Interactions among Europeans and Native Americans varied from place
to place, and members of each nation forged relationships with Indians
in very different ways, depending on a variety of economic, social and
political factors. While we should be mindful of this diversity, we can
still make certain generalizations. Few Europeans considered Native
Americans their equals, because of differences in religion, agricultural
practice, housing, dress, and other characteristics that—to
Europeans—indicated Native American inferiority. However, the French,
Spanish, and Dutch sought profit through trade and exploitation of New
World resources, and they knew that the native people would be important
to their success. Europeans also wanted to convert Native Americans to
Christianity. Therefore, economic gain and religion were the two factors
that most affected the dynamics of European and indigenous American
relationships.
The Spanish:
Spain, the most powerful monarchy in Europe and the Americas, wished to
enrich themselves with the New World’s natural resources. After
enslaving indigenous peoples in the Caribbean and the southern parts of
the Americas to grow crops and mine for gold, silver, and other
valuables, the Spanish moved into North America where they concentrated
their efforts in what is now the southwestern and southeastern United
States. In Florida, for example, Spain established a military post at
San Augustín, (today called St. Augustine) but only a small number of
Spaniards settled there. Catholic missionaries labored to convert the
Indians to Christianity, and they experienced some success baptizing and
transforming the Guale and Timucuan peoples into farmers. But even the
most cooperative Indians continued to maintain their own religious and
cultural traditions, and many priests concluded that the Indians were
inferior and incapable of understanding Christianity. Indigenous
populations declined over the seventeenth century as epidemics brought
by the Spanish killed large numbers of natives. San Augustín remained a
small outpost throughout the Spanish colonial period; a sort of
multicultural crossroads where indigenous peoples came to trade with
Spaniards and intermarriage between Spanish men and American Indian
women was
