European Explorers
Country Dates Sailed Goal of Exploration Length of Voyage Explored Notes
Henry the Navigator
Vasco da Gama
Pedro Cabral
Christopher Columbus
Ferdinand Magellan
Sir Francis Drake
Henry Hudson
Jacques Cartier
European Colonies in the Americas and New Patterns of Trade
Objectives: • Students will discover how the Spanish built an Empire
in the Americas and its characteristics.• Students will explore how the French and English
colonies differed in the New World and the consequences of conflict.
• Students will discover how exploration resulted in a new exchange of plants and animals.
• Students will investigate mercantilism, and how this theory pushed the drive to establish colonies.
• Scramble to establish colonies and empires in new lands• Spain first to successfully settle in the Americas • Eventually conquered native empires, the Aztecs and Incas
• First areas settled by Spanish, Caribbean islands, Hispaniola, Cuba
• Columbus hoped to find gold, did not
• Spanish introduced encomienda system there
Spain in Caribbean • Colonist given land and
Native Americans to work the land
• Required to teach native workers about Christianity
Encomienda• Disastrous system for
Native Americans• Mistreatment,
overwork took toll on population
• Europeans spread new diseases
Millions Died
Spain Builds an Empire
Conquistador• Some Spaniards moved from Caribbean to mainland to set up colonies• Hernán Cortés led expedition to Mexico, ended with conquest of Aztecs• Cortés a conquistador, military leader who fought against Native Americans
Pizarro and the Inca• 10 years after conquest of Aztecs, Francisco Pizarro led expedition to Peru• Inca Empire already weakened by smallpox; many killed, including emperor• 1532, new ruler, Atahualpa, agreed to meet with Spanish• Spanish killed Atahualpa, destroyed Inca army, took over empire
• ADVANTAGE GUNS, GERMS and STEEL
Cortes Marches on Capital• Moctezuma II, Aztec emperor at time of Spanish arrival in Mexico• Aztecs powerful, ruled much of Mexico; unpopular with those they conquered• Cortés joined by thousands of those who wanted to defeat Aztecs
The Conquest of Mexico and South America
Beginnings of Slavery• Disease, mistreatment took toll on native population• Some appalled at treatment• One reformer, Bartolomé de Las Casas recommended replacing Native Americans
as laborers with imported African slaves• Slave labor soon became common practice in Americas
Spanish Colonies Exports
Spanish goal for colonies was to export gold and precious metals back to Europe
Summarize
How did the Spanish create an empire in the Americas?
Answer(s): conquered Aztec and Inca empires
Portuguese built an empire in the AmericasBecause of treaty, their empire was not as large as the Spanish one
• 1494, Treaty of Tordesillas drew imaginary line through Atlantic Ocean– Everything west, including most of
then-undiscovered Americas, would belong to Spain
– Everything to east would be Portuguese
– Only Brazil remained as Portuguese colony
• Heavy Brazilian jungles made mining, farming difficult
• Portuguese in no hurry to settle• First used Native American, then
African slave, labor to work on farms
Treaty
The Portuguese in Brazil
Native American hunters were the French traders’ main source of furs.Many traders married Native American women, intermingling the two cultures.
Silver and gold from American colonies began to circulate in Europe; other European countries paid close attention. Leaders in France, England, and the Netherlands decided that they needed to establish colonies in the Americas.
• French explorers established colonies in New France, or Canada
• Hoped this would be a rich source for gold, silver
• Did not find riches, but found other potentially valuable trade goods
New France
French, Dutch, and English Colonies in the Americas
• Waters of North Atlantic swarming with fish, staple of European diet
• Forests yielded valuable furs• French did not send large numbers of
colonists; small groups of traders• Did not enslave Native Americans
Trade and Colonization
• 1682, René-Robert La Salle canoed down entire Mississippi River to Gulf of Mexico
• Claimed enormous Mississippi region, tributaries for France
• Named huge, fertile area Louisiana, after King Louis XIV
Mississippi to Gulf of Mexico
• A few French explorers headed south to seek more lands to claim
• 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded city of Quebec
• French also explored Mississippi River
• Thought it flowed to Pacific, would provide route to Asia
South from New France
Further Explorations
• 1607, first English colony established at Jamestown• Settlers hoped to find gold, silver, river route to Pacific• Instead found marshy ground, impure water• 80 percent of settlers died during first winter in America• Colony still endured
• 1620, Pilgrims sailed from England• Pilgrims had been persecuted in
England for religious beliefs• Established colony at Plymouth,
Massachusetts• Persevered despite difficulties• Colony self-sufficient within 5 years
Pilgrims• English settlers did not share same
relationship with Native Americans as French, Dutch
• Jamestown, Plymouth colonies received aid from local peoples
• Still, colonists viewed Native Americans with distrust, anger
Native Americans
The English Colonies
Problems• English ran into conflict with French settlers in Americas• Mid-1700s, English colonists attempted to settle in French territory, upper Ohio
River valley; tension in region grew; war broke out, 1754
Costly War• Eventually French surrendered, yielded Canada, all French territory east of
Mississippi• War costly for British; king tried to place costs of war on colonists• Led to resentment, which eventually brought about American Revolution
French and Indian War• Both had Native American allies; English called it French and Indian War
• Also Called the Seven Years War• War began badly for British; French had more soldiers than English• British turned tide, took city of Quebec
British-French Conflict
• Voyages launched large-scale contact between Europe and Americas. • Interaction with Native Americans led to sweeping cultural changes. • Contact between the two groups led to the widespread exchange of plants,
animals, and disease—the Columbian Exchange.
• Plants, animals developed in very different ways in hemispheres
• Europeans—no potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, turkeys
• People in Americas—no coffee, oranges, rice, wheat, sheep, cattle
The Exchange of Goods
The Columbian Exchange
• Arrival of Europeans in Americas changed all this
• Previously unknown foods taken back to Europe
• Familiar foods brought to Americas by colonists
Sharing Discoveries
Increasing trade between Europe and colonies created new business and trade practices during the 1500s and 1600s. These practices would have a great impact on the economies of European nations.
• During this time, capitalism expanded
• In capitalism, most economic activity carried on by private individuals, organizations in order to seek profit
Capitalism Emerges
• Individuals amassed great trade fortunes
• Merchants supplied colonists with European goods
• Returned products, raw materials
Overseas Trade
• Overseas trade made many merchants rich
• Wealth enabled them to invest in more business ventures
• Business activity in Europe increased greatly
Increased Business Activity
The Rise of Capitalism
New Ventures• Overseas business ventures often
too expensive for individual investors
• Investors began pooling money in joint-stock companies
Shares• Profit, loss based on number of
shares owned• If company failed, investors lost
only amount invested
Joint-Stock Companies• Investors bought shares of stock in
company• If company made profit, each
shareholder received portion
Financing Colonies• British East India Company, one of
first joint-stock companies • 1600, imported spices from Asia• Others formed to bear cost of
establishing colonies
A New Business Organization
The chart shows the average annual rate at which earnings rose for full-time working men (in dark blue) and women (in light blue) in each 10 percent bracket from 1980 to 2005. So the poorest men and women are on the left of each chart, and the richest are on the right.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/why-us-income-inequality-is-more-frightening-than-europes/272529/
• Slavery has existed in many parts of the world• People forced into slavery came from different walks of life• Farmers, merchants, priests, soldiers, or musicians; fathers and mothers, sons and
daughters.
• Shortage of labor in Americas led to beginning of Atlantic slave trade
• European planters needed workers on sugar, tobacco plantations
Beginnings• Planters first used
Native Americans; European diseases killed millions
• 1600s, used indentured servants
• Expensive to support workers
Native Americans• Millions forcibly taken
to Americas• Most from coast of
West Africa• Some exchanged for
firearms, goods• Others kidnapped on
raids by traders
African Slaves
Origins of the Slave Trade
Trade Network
Captured Africans became part of network called the triangular trade
• First leg of triangle, ships carrying European goods to Africa to be exchanged for slaves
• Second leg, Middle Passage, brought Africans to Americas to be sold
• Third leg carried American products to Europe
• Some slave traders from Americas sailed directly to Africa, not following triangular route
• Olaudah Equiano wrote about conditions on slave ship:
• “The stench of the hold…was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time…
• “The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole scene of horror almost inconceivable.”
Horrific Conditions• Middle Passage, terrifying ordeal
• Captive Africans chained together, forced into dark, cramped quarters below ship’s decks
• Could neither sit nor stand
• Journey lasted three to six weeks, ten to twenty percent did not survive
Ordeal
Middle Passage
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