1. Social Frontiers
Mercedes Vasquez
Dr. A
Hist 140
Thursday May 19, 2011
According to wikipedia a frontier is a, “political and geographical term referring to areas
near or beyond a boundary” or “a region at the edge of a settled area”. There were many
frontiers facing the early settlers of colonial America. There was endless miles of untouched
land to explore, new foods to try, new skills to learn from the natives, and new people to
conquer. However, these frontiers may have been seen differently during the time the
colonizers were settling into their new home. The frontiers or, unexplored territories of land and
knowledge, gave the settlers a false sense of opportunity and wastefulness of natural
resources. The settlers saw no end to the new land, resources, and opportunities they found.
The novel Struggle and Survival in Colonial America talks of many people who faced
frontiers. One of those people is Catarina De Monte. The description of Catarina De Monte

2. in 1696 in Bahia Brazil. Her father had immigrated from Portugal. When she became a nun she
rejoiced in happiness. Catarina and her three sisters were admitted to the exclusive Desterro
Convent and they saw it as a great blessing. This was the only convent in Brazil. Catarina
grew up during the time of a great depression for Bahia. Droughts, flood, and epidemic swept
the land. However, Catarina saw these as worldly problems and she knew the path of her life
would end up where she was destined to be; either married or part of the convent. She
considered herself a devout person and always tried to follow the teachings of the Lord.
Catarina knew she was only one person in the vast flock of the Lord. She loved the pulse of
religious life and religious ceremonies. She looked up to a fellow nun named Madre Victoria da
Encarnacao. Madre Victoria was a model of saintly behavior. Victoria perceived herself as a
victim chosen to suffer for the sins of the community. Catarina hoped that Victoria’s presence
would lead the town to salvation. As Catarina became old and ill and was close to death she
thought of the life she had lived. She thought of the wealth that she had acquired from
preparing sweets, and her rental of houses. She knew she had not lived the life of poverty she
had vowed for. She prayed that she could still have a place in heaven. As she knew her death
was close she prayed that the archbishop would grant her permission to leave her legacy to
her sisters. For a woman to have a fortune let alone be able to pass it on to a female relative
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3. Massachusetts, Kahnawake was and Indian settlement. Demos explains how strikingly
opposite the two settlements were and how the progressed by learning from each other. In
Deerfield the families were generally made up of a husband, wife, and their “natural” children.
The family might also have a servant or apprentice living with them. Any property owned by the
family would be passed down through the males as would any position of authority. Everything
in the family was centered around men. The children were raised as Puritans and were
disciplined carefully in order for them to respect authority.
The settlement of the Kahnawake Indians was a polar opposite of its English
counterpart. The families lived in “longhouses” where over a hundred families would live in a
large house all together. When the Kahnawake families have children they are regarded as
belonging more to the mother then the father. Kahnawakes are very attached to their families
and will spend most of their life taking care of their mothers. When a woman was married she
did not always leave to start a new home with her husband, but instead would stay with her
family. The children were left to do as they please and were never disciplined. It was noted that
the Indians who had contact with Europeans began to change not how they wore their clothing,
but the material they used to make it. Instead of fur they wore wraparound blankets, leggings
of wool or linen. They even began to use European lace and ribbon to decorate their attire.
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4. colonization of America. Opechancanough was the leader of the tribe for many years. He
began as a member of the werowances, a group of local chiefs or governors of power and
wealth. Opechancanough was a blood relative of the supreme chief Powhatan and his
daughter Pocahontas. Opechancanough ruled over the Pamunkey tribe. This was the largest
tribe under Powhatan’s domain. Opechancanough demonstrated his power by being the chief
of the most fearsome band of Powhatan warriors. Even the English noted the discipline of
Pamunkeys and were impressed by Opechancanough’s ability to mobilize a thousand men in
just two days. Though he was strong and powerful Opechancanough was still taking orders
from Powhatan. Opechancanough suffered much humiliation and was constantly taking
advantage of under the commands of Powhatan. After the first Anglo-Powhatan war the
devastated Powhatan signed a peace treaty with the English and Opechancanough stepped
into power. The Virginia Company of London was interested in Christianizing and educating
Indian youth. They continued to ask Opechancanough if they could buy or borrow Powhatan
children. Opechancanough saw this as an opportunity to work a deal with the Europeans. He
realized that muskets were the key reason for the English advantage over the Indians. Finally,
The English agreed to allow some Powhatans to be trained with a musket. The English
believed that Opechancanough’s tribe of the Pamukeys were so strong it would take, “more
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5. Opechancanough displayed pride and dignity. Opechancanough showed the great strength of
his people. He showed that the Indians were not a frontier for the English to conquer, but
instead to learn from and respect. The Indians’ fight against the English proved their love for
their culture and each other and their true sense that the land belonged to them.
Moctezuma II became the ruler of the Aztec empire in 1503. In 1520 Moctezuma and
his family fell captives in their capital of Tenochtitlan by a group of Spaniards lead by Fernando
Cortes. From this the people of Tenochtitlan rose in a rebellion during which Moctezuma died
of unknown causes. Before he died Moctezuma he asked Cortes to assume custody of his
daughters. This included his first born legitimate daughter dona Isabel. Isabel is described as a
pioneer of mestizaje. During her life Isabel had five husbands and seven children. Four of
Isabel’s five husbands died of unknown causes within only two years of marriage, the first one
died within six days. On June 26, 1526, Cortes granted to dona Isabel and her descendants
the revenues and income from the town of Tacuba. Tacuba provided Isabel and her family with
an adequate income for the rest of her life. Isabel was meant to become a “model of
Hispanicized Indian womanhood” and Cortes expected others to follow her example. Her fifth
husband Juan Cano knew that Isabel’s conversion to Catholicism would set an example that
would “evangelize the country”. Isabel had bridged the worlds of Spaniard and Indian. Isabel’s
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6. Jacob Young was a colonial business man. He made his name by trading goods with
the Indians. Many Dutch colonials invested in his business. Young cared so much for his
business that he took the time to learn the language of the most important trading Indian tribe
the Susquehannock. Young realized something that many others living in the colonies did not.
He realized that in order to be successful and living simultaneously with the Indians you must
earn their trust and become their friend. Jacob traded items like cloth, kettle, and hatchets in
return for Indian furs and animal hides. Jacob’s trading post was near the mouth of the
Susquehanna River. When enemy tribes would come to raid the trading posts Young’s trading
stand would be left untouched because of an immunity Indians would normally give to traders.
When Maryland wanted to take over Delaware Bay it decided to take an indirect route and use
the Susquehannock tribe to get to the land. thus they needed the services of Jacob Young.
Young served as an interpreter who was supposed to convince the Susquehannock to attack
Delaware. Jacob Young embraced the culture of the Indians and benefited from it while so
many others took advantage of them. To Jacob young the Indians were not a frontier to be
conquered, but a frontier of unknown knowledge to learn from.
When Europe began colonizing the Americas it opened a whole new world of frontiers in
front of them. Some like like Isabel Moctezuma and Jacob Young, showed that two cultures
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7. Bibliography
Sweet, David. Struggle and Survival in Colonial America. Berkley CA:
University of California Press, 1981. Print.
Taylor, Ann. American Colonies The Settlements of North America.
New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2001. Print.
When Worlds Collide . Dir. Karl Byker." PBS: 2010, Film.
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