There are countless precedents where disaster strikes and humans have worked together to help each other; including people they don’t know at all.

„Common wisdom“ dictates that humans are wild animals, and the only thing keeping us from tearing ourselves apart is a thin layer of civilization. This is sometimes called the „veneer theory“.

That theory is wrong.

It’s also very important to powerful people that you believe that the theory is right; because why else would you allow eg. an autocracy to exist?

So, to answer your questions:

> Were the European colonialists nice to the people in Africa or South America or the settlers in North America to the natives?

No, but the natives were nice to the settlers.