The Natives and the English - Crash Course US History #3

Hi I'm John Green, this is Crash Course US History and today we're going to talk about one of the worst relationships in American history.

No Thought Bubble, not my college girlfriend and me.

Mr. Green, Mr. Green! Your relationship with your high school girlfriend?

Oh Me From The Past, you and I both know that I didn't have a high school girlfriend.

No, I'm talking about the relationship between Native Americans and English Settlers.

[Theme Music]

So as you'll no doubt remember from last week, the first English settlers came to the Chesapeake area – now Virginia – in 1607.

The land the English found was, of course, already inhabited by Indian tribes unified under the leadership of Chief Wahunsenacawh, and I will remind you that mispronouncing things is my thing!

The English called this Chief Powhatan because, of course, mispronouncing things was also their thing.

Powhatan was actually his title and the name of his tribe, but to say that the English lacked cultural sensitivity would be an understatement.

So Powhatan didn't get to be leader of over 30 tribes by being a dummy and he quickly realized that:

1. The English were pretty clueless, when it came to not dying of starvation, and

2. They were useful – because they had guns.

So he decided to help them and the English were indeed grateful.

In fact, colony leader John Smith went so far as to order the colonists to stop stealing food from the Indians.

Aaauugh, in the book business this is known as foreshadowing.

So as previously noted, relationships, whether between individuals or collectives, tend to go well when they are mutually beneficial, and for a while, both the English and the Indians were better off for these interactions.

I mean, you know, post-smallpox.

The Virginia Company existed to make money, and since the Chesapeake lacked gold or silver, making money required trade.

OK, let's go to the Thought Bubble:

We tend to think of trade between Europeans and Natives as being a one-way exchange, like savvy, exploitative Europeans tricking primitive, pure, indigenous people into unfair deals.

But that isn't quite accurate.

Both sides traded goods that they had in surplus for those they did not.

The English were happy to give up iron utensils, tools, guns, woven cloth in exchange for furs and, especially in the early days, food, which the Indians could easily part with because they had plenty.

Soon, though, there were problems.