I think I would be wrong if I did not mention greed as a motive (if not a reason) for colonization of the New World. Back at the end of the 15th century when Columbus just discovered America the main impetus he had to risk going across the great water the end of which nobody was aware of was the desire of money – the unknown always lures with possible treasures.
Of course, the most rational and most urgent motive for Europeans to colonize the New World was the economic one. In addition to the fact that European economics did need new markets as such, it was also vital that the newly found New World possessed many resources that could be accessed on the come-and-grab basis – the workforce was gratis due to the dominance of the white over the natives and the land was still not emaciated. This promised good perspective as per how to continue develop European economies.
Another good reason to colonize the New World consisted in political freedom. At the end of the medieval times many Europeans were tired of dogmas imposed by the church and of the feudal system which gave no rights to the majority of people. So many risked, went overseas and started working hard cherishing the hope to find freedom, both economic and social. By the way, this can easily be supported by the fact that even in the Declaration of Independence of the United States liberty and equality are mentioned as principles and goals of the American society, which means that this had obviously been one of the reasons why those people had come there.
Finally, more as a prerequisite, than a motive but still, there was a fact that the European civilization was obviously way more developed than any other in the world. Therefore it was kind of a natural process that Europeans, being more powerful, sought to subjugate and use the resources of those who were not, notwithstanding the fact how cruel and cynical this may sound.
It was at the beginning of the 17th century that more or less active colonization of the American continent took place. However, what touches upon at least English colonization of the New World it was not until 1700th that the English began colonizing territories other than Boston, New York and some others. In 1607 Virginia was founded, in 1630 – Maryland and in 1680 – Delaware. Back then, almost till the beginning of the eighteenth century all the English colonies were not independent economically and they had to be supplied with all the goods from the metropolis.
At the same time starting with the beginning of the 16th century an entire region, later known as New England, begins to be colonized. Boston, Massachusetts Bay and later Maryland become districts around which the life of the colonial areas spins. There were several principal reasons for frictions between the English and the natives to emerge, all of them being quite conceptual.
First of all, when colonizers came to America they did not pay any attention to who lived there at that time. They thought only about the fact that they needed some space to live and to occupy, not caring about the natives too much, who, as a result of the white coming, were forced out of their natural habitats. Fair enough this enraged the endemic population and led to serious friction between the Indians and the colonizers, often spilling over to warfare. The thing that added up to the intensity of these frictions was that the white began building different forts which was no friendly sign.
The second reason, as I see it, consists in the fact that the white did not see the natives as equal people and, subsequently, oppressed them violently. The fact that the civilizational level of the Indians’ development was far lower than that of the Europeans ended in their being ousted of their habitats, sometimes – their being made to work for the white, but mainly just in their being destroyed in bloody battles. It must be said that in the majority of cases this cruelty was not justified by any rational reasons.
But all of these were just general notes about reasons of frictions. To get to specifics suffice it to say about the Pequot War which happened in 1936-1937. The war burst out because of numerous property disputes between the whites and the natives, disputes over hunting areas, areas for growing crops and even some more exotic reasons including selling alcohol to Indians and cheating on the latter while trading.
Finally there were several long-lasting reasons that should even better be called tendencies. The two of them are worth special highlighting – starvation and diseases. What touches upon the first, it logically results from the above mentioned facts describing how the Europeans deprived Indians from the land, hunting and other resources. And what touches upon the second tendency, this deals with illnesses brought by the very same Europeans to the New World, the first among which was plague. These two things – starvation and sicknesses – both caused by the newcomers, instilled fierce hatred in Indians and added up to the frictions between the colonizers and the natives significantly.
