Contextualizing Period 2: 1607 - 1754

Examples

• Europeans came to the New World for various reasons. Some thought the land, resources, and native peoples were prime for conquest

• As different groups settled, regional differences regarding environment, economics, culture, and demographics became more apparent

Settling In 1:

• By the 17th century, the British became the most prominent of the foreign settlers in North America. They brought their political, cultural, religious, and philosophical ideas, and imposed them on the Native populations they encountered.

Settling in 2:

• A large part of the British domination of the colonies was its ultimate control of the Transatlantic slave trade

• The British colonies relied on enslaved Africans to perform the bulk of the labor to develop their permanence in the New World.

(a) Explain ONE important similarity between the British colonies in the Chesapeake region and the British colonies in New England in the period from 1607 to 1754

• British economies were diversified and agricultural

• Wars erupted between colonists and Native Americans due to competition for land and cultural conflicts and misunderstandings

• Indentured servitude and slavery co-existed, but became racially different

• Reasons for immigration including economic and religious factors

(b) Explain ONE important difference between the British colonies in the Chesapeake region and the British colonies in New England in the period from 1607 to 1754

• The Chesapeake relied more heavily on slavery

• There was a disparity between classes in the Chesapeake (as a result of who could afford to own slaves, and those who could not)

• New England colonies were founded more religious reasons than economic ones

• Mixed economy in New England: fishing, lumbering, tar manufacturing, and small farming, etc., AND cash crops in the Chesapeake: tobacco, indigo, etc.

(c ) Explain ONE factor that accounts for the difference that you indicated in (b)

• There was a greater reliance on slavery in Chesapeake due to the intensity of the labor needed for certain crops

• Natural resources and individual motives led to different economic systems

• Virginia Company provided a profit motive that encouraged immigration

• Cultural differences including land use led to conflicts with Native Americans

• There were challenges to existing religious, economic, and political structures that developed between the two regions