The denial of Native cultivation of the land is just one hallmark of settler colonialism.
The tactics of settler colonialism range from warfare and genocide to “legal” land appropriation and assimilation. Settler colonialism in New England included all of these tactics, but began primarily with land encroachment. English methods of land encroachment in the earliest period of settlement were numerous.
No matter how subtle, all tactics of settler colonialism are inherently violent, as they are driven by a philosophy of replacement and dispossession.
FHC Collections, LD105
This 1656 land deed transfers ownership of “a parcell of Broaken up and ffenced in land” near the Saxonville Falls from five Nipmuc men — William Boman, Captain Josiah (Pennahannit), Roger, James, and Keaquisam — to English settler John Stone. The men were former residents of the land in question, once a Nipmuc village and planting grounds.
Because the document notes the land was fenced, we know that it had already been encroached upon by English livestock. It is possible that the men who made this sale were looking to get some benefit from an abandoned settlement that had already been rendered unusable.
Click on the document to read a transcription.
In the face of encroachment methods, Native people had 3 choices: cede, share, or resist. Each person made their own choices for complex individual reasons which did not preclude changing one’s approach in the future.