In our first week readings from American West I found many subjects very relevant and important to my understanding of the broad and loose theme of the American west. In chapter three the subject of the relations between the first colonists and the Natives was of interest to me as I knew little of how each other interacted. The Eastern Indians were very loosely connected to the new European settlers due to the independence of both cultures. The cultural interaction stemmed from the relation of how both groups of people were in the same situation and were farmers and planters. The early habitations of these Indian people was said to resemble an early frontier cabin. Even further explained in chapter three is that such a fusion of culture can be worded as a lingua franca in the the early European settlers from Scandinavia and the Algonquian created a pigeon language to serve for better understanding. A second subject I found of interest in my readings was in chapter five which was focused on the fur trade in the Louisiana Purchase. From the reading in chapter five I understood that the Natives heavily relied on this trade with the European settlers and that the two groups signed many treaties France who set up the best and plentiful trading outposts soon lost out to the English and Natives. This documentation and treaties that were set up also many times faulted the Natives in that they were not familiar with that sort of business transaction. So in many ways if writing a research paper these two subjects are in relation. Five questions in which could get a research paper started are:
1. Did the early interactions between the Natives and the European settlers help create a more diverse community or did it set up many loosely organized independent groups?
2. Did farming for the Natives contribute to greater economic interactions among the early European settlers?
3. How did the language barrier among these two diverse cultures lead to developing more complex languages both cultures would understand?
4. Was the interaction among the settlers and the Natives during fur trades more beneficial to either side or neither side?
5. How did the treaties for both fur and land effect the rapid growth of the new “American Empire?”
