This film examines what life was like for Native Americans prior to European arrival. Following the arrival of white settlers, it's estimated that the Native American population was reduced by 90-95% in 100 years.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdo3AcYoFj8
In which John Green teaches you about relations between the early English colonists and the native people the encountered in the New World. In short, these relations were poor. As soon as they arrived, the English were in conflict with the native people. At Jamestown, Captain John Smith briefly managed to get the colony on pretty solid footing with the local tribes, but it didn't last, and a long series of wars with the natives ensued. This pattern would continue in US history, with settlers pushing into native lands and pushing the inhabitants further west. In this episode, you'll learn about Wahunsunacawh (who the English called Powhatan), his daughter Pocahontas, King Philip's (aka Metacom) War, and the Mystic Massacre. By and large, the history of the Natives and the English was not a happy one, even Thanksgiving wasn't all it's cracked up to be.
Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTYOQ05oDOI&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s&index=4
In which John Green teaches you about the (English) colonies in what is now the United States. He covers the first permanent English colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the various theocracies in Massachusetts, the feudal kingdom in Maryland, and even a bit about the spooky lost colony at Roanoke Island. What were the English doing in America, anyway? Lots of stuff. In Virginia, the colonists were largely there to make money. In Maryland, the idea was to create a a colony for Catholics who wanted to be serfs of the Lords Baltimore. In Massachusetts, the Pilgrims and Puritans came to America to find a place where they could freely persecute those who didn't share their beliefs. But there was a healthy profit motive in Massachusetts as well. Profits were thin at first, and so were the colonists. Trouble growing food and trouble with the natives kept the early colonies from success.
Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o69TvQqyGdg&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s&index=3
The New England colonies differed from the Chesapeake colonies in their economies and environments. However, as Kim Kutz Elliott discusses, both regions shared forms of government that were unusually democratic for the time period, as well as a policy of excluding Native Americans from their societies.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf-4JrX7CeM