Indians in New England 1670, Research Paper Example

The life in the New England colony was not a life to behold. The colonies had poor soils and most people farmed hence they received little amount of food. The Indians really were afraid when the settlers continued to take their land that they treasured so much and were ready to do anything to safeguard their land. They saw the settler as people who had come to change their way of life and grab their land. Due to the above issue fights broke up. The English people really posed a major threat to their way of life.

In the year 1675 King Philip led groups of New England Indians to attack to attach the English mercilessly in what was called Phillips Wars. In this war about twenty six settlements were destroyed and the Indians fled to west. The wars diminished the already low population of the Indians and instead they came into compromise in 1675 (Kupperman, 2000).

At first the English viewed the Indians as pagans and savages from the bush who deserved no rights or were inferior and did not deserve civilized treatment either.

In 1692 the church was so strong and influenced many decisions in the colony. The Salem witchcraft was an episode that left many people dead. The sect members from England who had arrived in 1656 created a division to the colonizers hence this one worked to the advantage of the Indians. The first arrivals of these sect members included Fisher and were imprisoned and sent back to England. This inhuman treatment to the first members of the sect encouraged the believers of the sect in England. They were ready to die as martyrs in New England. They flocked in New England and fearlessly mocked the Puritan Magistrates.

In return the Puritans and state brought new harsh laws to the Pequots. In 1661 this extreme believe subsided and they began to preach to the pagan Indians. By so doing the issue of religion pacified and changed the minds of the Indians and they became friendlier than before. The praying Indians were welcome by the colonizers (Nash, 2000).

In New England Indians believed that every person had two souls. The diseases that the Indians faced were linked by some to a curse while to others it was a comet. It was the colonizers who were in a better place. It is the military, disease or Christianity that finally subdued the Indians. The cost of the wars to the Indians was big and really led them to re think about their strategies and future (Reich, 1998). Although the Indians were brave their numbers deteriorated fast due to diseases like Malaria and other killer diseases that wiped their almost entire population. Since they relied much on traditional medicine they were not well prepared to deal with the diseases that they associated with witchcraft and even curse.

In conclusion the diseases that wiped the Indians away really played a major role in eradicating them and making them friendly to the colonizers. This coupled with the wars meant it worse for the Indians to survive hence the only way out was to give up. The issue of religion made the Puritans who had close links to the Indians to protect them from their enemies, and by so doing became friendly to them.  If it were not for the diseases it would have been very hard for the colonizers to out compete the Indians.

References

Kupperman, O. K. (2000) (2nd Ed.). Major problems in American colonial history. Houghton Mifflin.

Nash, B. G. (2000). Red, white, and Black: the peoples of early North America. University of California: Prentice Hal.

Reich, R. J. (1998). Colonial America. Prentice Hall.