author Edmund Morgan quotes, “When the supplies ran out in the first autumn, Smith succeeded in trading with the Indians for corn” (Morgan, 76). This new friendship of trade was short lived. The peace was brief and conflict arose in 1609. Both parties accused each other of stealing and cheating. The once functioning Jamestown started to deteriorate without the help of the Indians and their willingness to trade (Geiter and Speck, 54).
The new hostility between the settlers and the natives started to take a toll on the wellness of Jamestown. Martin Quitt mentions in his article “Trade and Acculturation at Jamestown, 1607-1609: The Limits of Understanding” about how the Englishmen could not grow corn or crops like the Indians because they did not know the ways of the land. In exchange for corn the Indians got tools, liquor, and ammunition (Quitt, 233). Smith soon found it hard to trade with any Indian tribe after all the disagreements that took place. Corn was hard to get and Smith was getting worried. The colonists had limited food, health, women, and authority. The needed the Indians to survive (Quitt, 243). The Indians and colonists could not come to an agreement. The colonists started to take the corn by force and violence (Quitt, 257). “Smith was sure that kindness was wasted on savages, and within weeks he was successful bullying and browbeating Powhatan out of hundreds of bushels of corn” (Morgan, 77). After all the Indians had done for the struggling settlers, they repay them by killing and murdering them for food. The Indians were helpless against the guns and weapons because the colonists had never traded firearms with the Indians (Quitt, 230). The Indians needed protection and the colonists needed food. They both realized that they needed each other, and the colonists needed to Indians food to endure. They finally came to an agreement that the Indians would only trade the corn if they got firearms in exchange (Quitt, 258).
Though the relationship between the natives and the settlers was trying, they needed each other in many ways. For the colonists it was to survive and for the Indians it was to have new technologies. They had their problems, but they played a huge role in each other’s lives, and they experienced this through trade.
Geiter, Mary K., and W.A. Speck. Colonial America: From Jamestown to Yorktown. New York: Palgrave
MacMillan, 2002. Print.
Morgan, Edmund S. “The Jamestown Fiasco and the Persistent Vision.” American
Slavery, American Freedom. 1st ed. New York: W.W. Norton&Company, Inc., 1975. 72-99. Print.
Quitt, Martin H. “Trade and Acculturation at Jamestown, 1607-1609: The Limits of
Understanding.” The William and Mary Quarterly, 52.2 (1995): 227-258. Web.
In the book, Colonial America: From Jamestown to Yorktown, written by Mary K. Geiter and W.A. Speck, they talk about the colonists initial arrival to Jamestown and how they were low on supplies and needed food to help prevent starvation. At first the Indians were peaceful and wanted to help the new colonists. They supplied them with food and furs. One extremely important food source for the colonists was corn. The Indians were also generous with this essential crop, and provided them with as much corn as they could. In the book American Slavery, American Freedom, the author Edmund Morgan quotes, “When the supplies ran out in the first autumn, Smith succeeded in trading with the Indians for corn” (Morgan, 76). This new friendship of trade was short lived. The peace was brief and conflict arose in 1609. Both parties accused each other of stealing and cheating. The once functioning Jamestown started to deteriorate without the help of the Indians and their willingness to trade (Geiter and Speck, 54).
The new hostility between the settlers and the natives started to take a toll on the wellness of Jamestown. Martin Quitt mentions in his article “Trade and Acculturation at Jamestown, 1607-1609: The Limits of Understanding” about how the Englishmen could not grow corn or crops like the Indians because they did not know the ways of the land. In exchange for corn the Indians got tools, liquor, and ammunition (Quitt, 233). Smith soon found it hard to trade with any Indian tribe after all the disagreements that took place. Corn was hard to get and Smith was getting worried. The colonists had limited food, health, women, and authority. The needed the Indians to survive (Quitt, 243). The Indians and colonists could not come to an agreement. The colonists started to take the corn by force and violence (Quitt, 257). “Smith was sure that kindness was wasted on savages, and within weeks he was successful bullying and browbeating Powhatan out of hundreds of bushels of corn” (Morgan, 77). After all the Indians had done for the struggling settlers, they repay them by killing and murdering them for food. The Indians were helpless against the guns and weapons because the colonists had never traded firearms with the Indians (Quitt, 230). The Indians needed protection and the colonists needed food. They both realized that they needed each other, and the colonists needed to Indians food to endure. They finally came to an agreement that the Indians would only trade the corn if they got firearms in exchange (Quitt, 258).
Though the relationship between the natives and the settlers was trying, they needed each other in many ways. For the colonists it was to survive and for the Indians it was to have new technologies. They had their problems, but they played a huge role in each other’s lives, and they experienced this through trade.
Geiter, Mary K., and W.A. Speck. Colonial America: From Jamestown to Yorktown. New York: Palgrave
MacMillan, 2002. Print.
Morgan, Edmund S. “The Jamestown Fiasco and the Persistent Vision.” American
Slavery, American Freedom. 1st ed. New York: W.W. Norton&Company, Inc., 1975. 72-99. Print.
Quitt, Martin H. “Trade and Acculturation at Jamestown, 1607-1609: The Limits of
Understanding.” The William and Mary Quarterly, 52.2 (1995): 227-258. Web.