Keeping the Peace Between Indians and English Colonists: The Seventeenth Century Court System on Virginia's Eastern Shore

Abstract

The Virginia mainland and the Eastern Shore had different experiences between Indians and English colonists in the opposing geographic regions. Relations between Native Americans and English colonists occupying Virginia during the second half of the seventeenth century were more positive on the Eastern Shore than on the Western Shore. Differences in the governmental structures, the physical geography, and the social structures of the regions explains these discrepancies. Specifically, the population density and size of both English settlements and Indian chiefdoms, along with the geographic obstacle of the Chesapeake Bay region, account for the more volatile relationship experienced on the Virginia mainland.