Author Andrew C. Lipman writes about the discovery of John Oldman who had been murdered by the hands of the Narragansett, the Eastern Niantic, and Manisses Indians. He also writes that Oldham’s murder, along with Captain John Stone’s murder in 1634, led to the Pequot War (Lipman, 270). But how did they get to the point of fighting one another? Lipman points out that historians have mistakenly divided colonial and Native territories when it comes to land, and rather historians should note that both colonists and Natives lived on shared land as well as shared waterways (Lipman, 270). The use of the waterways along the coast proved beneficial when it came down to trading, where colonists would use it to connect to the Connecticut and Hudson rivers and the Algonquians lived close to the coast due to trade as well (Lipman, 271). Naturally, two competing forces move towards one another would cause friction, eventually leading to deteriorated relations.<\/p>\n
Another great point brought up was that the Natives were not waiting for the colonists on land, rather they were as Lipman puts it, \u201cpeople in motion\u201d (Lipman, 273). Again, this idea of two competing groups wanting the same space for themselves naturally would have poor relations. Viktoriya wrote on her blog that \u201cit is possible that the Indians were also competing for power on the sea.\u201d<\/a> Europeans found the Native Americans to be knowledgeable as they were great guides, translators and rescuers on the water which leads us to believe that they had just as much experience on water as did the Europeans and could compete for power on the water if they chose to (Lipman, 274). However, Europeans felt and acted that they had the power, which brings up the point of European superiority over the Natives. Lipman writes that the English and Dutch believed that since they were experts on the water, they were superior to the Natives and thus, controlled the land and waterways (Lipman, 274). This power struggle for a shared space led to the murders of both colonists and Native Americans as well as the Pequot War, where the outcome would favor the English in the end.<\/p>\n Lipman, Andrew C. \u201cMurder on the Saltwater Frontier: The Death of John Oldman.\u201d Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 9, <\/em>no. 2 (2011): 268-294. https:\/\/muse.jhu.edu (accessed on September 25, 2016).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n