by Casey Clay

Created on: July 07, 2008

Beginning with the Spanish in 1492, the "old world" and the "new world" were set on a collision course of cross cultural interactions that would last for more than three hundred years. Each of these different cultures would define the interactions that took place when contact occurred. The Spanish in the Caribbean received a different welcome than when they landed in modern Central America and Mexico. The Portuguese interacted differently with the natives they met in Brazil. The French developed a unique relationship with the Huron in North America. The Dutch established a different rapport with the Natives they met in North America. The men of the Virginia Company established contact with Powhatan in a much different fashion from the rest. Each of these cross-cultural interactions depended upon who was involved.

The Native peoples of the Americas were not a homogeneous group of individuals. There were thousands of different tribes inhabiting the areas of European contact. These different tribes had established relationships with one another that were thrown into chaos once the Europeans came to America. The Europeans also had a variety of cultures and sub-cultures present in the Americas. The Spanish, French, Dutch, Portuguese, and English were the main categories. Within those there was the Virginia Company, the Jesuits, the Puritans, the Huguenots, the Conquistadors, and many others. Each of these different European groups had a different plan for the New World than the others. When all of these groups are thrown together and then groups of African slaves also of different tribal and cultural backgrounds are added to the mix a powder keg of cross-cultural tension is created.

For greater understanding it is important to look more in-depth at a specific place.

One unique group of individuals who settled the New World was the Puritans. This group came largely from England. They were persecuted for their religion in their English homeland. The Puritans sought to reform the Anglican Church. They felt that the church had become corrupted and needed to return to its more "Pure" roots. In the New World they sought to create a "city upon a hill" that would show those doubters in England that their way was the right way. Their activism in England only met with doubt and skepticism. They felt that by creating the perfect society in the New World they would demonstrate to those doubters that they had been wrong all along.

The Puritans landed in the New World in the

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