In order to understand others’ cultures and believes we must first see them by what they are, people, just like us. The New Netherlands was a Dutch settlement in the north east side of the United States, a part of the former Mid-Atlantic States. Much is known about the Indians. The Algonkians which settled in the eastern part of the state spoke similar dialects. They were comprised by Mahicans, Delawares, Wappinger, Montauks, and many others. The insufficiency of food and aggressions forced other tribes to migrate north looking for new hunting grounds. These were the Iroquoian Indians of the Mid- Mississippi Valley and by 1570 more or less these tribes coalesced forming the League of the Five Nations. The purposed of this League was ultimately to achieve peace among them. Their societies were matriarchal and matrilineal. The role of the sexes was well defined; men were hunters while the women were cultivators. The families were composed of clans or groups and they were encouraged to married outside of these tribes. [1]
These tribes were not technological equal to the Europeans and their culture was to no doubt, different, but still some similarities existed within the two. All of them were commercially oriented. Went the Indians began to expose themselves to the Europeans goods, such as alcohol, and guns, they began to collected fur and other crops desirable to the Europeans in order to exchange them for their products. This brought disputes within the Indian tribes who began to conquer other tribes and territories with the only purpose of controlling the fur trade.[2]
Dutch tolerance and attitude towards the Indians were somewhat shaped with the same ideals of liberties and toleration towards others’ religion and culture. The Dutch focus in their new colonies was necessarily one of seeking religious freedom or expanding their religion but instead one of making profit. On the other hand, this did not mean that there were not prejudices against the Indians. The Dutch, like the English and the Spaniards, saw the Indians morally and culturally inferior to them. [3]
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