Unit 2: Colonization of the Americas/Colonies

Economic motivations for French to come to America

* Fur trade (alliances w/natives)
* **F**rench = **F**ur


* Individual entrepreneurs

Religious motivations for French to come to America

Did not proselytize

French treatment of the Indigenous population

* Created alliances w/Natives so they would trap fur
* First to marry natives
* Only men traveled over; family stayed in France
* Didn’t create permanent settlements

English treatment of the Indigenous population

* Wanted nothing to do with the Natives
* No marriage
* Rarely traded
* Viewed Natives as savages
* Conflicts w/Native crops as they expanded
* Colonies based on entire families traveling to America

Spanish economic reasons for traveling to America

* Search for gold and silver
* **S**panish = **S**ilver
* Explorations for wealth funded by royal family

Spanish religious reasons for traveling to America

Wanted to convert Natives to Catholicism

Spanish treatment of the Indigenous population

* Encomienda: Conquistadors were given tribute and labor from Natives in exchange for “protection”
* Mita system: Forced Natives into mines
* Produced half the world’s silver
* Massive amounts of silver→Inflation in Europe


* Destruction of Native population through disease
* Implementation of Spanish language
* Loss of Native culture
* Only men travel; families stay in Spain
* Native women will have children
* Casta system (Zambos, mulattos, ect.)
* No marriage

Geography of the Northern Colonies

* Boston, Massachusetts, Plymouth
* **P**uritans = **P**lymouth
* Soil is rocky and bad for agriculture
* Short growing seasons

Culture of the Northern Colonies

* Puritans left England to make a “City on a Hill”
* **P**uritans = **P**lymouth

Economics of the Northern Colonies

* Manufacturing
* Clothes
* Boats
* Timber
* Boats bring enslaved Africans

Geography of the Middle Colonies

* New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland

Culture of the Middle Colonies

* Most diverse
* Catholic, Quakers, Jews
* Women were social equals
* Could own land

Economics of the Middle Colonies

* Women are economic equals
* Timber and fur
* Arts: Blankets, pottery, basket weaving
* Bread Basket
* Fish industry

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Geography of the Southern Colonies

* North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia
* Soil is nutrient dense
* Warm climates

Economics of the Southern Colonies

* Come looking for gold
* Cash crops: Tobacco, cotton, corn/beans
* Agriculture
* Cheap labor of African slaves

Americas effected by the Columbian Exchange

* Smallpox, influenza, yellow fever, and measles → loss of Native population
* Loss of culture, history, and tradition
* Old people died first and killed off oral tradition
* Starvation →Less workers →Less people to make food → More starvation
* Society become heterogenous

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Old World effected by the Columbian Exchange

* Benefits most
* Population booms
* New foods: potatoes, beans, corn, and berries


* Wealth transfer
* Gold, silver, aluminum
* Syphilis (STD)

Encomienda system

* Spain have conquistadors grants of land and Natives forced to give tribute and labor in exchange for “protection”
* Funded by Spanish Crown

Roanoke Island

* First English settlement in America
* Founded by John White and 117 others
* Wanted land because all land in England was taken
* John White left to England for resources and when he come back three years later no one is there
* Left “Croatoan” carved on tree

Jamestown

* First permanent English settlement in New World
* Established by John Smith (Pocahontas)
* “If you don’t work you won’t eat”
* Legend says Pocahontas told her father to not kill John when they were killed
* Starvation → Settlers are rats, dogs, ect
* The starving time
* New settlers grew tobacco and revived the colony

Chief Powhatan - Relationship w/English

* Supreme control over six tribes
* When the English were starving his tribe gave them food
* Colonists would burn Natives villages
* John Rolfe and Pocahontas marry and easy tensions

House of Burgesses

* Part of ads that say if you travel to the New World you can be part of the government
* Lower House = House of Burgesses
* Representatives from colonies
* Idea of self-government
* Upper House = Gentry (aka Senate)

Lord Baltimore

* George declared himself Roman Catholic after working for the King of England
* Applied to be in Massachusetts but died before land granted
* Cecil took over and passed the Maryland Toleration
* First law for religious tolerance in British North American colonies

The Headright System

* A grant of land in the New Wold given to European settlers
* Implemented because of the lack of colonists settling in New World
* Indentured servants
* Settlers voyage was paid and they were made to work for the people for a set amount of time
* Middle colonies

John Winthrop and City on Hill

* Arabella shop
* England → Massachusetts
* Puritans wanted to be a community worth imitating
* Supposed to model the noble Christian beliefs

Joint Stock Company

* All land in England is owned
* Land in Americas is owned by Royal Family and they lease land to companies for development
* Low risk for Royal → High reward
* High risk for individuals → High reward

Anne Hutchinson

* Antinomianism = Didn’t have to follow local laws to be godly
* Preacher to both men and women
* Wanted women and girls to be educated and read
* Said that she was chosen by god and the ministers in charge were not
* Banished from colony

Puritans - Pequot War

* Puritans = Pequot
* English encroached on Native land and hunted their game
* Natives wouldn’t convert to Christianity
* Pequots attacked → English pretty much wiped out Pequots

Metacom/King Phillip’s War

* Natives and English used to get along
* Natives taught English how to farm
* English encroached on land and Natives resisted
* Colonists defeated Natives
* Took their land
* Viewed them as savages