Roles Played By Native Americans In European Colonization

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The roles played by Native Americans in European colonization were wide and varied, depending on local circumstances. In some cases, Native peoples facilitated colonization, usually because they saw some strategic benefit in doing so. In Jamestown, for example, Powhatan sought a diplomatic relationship with the English colonists because he had recently conquered the region, and saw them as valuable (though subservient) allies. Similarly, Massasoit, the Wampanoag sachem, reached out to the Pilgrim settlers at Plymouth because he thought they could be useful partners in his ongoing conflict against the powerful Narragansets in the region. Throughout the colonies, Native peoples established complex trade relationships with Europeans, as in South