Each episode of overt conflict between Indians and whites has been the product of complex social forces and, in the aftermath of conflict, neither side has been able to escape their common history and the fact that both continue to live in the same society. The history of Indian-white relations is generally divided into three phases, in each of which demographic change and economic forces have played key roles in creating a privatized and institutionally ambivalent relationship between the government and tribes. The first phase was the early colonization of North America, in particular the Northeast, from the 16th through the mid-18th centuries. The second was the 19th-century rise of nationalism and industrialism, with its resultant westward expansion. The third phase, in the 20th century, has been marked by the growth of large-scale bureaucracies and urban centers, a double challenge to Indian identity an cultural survival. This current phase is especially complex because the courts have played an increasingly large role in settling disputes which governments and local communities or interest groups could not resolve. 24 notes.