Eary European Exploration
...years ago. Not long after the first explorers had entered the "New World" they found out that they were not alone on this new frontier. Their neighbors in this new land were the Native Americans who had been there for centuries, virtually unaware of life outside the continent. Thus began an inconsistent and often times unstable relationship between the European settlers and the North American Indians. Two nations who had particularly interesting relationships with the Native Americans were the British and the French, both of whom took different approaches to their relations with the Indians economically as well as culturally. Neither nation had complete trust for the Indians, nor did the Indians ever completely trust the men who arrived on "floating islands with many tall trees". Nonetheless, they did interact with one another in their daily lives. Both economically and culturally the French and British went about their interactions with the Native Americans differently. Through first hand writings and documents as well as observations by historians, it is evident that the British and French interacted with the Indians of North America in different ways.
In the early beginnings of exploration, both the British and French had relatively good relationships with the Indians because of the economic success that came with simple cooperation. The fur trade with the Native Americans quickly proved successful because of the outrageously high prices it could be sold for in Europe. Years later the economic goals shifted and so did relations with the Native Americans. The French, headed by Samuel de Champlain, maintained a fur trading network in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence regions and so attempted to improve relations with the Huron Indians of that area. The relationship escalated to the point of an alliance in which the French helped the Hurons fight their enemy the...
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