Is the Native American relationship with colonists described in 'In the Days of Poor Richard' historically accurate?

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All of the land in the colonies was originally owned by various Indian groups whose populations were declining rapidly due to diseases from Europe, while the populations of the colonists were growing through births and immigration and they needed more land.

So land deals between the Indians and the colonists were natural, and usually benefited both sides. But humans being human, relations between various Indian groups and various groups of colonists often deteriorated into bloody wars.

In Pennsylvania with its strong Quaker element, the government purchased land from various Indian groups during the early 18th century. And those were mostly very fair deals compared to most.

It was not until the "Walking Purchase" of 1737 that the Pennsylvania government cheated a group of Lenape Indians by taking more land in a deal than the Indians expected, and they only dared to do so because they had already arranged that the Iroquois, the powerful overlords of the Lenape, would not intervene on behalf of the Lenape.

And that was still a lot less bad than the outright conquest a number of other colonies used at various times.

I note that it was common for Indians to capture enemies and assimilate them into their tribes. I have read that about 1700 many Iroquois villages had populations who were mostly assimilated from tribes the Iroquois had more or less genocided during the Beaver Wars.

And of course a number of colonists were captured and assimilated into Indian groups.

A number of white persons also voluntarily joined various Indian groups.

Similarly white colonists sometimes captured Indians and sold them as slaves in the Caribbean or kept them as slaves themselves. Indians whose homes became surrounded by incoming settlers often more or less assimilated into the colonial society which was now the majority of the population.

I have read that many 19th century New England sailors and whalers were New England Indians.

So there were a number of Indians who were white, and a number of white people who were Indians. And sometimes those assimilated regained contact with their relatives in the other group.

There were also a number of people born to mixed parents, who usually joined one group or the other and often acted as intermediaries between them.

The Dutch established a permanent trading post at Albany, New York,t o trade with the Indians, in 1614. Trade with the Indians was a significant part of colony economy, and trade with the settlers became an even more significant part of the Indian economy as the Indians began to use more and more European goods and lost their skills to make things the old way.

Thus there was a lot of peaceful contact between Indians and the colonists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_Purchase[1]

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