European Colonization

  • trade with south and east Asia is essential to European economy

    • slows after Ottoman Conquest of Constantinople (1453)

      • taxes too high; Europeans Christians Muslims

    • Europeans search for alternate route to Asia

    • many sail south around Africa

  • Christopher Columbus believes sailing west will be shorter

    • arrives in Bahamas on Oct 12, 1492 and continues to Cuba and Hispaniola

    • crew kidnaps natives; returns to Spain

    • inspires more European explorers to sail west

  • others wonder if there is a northern route to Asia (Northwest Passage)

  • England hires John Cabot to find Northwest Passage in 1497

    • finds nothing but Newfoundland in modern Canada

    • & an abundance of fish (for Lent)

    • fishermen make annual voyages for cod

  • Spain established settlements in the Caribbean

    • Spaniard Juan Ponce de Leon claims FL in 1513

      • issues = flooding, swamp, heat

    • first successful Spanish settlement is St. Augustine (1565), the oldest European city in the US

  • France send Jacques Cartier to explore St. Lawrence River and claim Canada in 1534

    • first successful French settlement is Quebec City (1608)

      • issues = cold

  • earliest English attempts to colonize begin under Queen Elizabeth; all fail

    • first successful English settlement is Jamestown, capital of VA colony, in 1607

  • Plymouth colony (Mayflower story; Thanksgiving people) founded in 1602

    • Pilgrims are Puritans; view Church of England (Anglican) as still too Catholic

    • sign the Mayflower Compact, a pledge to govern via majority (democracy)

  • Dutch hire Englishman Henry Hudson to investigate Northwest Passage in 1609

    • explores what will be New Netherlands in 1625

    • capital of New Amsterdam

    • saw the potential of New York City’s land (defense)

    • English steal New Amsterdam in 1664 and rename it NYC