by Molly McGuire

Created on: November 04, 2009

How the Pilgrims Interacted with the Native Americans

On March 22 in 1621, a group of Native Americans startled a handful of settlers who had arrived on the shores of Massachusetts a few months before, just as the winter began, on December 16. The trio of natives, were the sachem (chief) of the Wampanoag Massasoit, accompanied by Samoset, a Narraganset, and Tisquantum, whom we know today as Squanto, the friendly Indian. They wore only loin clothes, leather leggings, and around their necks were the shells called wampum, sometimes used for trading. Their faces bore three black marks across the nose, and the settlers marveled at the nearly naked men who seemed unperturbed by the chilly air.

The natives of New England were no strangers to the Europeans, who had trolled their shores for decades prior to the settlement at Plymouth. Since the first encounter with Columbus more than a century before, new world inhabitants saw an unending stream of European adventurers seeking riches and searching for the fabled passage to China.
Wars and the Black Death encouraged the exodus from the continent; the Europe's land was exhausted, cities were filthy and crowded, and disease outbreaks still ravaged many areas. People were eager to take their chances in a new land, one that offered a new beginning where they were free from the wars and other problems that haunted Europe.

In those early days, the coastal natives did not allow the Europeans to penetrate inland, and they kept them along the coastal areas and acted as middlemen as they traded for goods they could in turn trade with the inland natives. The New England natives found the Europeans dirty and unhealthy looking, with beast-like fur covering their faces, and considered their ways very uncivilized.

When the Mayflower arrived in December, many in the party were ill, and some had died during the long crossing. After sitting aboard ship in Cape Cod Bay for three days, a party headed ashore to find supplies for the malnourished passengers, who neglected to bring enough provisions for the journey across the ocean. They had ignored advice from John Smith, who had made several Atlantic trips and founded Virginia's Jamestown, and set out certain they could find the Virginia colony on their own, with available maps. However, this was not the case, and they sailed up and down the coast of New England until they were forced to land at Pawtuxet along the Massachusetts coast.

The adventurous party that went ashore found a deserted

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