As the English, French, and Spanish explorers came to North America, they brought big changes to American Indian tribes. Europeans brought over something very deadly, a weapon to the natives, new diseases. Native peoples of America were not immune to the diseases that European colonists brought with them. Diseases such as smallpox, influenza, measles, and even chicken pox proved deadly to American Indians. Colonists were used to these diseases, but Indian people had no resistance to them. Sometimes the illnesses spread through direct contact with colonists. Other times, they were transmitted as Indians traded with one another. The result of this contact with European germs was horrible. Sometimes whole villages perished in a short time.
Trade
The Native Americans and the early European settlers often traded. One of the Patuxet Indians, Squanto, had helped the English Pilgrims in Plymouth by showing them how to catch fish and grown corn in exchange for weapons and other tools. In 1621 the Indian Chief Massasoit had created a pact with the Native Americans that was to establish peaceful trade between the Native Americans and the Europeans. When the population of the European settlers began to grow, the Native Americans were worried they might take over their land. This lead to King Philip's War between the Native Americans and the Pilgrims in August of 1676. The Pilgrims had won against the Native Americans and left a dent in their relationship.
Trade between the Native Americans and the Spanish was a little different than trade with the English. Most of Spanish trade took place in New Mexico and California. And although the Spanish were mainly focused on using them as slaves and spreading Christianity to the Indians, the Spanish did introduce them to the horse. Over some time the horses bred and Native American tribes adopted them into their lives and using the horses as transportation. With the new use of horses for transportation, tribes were able to trade with one another and hunt bigger game.