When European settlers came to the new world hoping to escape religious persecution, amass great wealth, or escape the poverty they experienced in their home countries. They came into contact with a race of people completely alien to them. Likewise, the arrival of the Dutch in Africa sent out shockwaves throughout the continent. The effects of both of these comings could be felt throughout the continents The differences between the Native Americans and the European colonists were drastic and very obvious from the beginning. Meanwhile, the Dutch influenced almost every aspect of the native African's lives and changed them drastically. Any time a culture comes into contact with another that it wishes to dominate the results can be devastating. This paper will show how the different societies, the Iroquois and the Khoikhoi, contended with the invasions of the Dutch and the English, and how neither was very successful. .
The Iroquois, also known as the Five Nations, and later the Six Nations, consisted of a confederacy of Native American Nations. The original five included the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senacas. It is not until the early eighteenth century, that the Tuscaroras migrated from South Carolina to join the Iroquois and make it the Six Nations. There is much to say about the Iroquois confederacy. The Iroquois themselves referred to the Five Nations as "Hotinnonchiendi," that is, the "completed cabin," as a result of their custom of living. The Iroquois lived in structures known as longhouses that offered them a closeness that made for more honest and open relations among them. .
Colonist John Heckewelder described the Iroquois longhouse when he said they had "built for themselves convenient dwelling places." Yet, the longhouse was more then just a dwelling, it was a way of life for the Iroquois. Longhouses were not only the dominating structures of the Iroquois settlements but a big part of the Iroquois culture as well.