Key Concept 2.2

European colonization efforts in North America stimulated intercultural contact and intensified conflict between the various groups of colonizers and native peoples.

I. Competition over resources between European rivals led to conflict within and between North American colonial possessions and American Indians.

• Conflicts in Europe spread to North America, as French, Dutch, British, and Spanish colonies allied, traded with, and armed American Indian groups, leading to continuing political instability.
  • Beaver Wars, Chickasaw Wars
• As European nations competed in North America, their colonies focused on gaining new sources of labor and on producing and acquiring commodities that were valued in Europe.
  • furs, tobacco
• The goals and interests of European leaders at times diverged from those of colonial citizens, leading to growing mistrust on both sides of the Atlantic, as settlers, especially in the English colonies, expressed dissatisfaction over territorial settlements, frontier defense, and other issues.
  • Wool Act, Molasses Act, widespread smuggling in Spanish and English colonies.

II. Clashes between European and American Indian social and economic values caused changes in both cultures.

• Continuing contact with Europeans increased the flow of trade goods and diseases into and out of native communities, stimulating cultural and demographic changes.
  • Catawba nation, population collapse and dispersal of Huron Confederacy, religious conversion among Wampanoag in New England leading to the outbreak of King Philip's War
• Spanish colonizing efforts in North America, particularly after the Pueblo Revolt, saw an accommodation with some aspects of American Indian culture; by contrast, conflict with American Indians tended to reinforce English colonists' worldviews on land and gender roles.
  • praying towns, clothing.