This lecture introduces into the socio-cultural, religious, and military intersections between American Indian cultures and civilizations in North America and different European invaders after the first contact phase of the 16^th century. We will focus on the Spanish conflicts with the Pueblo peoples of the American Southwest, the Catholic missionary efforts in California, the French attempts to cooperatively form an alliance with the Algonquin nations, and the English and British impact ON North American civilizations. We will, however, try to establish how the indigenous peoples of the continent did actually cope with the arrival of competing European powers.