Historic Contact in the Northeast: Introduction

A method of hunting deer in the Northeast. From "Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain Xaintongeois, Captaine Ordinaire Pour le Roy..." by Samuel de Champlain, published in Paris, 1613.

Image from the collections of the Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/2001695749/

Historic Contact: Early Relations Between Indian People and Colonists in Northeastern North America, 1524-1783
Selections from the National Historic Landmark Theme Study
By: Robert S. Grumet, National Park Service, 1992


Introduction
The first three centuries of historic contact between Indians, Europeans, and Africans in what is today the Northeastern United States shaped the national experience of the American people. This National Historic Landmarks Survey theme study surveys documentary, archeological, ethnographic, and other evidence to develop a planning document to identify, evaluate, and designate as National Historic Landmarks nationally significant properties associated with historic contact between peoples from … the Atlantic Coast to the western reaches of the Trans-Appalachian highlands between 1524 and 1783.

This National Historic Landmark theme study used archeological, documentary, documented oral, and other physical evidence as well as published and unpublished sources.

Theme studies gather, synthesize, and present data bearing upon nationally significant aspects of American culture and history.

The excerpt of the theme study in this series of articles presents an overview of the regional history; for more details, reference the full report.