When I first read the topic, I thought about the Arthur C. Clarke's statement about how whenever a technologically advanced civilization interacts with a less advanced one, it doesn't go well for the less advanced group. Are there any historical examples of first contact where the more advanced group tried not to exploit or harm the newly discovered population but it still went badly for them?

In 1946 the Soviet Union first played ice hockey, though the sport of bandy (which is similar to hockey) had been played long before that. Under the direction of Anatoly Tarasov, the Soviets utilised a different style from what was popularly used in North America, with an emphasis on skating, passing and less physicality.

In large part the Soviet program took the ideas from a book recently published in Canada, The Hockey Handbook by Lloyd Percival. Most people associated with hockey in Canada dismissed Percival's ideas, with one calling it "the product of a three-year-old mind." But Tarasov and his associates found it quite useful, and based their program around its methods.

In 1954, just eight years later, the Soviet Union played their first matches in the World Championships. While the best Canadians were not at the tournament (due to rules banning professionals), Canada had had no trouble though, winning 9 of the first 13 gold medals since the World Championship started in 1930 (plus gold at 6 of the 7 Olympics). In short, Canada from 1920 to 1954 only ever lost two meaningful games: to the US in the 1933 World Championship, and to Great Britain in the 1936 Winter Olympics (a British team made up almost exclusively of Canadian-born players trained in Canada).

The format of the tournament at the time was a full round-robin (that is everyone plays everyone once, and the team with the best record is the champion). Canada had no trouble winning their first 6 games, outscoring their opponents 57 to 5 (the closest game was 5-2). Meanwhile the Soviets had also managed a stellar record, going undefeated (with one tie). Both teams were to play each other for the first time (ever) on the last game of the tournament, the gold medal on the line.

Organisers had no doubt that Canada would win, and were so sure they had began to promote tickets for a Soviet-Sweden match for the European Championship (Sweden was one win behind the Soviets, and the host nation; the European Championship was simply a trophy for the best European team at the World Championships, and ended in 1991).

So it came as a surprise to the tournament organisers, the hockey world, and Canada in general when the USSR won the game in convincing fashion, defeating Canada 7-2 to claim the first of their 19 gold medals. Indeed, the IIHF (governing body of international hockey) has even declared that the 1954 World Championship was "the start of the modern era of international hockey," simply because there was finally another team that could compete with the Canadians.

The contact between Arabians and Coastal East African societies always intrigues me. Sources are threadbare but the contact is known to have existed before (or at least during) the Roman era. However there are no signs of intentional exploitation or subjugation of the Native population by the Arabians. Blown in their dhows by the reliable monsoon winds, the Arabian traders settled in the market areas leading to growth of ancient trading towns like Kilwa Masoko, Bagamoyo and Mombasa, intermarriage between the two cultures even lead to the emergence of a new subculture called Shiraz (pejoratively referred to as 'Half-caste' or in brutal Swahili fashion 'Mwarabu Koko' literary meaning 'Feral/Wild Arabian') Yes, socio-cultural and economic issues have arisen between the three cultures especially during and after the departure of the German and the British (1889-1961), but the initial contact between the Coastal Africans and Arabian was peaceful, cordial and productive for both parties.