Chronology of American Indian History

faced with leading his people through a time of crisis.
As the Powhatan population is ravaged by a small-
pox epidemic, land-hungry colonists take advantage
of the Indians’ vulnerability by demanding more and
more of their territory. Opechancanough’s rage at the
English will soon erupt into open warfare (see entry
for MARCH 22, 1622). (See also entries for APRIL 18,
1644, and OCTOBER 1646.)

1620

A royal order regulates the use of Indian
labor in Spanish New Mexico.
Amid growing tensions between Spanish authorities
and clergy in Pueblo territory, the viceroy of New
Mexico issues the Royal Order of 1620. The mea-
sure is meant to prevent the New Mexico governor,
Juan de Eulate, and his supporters from exploiting
Indian labor, as priests ministering to the Pueblo
have accused them of doing. According to the
order, only 2 percent of the Pueblo can be pressed
into working for the Spanish as herders and tillers,
and these laborers are to be paid for their work. The
order also prevents Spanish livestock from grazing
on or near the Pueblo’s fields.

December 21

The Pilgrims establish the Plymouth colony
on Indian lands.
Approximately 100 Puritan separatists from the
Church of England (now known as the Pilgrims)
arrive on the coast of what is now Cape Cod, in Mas-
sachusetts. The area is occupied by several Indian
groups, including the Wampanoag, Massachuset,
Pawtucket, and Nipmuck. The Pilgrims immediately
begin staking out farming plots on the Indians’ land.

1621

The Dutch West India Company is formed.
The Netherlands grants a charter to the Dutch West
India Company, which is to have a monopoly on

Dutch trade in North America and Africa. The firm

quickly makes impressive inroads in the fur trade

with northeastern Indian groups, such as the Ma-

hican and the Mohawk. By the end of the decade

it will have more than 15,000 employees and will

actively encourage colonization by offering large es-

tates in North America to Dutchmen who bring 50

settlers to the Dutch colony of New Netherlands.

The English kill Powhatan prophet

Nenmattanaw.

The Powhatan Indians, exhausted by skirmishes

with the English and decimated by non-Indian

diseases (see entry for APRIL 1618), turn to new

religious leaders who promise the return of the

Indian world as it existed before contact with Eu-

ropeans. Prominent among them is Nenmattanaw,

who tells his followers that he has an ointment

that will make them invulnerable to the colonists’

bullets. Amidst rumors that he is planning a re-

bellion, Nenmattanaw kills an Englishman and

walks into the dead man’s village. The colonists

shoot him dead. Many of the prophet’s followers

will avenge his murder the following year by join-

ing Powhatan leader Opechancanough’s surprise

attack against the English villages (see entry for

MARCH 1622).

March

Samoset and Squanto offer help to the

starving Pilgrims.

During a harsh winter with little food, half of the

Plymouth Pilgrims died from disease (see entry for

DECEMBER 21, 1620). Wampanoag leader Massa-

soit takes pity on the survivors and sends Samoset,

an Abenaki who learned a little English from coastal

fishermen, to their settlement. The English colonists

are stunned to see the Indian man approach them

calling out, “Welcome Englishmen.” The Pilgrims

feed Samoset, who returns home the next day.

Several days later, Samoset comes back

to Plymouth with a Pawtucket Indian named

Squanto. Squanto learned to speak English flu-

ently in London after he was captured and taken