The Colonists on Native Lands There has been a wide range of interactions throughout the centuries involving white settlers and Native Americans. Throughout the 1600’s Native Americans and the European Colonists lived in close contact. The exchanges, both negative and positive, between the New England and Chesapeake regions with the neighboring Indian tribes had many different effects on how the Colonists and the Natives would interact throughout the 17th century. In the colonies gathered in the New England region, initial relations with the Indian tribes were relatively positive. In Plymouth, when the pilgrims first landed in America, they unknowingly settled on an Indian burial ground. They were yet to figure out the lay of the land, so they also began to unconsciously steal from their Native American neighbors. This annoyed the Indians, but they simply observed to see what the newcomers would do next. Eventually Squanto, an Indian from a neighboring tribe, went to the colonists and gave them tips on how to grow crops in this area and climate. Squanto’s act of kindness helped build a trusting relationship between the Native American’s and colonists. Regardless of the positive relationship with Squanto, there were still many attacks on the unprepared colonists. The men and women that had spread out in the New England territory did not show any respect for the Native Americans who had been living on that land far before the colonists arrival. The colonists began to need more space for their constant growing population with people coming from Europe and wanted to expand further into Connecticut. The only thing in their way was the Pequot Indians. In 1637 the Colonist’s attacked the Pequot tribe, and further strained the already fragile relationship between the white settlers and Indians, this was knows as the Pequot Indian War. For decades after this war, the Indians all over the region remained unorganized and unable to fight the colonists. Slowly but surely, the Native Americans built up their strength again to fight. The Wampanoag tribe became upset that the trading had diminished with the colonists. So, after years of conflict and resistance to the tribe, the tribe attacked and killed a huge mass of colonists in New England. This caused immense tension amongst the colonists and Indians. The ambush had torn apart families and communities of all contributors involved in the war. Although there was hope for a positive relationship when the Indians and colonists initially began to interact, gradually the New Englanders were incapable of sustaining any form of relationship with the natives. The Chesapeake colonists’ encounters with the surrounding Indians were mainly negative from the start. Unlike the New England settlers, the Chesapeake