It was a source of food and a route of travel.

Coastal peoples knew tides, fisheries, shellfish beds, islands, rivers, and inlets intimately.

Inland routes connected communities to hunting grounds, planting areas, and neighboring peoples.

By the early seventeenth century, European vessels had become another element in that landscape.

Native people were not encountering Europeans for the first time in 1620.

Fishermen and explorers had been appearing for years.

Some exchanges were peaceful and profitable.

Metal tools, cloth, and other goods could be obtained through trade.

Europeans wanted furs, food, geographic information, and labor.

But the relationship carried danger.