In which John Green teaches you about relations between the early English colonists and the Native people they encountered in the New World. In short, these relations were poor. As soon as they arrived, the English were in conflict with the native people. At Jamestown, Captain John Smith briefly managed to get the colony on pretty solid footing with the local tribes, but it didn’t last, and a long series of wars with the natives ensued. This pattern would continue in US history, with settlers pushing into native lands and pushing the inhabitants further west. In this episode, you’ll learn about Wahunsunacawh (who the English called Powhatan), his daughter Pocahontas, King Philip’s (aka Metacom) War, and the Mystic Massacre. By and large, the history of the Natives and the English was not a happy one, even Thanksgiving wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Hey teachers and students – Check out CommonLit’s free collection of reading passages and curriculum resources to learn more about the events of this episode. The English tried and failed for a decade to establish a foothold in the New World in Native territory, leading to the lost colony of Roanoke: https://www.commonlit.org/texts/settling-a-new-world-the-lost-colony-of-roanoke-island
When Jamestown was finally established in Virginia in 1607, the local Powhatan tribes sought friendly relations with the settlers, which quickly deteriorated: https://www.commonlit.org/texts/chief-powhatan-s-address-to-captain-john-smith
Chapters:
Introduction 00:00
Native Americans’ Relationship to English Settlers 0:28
Trade Between Europeans and Natives 1:36
Pochahontas 2:23
Conflict, Uprisings, and the Failure of the Virginia Company 3:10
The Puritans’ Relationship with Native Americans 4:21
The Pequot War 5:45
King Phillip’s War 6:35
Mystery Document 8:24
How Native Americans Resisted Colonization 9:49
Credits 10:54
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