Early encounters in North America : peoples, cultures, and the environment

Documents the relationships among peoples in North America from 1534 to 1850. It makes available a collection of published and unpublished accounts, including narratives, diaries, journals, and letters that document the first impressions of North America by Europeans and of Europeans by native people.  The focus of the collection is on personal accounts of the people involved including explorers, soldiers, slaves, traders, missionaries, and officials.  The collection includes primary materials, images, environmental studies and maps that researchers and students would otherwise struggle to obtain. Indexing makes it possible to compare original descriptions of an area with the observations by individuals who followed.