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Similarities And Differences Between The Early American Colonies

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Comparison between Early American Colonies
There are many similarities and differences that followed the European colonization of the North American continent, all in a time of exploration and of searching for the unknown. Many voyages were made to try to make the best possible colony, and many approaches were used whether they were English, French, Spanish, or Dutch. The purpose of this paper is to mainly focus on the two English colonies of Jamestown, Virginia and Plymouth, Massachusetts. While coming from the same English culture, the explorers present two vastly different colonies. We will focus on three main categories: the incentive for the creation each colony, the governance differences, and the treatment of the local Native American …show more content…

Essentially calling them heathens and godless barbarians, they initially had very skeptical encounters with them. The Plymouth colonists had a better time with the Natives as one of the initial contacts with the natives included a native by the name of Squanto. He actually had learned English and was sent to England as a curiosity and eventually found his way back to the Americas. He made the contact with the pilgrims and showed them how to survive in the new lands. This was after they had already lost a lot of men in the previous year and the colony was the verge of collapse. Since Squanto was able to act as a diplomat, translator, and a mediator between the colony and the local Indian tribes, the colony was able to enjoy a tenuous peace, even had a treaty/alliance with them. It seemed almost friendly. Conversely, the Jamestown colony had a more aggressive and almost fearful respect of its native neighbors. John Smith, the leader of Jamestown, was the main liaison between the colonists and the Native Americans. While the colonists did have a decent trading partnership with them, both sides viewed each other with suspicion. Even John Smith at one point was captured by the Natives and was held hostage. In doing so he was able to learn their language, culture and societal norms. In doing so, he was able to help build a bridge, albeit a shaky one, between the two

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