Why did some Native Americans already know European languages when the English began colonizing northeastern North America in the early 1600’s? The reason is because they’d been interacting with the French for nearly a century before the first permanent English settlement was established on North American shores. It was only a few years after Columbus made his famous voyage that the French began to explore the eastern coast of North America. Henry VIII’s father was still on the throne of England when the French were making these early trips across the Atlantic. They came to explore, but quickly discovered that North America was rich with a resource that was very valuable in Europe, as well as among the Natives…. fur.
