LAND USE

Their land is spacious and void, and there are few and do but run over the grass, as do also the foxes and wild beasts. They are not industrious, neither have art science or faculty to use either the land or the commodities of it, but all spoils, rots and is marred for want of manuring, gathering, ordering, etc.
Robert Cushman, Mourt's Relation

Every sachim knoweth how far the bounds and limits of his own country extendeth; and that is his own proper inheritance. Out of that, if any of his men desire land to set their corn, he giveth them as much as they can use and sets them their bounds. In this circuit whosoever hunteth, if they kill any venison, bring him his fee.
Edward Winslow, Good Newes from New England

The Pilgrims and Natives had very different ways of using the land.

The Natives used the resources on a piece of land, depending on the season. In spring, women gathered plants and men fished near the ocean. In summer, women planted corn in another location, while in the autumn men hunted.

The Pilgrims "bought" land from the Natives, but did the Natives have the same understanding of that term? The Natives still expected to have the use of the land and its resources forever. The colonists thought that buying land made it their own, so they built fences to close off their property from other users. As more and more English took control of Native land, the resources which the Natives needed to survive became scarce. These tensions built over the years and eventually led to King Philip's War in 1675.