Following Spain and Portugal's first efforts to claim the "New World" for their own, England, France and the Netherlands establish colonies throughout North America, predominantly seeking economic wealth and opportunities with occasional religious intentions. While the Spanish savagely plunder the riches of the natives to satisfy their own greed in this newly untapped world, the English, French and Dutch pursue a seemingly less violent approach through lucrative trade and establishing colonies, to meet their own intentions. In the northern regions of North America (what is today Canada) and the southeast (what is now Florida) occurred the beginning of French and Native American interactions for trade. On the Atlantic coast of what is today much of the Northeastern United States lies the English colonies that dominate their focus on producing tobacco and trading goods for luxurious furs. While there is the presence of a Puritan society that hoped for religious tolerance within the Massachusetts Bay colony, this was one of the few exceptions among the English settlements. In New Amsterdam, a Dutch colony in present day New York, lies a trading and farming community that is solely there to claim a stake in the "New World". Representing Spain, Columbus establishes a gold seeking society motivated in finding riches. As European countries settled vast expanses of territory through North America, each nation shows their desires for economic gains and a presence in the Americas.
As Jacques Cartier first comes in contact with Indians during his exploration of the new lands, he orders his men to create a symbol to mark French authority, a "Shield with three Floure de Luces in it" which they presented to the natives. On the top of it was...
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...ld be sent to the governor and treasurer". In other words, they ensured that the amount of gold returning back to Spain was correct. Based primarily on profiting from the gold mines, these colonies were largely created to plunder (Document 1).
The European colonization of the Americas granted new opportunities to second born males who would have been soldiers or serving under the church or any who were less fortunate. It gave people a new start away from the monarchy and corruption that was prevalent through Europe. The French, English, Dutch and Spanish primarily colonized the "New World" for commercial and trading gains. None of these European nations conformed its entire enterprise to a religious endeavor or even came close to doing so. This brought astounding changes to both the "Old" and "New World" changing the course of history in ways we take for granted.
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Show MoreAlthough the only explanation we were presented regarding the reasoning or motives of this colonization was the vague answer of Gold, God and Glory. Which from a general perspective is correct, although similar to various topics in history, there is much more then what we have originally thought. Likewise, Taylor explains how, “until the 1960s, most American historians assumed that the “the colonists” mean English-speaking men confined to the Atlantic seaboard.” Overall, after much research and information from various sources, I will explain the overall motives these countries had and how they intertwine with one another.
After 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.
In the 17th Century, widespread colonization of the new world was constantly changing the face of the Americas. European power-houses like England, France and Spain were building colonies on every coast line of the new world. The Native Americans were being forced from the lands they called home for many years, and those that wished to stay were being converted to Catholicism or other religious practices. In some parts of the Americas Native Americans were even being pressed into slavery.
Upon the European’s discovery and colonization of the Americas an irreversible transformation was triggered. The extreme differences in the cultures of the Europeans and Native Americans would prove to be fatal to the way of life that existed before European colonization.
When Columbus asked the King to fund his trips to the New World, Spain was doing economically well. Spain’s goal was to become rich from trade, the King agreed with Columbus that the New World would be a great investment to get rich from trade. Between the 1500s and 1650, gold and silver were sent to Spain from the new world. Spain started to see promise in the New World. Once America started producing goods, England was gaining more profit. America was diverse economically, from livestock, fish to skilled shipbuilders. Settlers adjusted to the changing environments, created different economies, labor systems, and worshiped in different churches. Immigrants began to come to the New World to prosper with the opportunities of possibly getting rich or even for religious freedom. Up into the Civil War all of theses factors continued to
In 1492 the colonization begun with the arrival of Christopher Columbus to one of the Caribbean island, the Spanish people wanted to find China to get an cultural exchange but instead they found a unknown land fill of people that received them with arms wide open, the Spanish were fascinated with the prosperous of their land, and the Indians were surprised as well with their enormous ships. But the Spanish had different plans besides the cultural and friendship exchange, they were ambitious people and as soon they had the opportunity to take over them they just did it. The Spanish were violent, determined and religious people and what they wanted from the new word was gold, as simple as that. They had a real beg army and they wanted to ruled and settled down in order to find gold an make their country more rich and powerful. By the other hand there also exist another civilization that wanted something, England. The English get to the new world by their will it was not by a king or queen request like the Spanish. There were various reasons why the American Colonies were established. The three most important themes of English colonization of America were religion, economics, and government. The most important reasons for colonization were to seek refuge, religious freedom, and economic opportunity. To a less important point, the colonists wanted to establish a stable and progressive government.
The European conquest for establishing North American colonies began with various motivations, each dependent on different, and/or merging necessities: economics, the desire to flee negative societal aspects, and the search for religious freedoms. Originally discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 in search for a trade route to Cathay (China), North America remained uninhabited, excluding the Native American establishments. Following this discovery, Spain –along with other European nations such as France, England, Sweden and the Netherlands– soon began the expedition to the new land with vast expectations. Driven by economic, societal, and religious purposes, the New World developed into a diversely structured colonial establishment consisting of (by 1733) the principal mainland’s Virginia, New Amsterdam (New York), Plymouth, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Sweden (Delaware), North and South Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and lastly Georgia.
Colonial America began in the early 1600’s when the European nations directed their focus toward the “New World,” a place of opportunity. According to Eric Foner’s Give Me Liberty, England’s motives for colonization were built upon national glory, profit, and religious mission (41). The purpose of the colonies in the New World was to import manufactured goods, produce marketable resources, and serve the interest of the mother country, England (Foner 74). Because economic circumstances in England were not great, England had a large proportion of men, women, and children willing to migrate to the New World and settle into the colonies. Nevertheless, after the British colonies were established, they were separated into three regions: the New England, Middle, and Chesapeake colonies. Each of these regions faced a series of challenges with economic, political, and cultural development.
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.
One of the main focus points in European colonization was to further their economic order by using abundant recourses that were found far from the home land. They looked to gain power and produce wealth. In order to reach these goals, Europeans directed cultural change among the indigenous people and justified their actions by claiming it was “God’s work”. However, with all of these changes came diverse reactions from the native people. In the beginning they were eager to build relationships, however after time passed many considered them as sons from the devil.
“Capitalism is a world system. But some of its parts have more than their share of leadership.”(Cardoso xxi). Latin America, like much of the third and second world has received far lesser dividends from the fruits of capitalism. In fact due to its close geographic location to the united states and its strong early history of colonialism Latin America is a shining example of how economic dependency has evolved. From its moment liberation Latin America has been seen as a economic tool by the west, particularly by the USA, and continues to be economically dominated to this day. From the Eve of conquest the region has used its economic power mostly to the benefit of another nation.
North America had not been taxed directly before March 22, 1765. However, on that day, the British Parliament gave its first direct tax on the North American colonies known as the Stamp Act. The reason that this happened was to pay for the Seven Years’ War. The North American colonies’ role in this was being fought over by the French and British to rule over the colony. This made the colonists have to pay taxes on many papers and documents. Also, anyone who was thought to have disobeyed the Stamp act could be prosecuted in a court that didn’t have any juries and could be anywhere in Great Britain or its colonies known as the Vice-Admiralty Courts.
After the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus, European Nations competed in a race against one another to claim pieces of the new land. Before Columbus found this land, the sea separating the New World from Europe seemed endless, and mundane. The Europeans were only interested in the land to the East. But with the New World as a new hat thrown into the ring, the Europeans tossed aside their old toy to go play with a new one. This time period of conquest over the New World was known as the Age of Exploration, and by the 1700s, they kept their pickings. A New World meant more land to build homes and plant crops, and more money to be earned by buying out new houses and selling new crops grown in foreign soil. Spain claimed Mexico, and the Southwest portions of what would be known as America. France got their hands on most of present-day Canada, as well as Louisiana. The Dutch set foot on land they called New Amsterdam, however, The English, who had settled their first colony in Jamestown, Virginia, drove the Dutch out and claimed New Amsterdam for themselves, later renaming it New York. The English claimed more land as time passed, and eventually they had formed 13 different colonies in the Eastern part of America. The English Colonies were separated into 3 different regions. The New England Colonies (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire), the Middle Colonies (New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware), and the Southern Colonies (Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia). The New England Colonies were the earliest of the 3 regions, founded by English Settlers seeking religious freedom. The Middle Colonies were also founded by settlers seeking religious freedom. The Southern Colonies,...
During the 15th and 16th centuries, Europeans began to make contact and colonize the Americas. Both American and European settlements were majorly affected by the Colombian Exchange through this time period. The hardships that were brought upon by the European colonists to the Native Americans had, in my opinion, more of a positive affect than a negative one. Colonization lead to trade between Europe and America, the mixing of cultures and people, and changes to the government and civilizations in America. The blending of civilizations lead to many technological and agricultural advances.
In the 17th and 18th century, during the colonization of North America by the English, an important factor that should be well known is that the geography and the environment of the land impacted their lives. Numerous components would play a role in almost each colony such as coldness or heat. While there were economic and political situations that were incredibly problematic, there were environmental and geographical complications causing lives to be lost. Thus, between the North and the South of North America, they each had their own dilemmas as well as differences between each other.