Abstract
In the mid-seventeenth century, the European powers sought to quench their imperial thirst in the Americas by occupying the last “uninhabited” regions. In the Guianas this meant establishing permanent colonial settlements, increasing encroachment on Indigenous land, and imposing new terms on existing commercial ties with the Amerindians, which led to violent clashes. What the Dutch colony of Suriname and the French colony of Cayenne experienced at this time illustrates the specific nature of the confrontations between Amerindians and Europeans, as well as the intertwining of Amerindian interethnic conflicts and struggles between European powers aiming to consolidate or extend their presence in the Guianas. This article presents a comparison of the conflict between Amerindian and European in both colonies by means of archival and primary sources to show the major differences between these confrontations but also how they were dealt with by the end of the seventeenth century.
