Colonist-Indian relations

 

In the early times this did happen quite frequently, the area of study that I am familiar with would be the Great Lakes region around Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Canada. This area was populated by many Native tribes, and scattered French fur trading outposts. The French came largely as traders, and Jesuits, there were much less women among the new comers than for any other group. They intermarried with the Native women for trading advantages, and to establish family ties, and contacts; for that was the nature of the beast of the trading networks of the 17th century Midwest. However, as in Indian Women and French Men, Susan Sleeper Smith notes that this intermarriage pattern went into the 18th and 19th centuries as well when towns and American social infrastructure had been built up more widespread in the Mid West. Naturally, the offspring by now, lost touch with the Native side, as they lived in cities, and adhered to Anglican culture rather than to their Native halves or whichever percentile their admixture had been. If it had been widespread here, even after the establishment of more widespread settlements, it makes only sense that it would be in other places as well.

 

That's what I though as well. There is just a matter which is not quite clear: how many Natives lived in North America at the time of contact?

 

I believe the 10 million number is a little bit exagerated, though. Between 500.000 and 1 million is a more likely figure, because theirs economies were based mainly in hunting and basic agriculture. There were not large densities in North America. With respect of people's densities, the U.S. it is very much like the Amazon and Patagonia regions.

 

If so, you not only have a preservation but population growth.

 

Now, this topic is very interesting to determine if there was really a large scale genocide in the U.S. or rather what was going on it was an overcrowding of locals and massive assimilation. I believe the later is closer to the true.

 

Pinguin