page_title: American Indian Wars
section_title: Colonial period (1609–1774)
hierarchical_section_title: American Indian Wars / Colonial period (1609–1774)
caption_attribution_description: English: The Siege of the Fort at Detroit, depiction of the 1763 Siege of Fort Detroit by Frederic Remington.
context_page_description: The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, the First Nations Wars in Canada and the Indian Wars is the collective name for the various armed conflicts that were fought by European governments and colonists, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settlers, against various American Indian and First Nation tribes. These conflicts occurred in North America from the time of the earliest colonial settlements in the 17th century until the early 20th century. The various wars resulted from a wide variety of factors, including cultural clashes, land disputes, and criminal acts committed. The European powers and their colonies also enlisted Indian tribes to help them conduct warfare against each other's colonial settlements. After the American Revolution, many conflicts were local to specific states or regions and frequently involved disputes over land use; some entailed cycles of violent reprisal.
  As settlers spread westward across North America after 1780, armed conflicts increased in size, duration, and intensity between settlers and various Indian and First Nation tribes.
context_section_description: The colonization of America by the English, French, Spanish, Dutch, and Swedish was resisted by some Indian tribes and assisted by other tribes. Wars and other armed conflicts in the 17th and 18th centuries included:
  Beaver Wars (1609–1701) between the Iroquois and the French, who allied with the Algonquians
  Anglo-Powhatan Wars (1610–14, 1622–32, 1644–46), including the 1622 Jamestown Massacre, between English colonists and the Powhatan Confederacy in the Colony of Virginia
  Pequot War of 1636–38 between the Pequot tribe and colonists from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Connecticut Colony and allied tribes
  Kieft's War (1643–45) in the Dutch territory of New Netherland (New Jersey and New York) between colonists and the Lenape people
  Peach Tree War (1655), the large-scale attack by the Susquehannocks and allied tribes on several New Netherland settlements along the Hudson River
  Esopus Wars (1659–1663), conflicts between the Esopus tribe of Lenape Indians and colonial New Netherlanders in Ulster County, New York
  King Philip's War (1675–78) in New England between colonists and the Narragansett people
  Tuscarora War (1711–15) in the Province of North Carolina
  Yamasee War (1715–17) in the Province of South Carolina
  Dummer's War (1722–25) in northern New England and French Acadia (New Brunswick and Nova Scotia)
  Pontiac's War (1763–66) in the Great Lakes region
  Lord Dunmore's War (1774) in western Virginia (Kentucky and West Virginia)
  In several instances, the conflicts were a reflection of European rivalries, with Indian tribes splitting their alliances among the powers, generally siding with their trading partners. Various tribes fought on each side in King William's War, Queen Anne's War, Dummer's War, King George's War, and the French and Indian War, allying with British or French colonists according to their own self interests.
caption: Siege of Fort Detroit during Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763
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