European colonization of the Americas started with the accidental discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492. After 1600, colonization was made possible in North America because of the population decrease of Native Americans. By 1614, Spain, England, France and the Dutch Republic all established territorial claims in North America. Although Spain, England, and the Dutch established colonies in North America, France was the most successful in the effort of colonizing America prior to 1660, specifically through securing cooperation of native peoples, their establishment of permanent settlements, and their development of a viable economy.
Click here to unlock this and over one million essays
Show MoreAfter the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492, the powerful Old World scrambled to colonize it. The three major nations involved in this were Spain, France, and England. Spain took more to the south in the Central American and Mexico areas while France went north in the Canada region. The English came to America and settled in both the New England and Chesapeake area. Although the people in these regions originated from the same area, the regions as a whole evolved into different societies because of the settlers’ purpose for coming to America and the obstacles faced in both nature and with the natives.
Christopher Columbus discovered the America’s for Spain in 1492. The explorers and settlers that settled in Central and South America were mostly Spanish and Portuguese. The English took notice of the Spanish success in the America’s, so they decided to explore the upper part of the America’s, North America, in the late 1500’s.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus came across North America accidentally during his voyage to the East Indies. Columbus’s discovery marked the beginning of a new era; with it the Europeans became aware of the opportunities the New World offered. This encouraged others to set out and explore the North and South America in the 1500s. Although colonial America was governed under the British rule, it developed differently than Britain. Since Colonial America was diversified, it offered new opportunities, different religions, and different political views than Britain.
Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the New World in 1492 sparked an era known as the Columbian Exchange, in which the exchange of plants, animals, technology, ideas, and diseases occurred. It also marked the migration of many European settlers into the Americas, where they implemented their Eurocentric ideology on the First Nations who were residing there. A large amount of Latin Native Americans were taken as slaves back to Europe, or forced to commit rigorous labour and chores on sugar and coffee plantations in the Caribbean or South America. European monarchs utilized such resources through a mercantilist policy, giving Europe an economic boost. Based on the profits they were making through colonialism, they decided to set out and go imperialize more territory around the world. These events reinforce the idea that Europe could only flourish through the marginalization of Aboriginal
Around the late 1400s, Christopher Columbus a western European explorer accidentally discovered North America, trying to sail to Asia. Native American at this time lived in the North American continent, devoted society that rivaled the Europeans. Both cultures, the “New World”(North America) and the “Old World”(Europe) exchanged goods, which was known as the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian exchange included all varieties of exchanges such as plants, animals, culture, human population(included slaves) and ideas. Documents 1,2,4,5,6 and 8 convey the disaster that occurred after Columbus arrive and cultures traded. The Columbus Exchange both had benefits and negatives that affected both the “New World and “Old World”. The Columbian Exchange overall was a harmful event for the “New World”.
Rough Draft Throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth century there was a great expansion into the European exploration and colonization of North America. Many Europeans sought to change their lives in the new world. Here, they could start a new life, and live free of the religious persecution occurring in Europe. The British were one of the main European groups who settled and colonized North America.
Although the Americas were not discovered until the late 1400’s, there were many time periods in Europe that resulted in its discovery. The ones that stood out the most were the Crusades, the Renaissance, the rise of absolute monarchs, and the Commercial Revolution. Starting with the Crusades in the 11th century, it took hundreds of years for the age of exploration to begin. As the years went by, the Catholic religion, advances in technology, wealth, and power became important factors in the conquest and colonization of lands in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. European developments led to the discovery of America through religious, social, political, and economic causes.
Although imperialism helped the colonized people by improving the economy and the lives of the people, for the most part imperialism hurt the colonized people because the people were forced to grow cash crops which led to death by starvation.
The Columbian Exchange was a trade system between Europe and the New World which produced negative and positive effects towards the nations. Furthermore, the Columbian Exchange provided positive effects such as livestock, crops, and metals from one nation to the other. However, it also issued negative effects like disease, slavery, and violence.
Even in today’s complex society, the effects of past colonization can still be felt. The most obvious of these effects on society is a change in the culture of any colonized area or group of people. This is a direct result from the forceful tactics used during historical colonization.
The Effects of Colonization on the Native Americans Native Americans had inherited the land now called America and eventually their lives were destroyed due to European colonization. When the Europeans arrived and settled, they changed the Native American way of life for the worse. These changes were caused by a number of factors including disease, loss of land, attempts to export religion, and laws, which violated Native American culture. Native Americans never came in contact with diseases that developed in the Old World because they were separated from Asia, Africa, and Europe when ocean levels rose following the end of the last Ice Age. Diseases like smallpox, measles, pneumonia, influenza, and malaria were unknown to the Native Americans until the Europeans brought these diseases over time to them.
At the height of European colonization of the Americas during the 15th and 16th centuries, the power dynamic and nationalistic tensions ran high between Spanish and English colonies. Despite both establishing major colonies which provided Gold and Glory to their respective crowns, the two powers had two distinct ways of accomplishing these goals, according The Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. The Spanish, the first to colonize the Americas, were infamous for their tactics of intermarrying with the natives, creating the Metizo ethnic group. The Metizo people were “to be treated humanely and not to be enslaved”, while under Spanish rule. Meanwhile, the English established colonies isolated from the natives. Contact with natives was
After, Spain sent explorers who ended up discovering and conquering Native American Empires, when one explorer Christopher Columbus “discovered" the New World he returned to Spain with gold and other riches. The gold he looted caused a widespread rush to get the rest of the wealth, so the Spanish engaged in a massive mission to seize all the resources of the New World before anyone else could get to it. However they were not the only ones interested, Portugal, England, France and The Netherlands also heard of Spain's discoveries and keenly produced ships to sail the seas. These major European countries now began to colonize in the new world in order to obtain resources such as gold, spices, and timber as well as to gain glory for their respective empires, and to convert the Native Americans to Christianity. Mercantilism and its Effect on the Triangular Trade ...
The history of the conquest and colonization of the Americas is very complex. The social, economic, and political issues and circumstances that took place many years ago are the foundation of who America is today. Most Americans do not realize how many people were affected by immigration, or understand the real struggles and sacrifices that the indigenous people and the colonists made for the freedoms we have today. During these historical events, many cultural, social, and economical events were impacted.
Colonialism, which was a major cause of the north-south gap that occurred in the period following the Second World War, is the takeover by a nation of foreign territories; making them part of it to aid its own economical, social and political structures. The mother countries succeed in doing that by using the colony’s natural resources, money savings, and their lands, which leads the colony to rely on the mother country and therefore, leaving the country underdeveloped. Hence, the world wide scramble for colonies, particularly in the late 19th – early 20th century, had a tremendous negative effect on the economic, social, and political structures of indigenous, non-industrialized peoples.