Columbus claiming the “New World” for Spain.

1. Columbus claiming the “New World” for Spain.

2. Motives driving Europeans to explore • Two Motives • Find a sea route to Asia • Carry Christianity’s message

3. Columbus • Convinced the rulers of Spain to finance a trip to Asia by going West. • Landed on unmapped islands in the “new world” (Caribbean) and called them the West Indies. • He would change the lives of millions of people in Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

4. LAND CLAIMS IN THE AMERICAS, 1763 • During the 1500’s, explorers from Portugal, France, England, the Netherlands, Spain, and other European countries followed Columbus to the Americas and claimed the lands they explored for their home countries. • Settlers followed the explorers and started colonies governed by their home country.

5. Settlers Colonies • Colony • Settlement begun by a group of people in a distant region that is governed by their home country. • While a colony might have limited local self-rule, all major decisions concerning its government and economy are made by its home country.

6. Colonial Empires • Colonial Empires • A group of colonies all controlled by the same home country. • By 1700, several European nations had claimed large colonial empires in the Americas.

7. Spain • Spain’s empire was the oldest and most extensive, stretching from the valleys of California southward through Mexico, Central America, and South America.

8. Portugal • Portugal came to South America in the early 1500s, claiming half of that colony it called Brazil.

9. France • In the early 1600’s France began building its colonial empire far to the north claiming most of Canada, the heartland of North America, and the Mississippi River Valley.

10. England • England was late to the colonization party but by 1733, they had 13 colonies along the Atlantic coast of North America.

11. Why Build An Overseas Colony? • 1) Wealth • 2) Power • Colonies were seen as a source of valuable raw materials to their home countries. • Example • During the 1500’s gold and silver flowing into Spain from its American empire made that country one of the richest in Europe.

12. Push and Pull Factors PUSH FACTORS PULL FACTORS Pull Factors Opportunities that “pulled” Europeans to the new world. • Push Factors • Problems that “pushed” Europeans away from their homeland.

13. Economic Push and Pull Factors • Push Factors • Financial reasons • Many Europeans were willing to risk all for a fresh start in a new place. • Pull Factors • Amazing abundance • Thick forests filled with game. • Flocks of birds so huge that they darkened the sky. • Streams choked with fish. • Soil so rich that cornstalks grew “as high as a man can reach, and even higher.”

14. Religious Intolerance Push Factor • In the 1600’s, anyone who did not conform to the teachings of the official state church, whether Catholic or Protestant, was viewed with deep suspicion and often persecuted. • Separatists • People who separated from the official church of England. • In 1608, the Separatists left England for the Netherlands where they would be free to worship. • Unfortunately they felt like strangers in the land so they decided to become “Pilgrims” and cross the Atlantic to start new lives where they would be free to worship as they please. The Pilgrims were followed by more religious non-conformists: Puritans, Quakers, Catholics, Jews, Baptists, French Huguenots, and others.

15. A People Neither Pushed of Pulled • Portuguese • Holds the honor of having begun the enslavement of Africans. • In 1444, Portuguese ships began returning home from Africa with human cargoes to be sold as slaves. • African slaves would go on to sail to America with the early Spanish explorers. • During the 1500’s, Spanish colonists began importing large numbers of Africans to toil on sugar plantations in the West Indies. • By 1619, few Africans were brought to the English colony of Virginia and sold as servants.

16. 13 English Colonies The original 13 English colonies were founded between 1607 and 1733. By 1733, there were 13 English colonies strung out along the Atlantic seaboard. • New England Colonies • Massachusetts • Connecticut • Rhode Island • New Hampshire • Middle Colonies • New York • New Jersey • Pennsylvania • Delaware • Southern Colonies • Maryland • Virginia • North Carolina • South Carolina • Georgia

17. New England Colonies • Physical Characteristics • Hilly region described by an early settler as a “rocky, barren, bushy, wild-woody wilderness.” • Settlement • The Pilgrims led the way to New England founding the settlement of Plymouth in 1620. • Between 1630 and 1643, more than 20,000 English Puritans migrated to New England seeking religious freedom. • Religion • The people in New England were united by their Puritan faith where they settled in compact villages centered around their church. Farm fields surrounded their villages. • Difficulties • Harsh climate, hilly terrain, and thin rocky soil made farming difficult. • Their best crops came from the forest and the sea.

18. Middle Colonies • Physical Characteristics • A region of contrasts. • New Jersey and Delaware • Flat and gently rolling hills • Rich soil and easy to plow and plant. • New York and Pennsylvania • Coastal plains to the Appalachian mountains • Area rich in timber and beavers. • The People • Very diverse • From different nations • Different religions • Economy • Most people lived by farming while there were a number of merchants , mechanics, shippers, and tradespeople.

19. Southern Colonies • Physical Characteristics • No solid coastline • Great bays • Broad tidal rivers • Low lying swamps • Climate and soil are ideal for warm weather crops. • Economics • Large plantations built on large rivers. • Southern planters raised tobacco, rice, sugar cane, and indigo. • For the thousands of Africans who labored on the plantations as slaves, life was neither easy nor pleasant.

20. Results on Native Americans • Coming of Europeans a disaster for Native Americans. • # dropped from 12 million to 500,000 • Diseases • Conflict over land grew.

21. Results on Native Americans • John Eliot, a Puritan missionary, preaching to the Native Americans of Massachusetts. Elliot, who translation of the Bible was the first Bible printed in North America, gathered Native Americans together in Christian towns and set the pattern for two centuries of missionary work among the Native Americans.