Question 1
When the Spanish first arrived in the West Indies, they were aided by the Indians but didn’t have any real relationship with them. As time moved on, the Spanish pushed outward and forced the Indians away by force. Because there were so many Indians, the Spanish forced labor upon them and often times treated them as lesser than themselves and as savages. Through so much contact with the Indians, many of the enslaved tribes were plagued by disease, so massive numbers of Indians would die off, causing the Spanish to enslave more Indians. Based off of historical accounts, the Indians were being treated terribly and that it was cruel. The Spanish terrorized the Indians, overworked them in the fields, forced them to pay taxes, to reform their religions to Christianity and if they did not, they would kill them. They forced the Indians to work in gold and silver mines, although there was not any to be found. Though many of the Indians wanted to rebel, they could not because they were so weakened by the disease that the Spanish had brought with them.
When the French arrived, however they took a different approach. They were a little more lax in their methods of forming a relationship with the Indians. Still, they enslaved the Indians, but were much more tolerable and neutral towards the Indians. Since both parties had goals of their own, which were fur and tools, many French and Indian parties formed alliances with each other. So, in order to get fur, The French would trade items such as metal manufacturing instruments, guns, other types of weapons, stronger materials for clothing, building, and farming; things that the natives did not or wanted to possess. Though many traded with the Indians for fur, some wanted to make much more profit than those that were simply trading to get what they wanted. These people were known as cur de bois, or “Runners of the Woods”, and were the gnarliest backcountry Frenchmen. They lived amongst Native Americans and lived in the woods for months at a time. They thought that if they could be just like the Native Americans; they can use their trade to make all of the money they wanted to. Some of them even learned the languages of the Indians and even married women of the tribes to form greater alliances with surrounding native tribes. The stronger the bond the French had with the natives the more money they could potentially make. Because of the cur de bois’ luck in the fur business, other Frenchman were jealous of them and hated them.
The Spanish were cruel to the natives, enslaved them, and killed them, but the Frenchmen were gentler and worked with the natives to further aid in one another’s goals. The Frenchman lived among them and didn’t want to expand, but to make profit. It was the opposite with the Spanish. They wanted glory and gold, as well as expansion. As a result, the natives died or were killed by the Spanish.
Question 2
The five main regional differences between the Northern, Middle, and Southern Colonies were that of environment, agriculture, manufacturing, trade, and religion.
Environment played a significant role in the lives of the colonists and they would have to move with the seasons to survive. In the region where the Northern colonies lay; New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island; the climate of the area was much colder than those of the other two regional areas which made it have a shorter growing season. Its geography was of hilly terrain and rocky soil, which made it difficult to grow crops. The New England Colonies produced very little crops, so some of their food would have to come from the breeding of animals. Its natural resources were fish, whales, trees
