Exploration, Discovery and Settlement 1492-1700

1. “Thus, out of small beginnings greater things have been produced…so as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many…” Exploration, Discovery and Settlement 1492-1700

2. Europe Moves to Expansion • Improvements in Technology • The Renaissance led to an explosion of new technology that made distance travel an option • Religious Conflict • The Catholic Church took hold in Spain and began an aggressive exporting • The Protestant Revolt in North Europe led pilgrims to seek freedom of worship • Each group wanted its own Christianity to be dominant • Expanding Trade • This provides an economic motive for expansion • The land route to Asia had been made dangerous by the emergence of the Ottoman Turks • Developing States • These nations that developed began to gather the vast resources needed to finance the trips of exploration

3. Columbus • As we know, Columbus did not “discover” America • Columbus did have a great impact on the world • His legacy is the opening of the “new world” to trade and exploitation by Europeans. • Spain and Portugal were the pre-eminent naval powers of the time • They felt a right and a duty to spread Catholicism to the new world and to exploit its resources

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5. Early English Settlement Early Problems in Jamestown: • Disease • Swampy land • Indian attacks • Poor leadership and focus

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7. Jamestown How did it survive? • John Smith • Tobacco • The colony of Virginia came under control of the British monarchy as the Virginia Company went bankrupt

8. The Puritans The Plymouth Colony • The Puritans wanted to remove all vestiges of Catholicism from the Anglican Church (Church of England) • The Pilgrims established the Plymouth colony as a place to practice the Puritan religion • They were NOT tolerant of other religions!! • In a view of things to come in New England, fish, fur and lumber become economic staples Massachusetts Bay Colony • In 1629 a new group of Puritans gained a royal charter for a new colony • Just one year later, a wave of new Puritan immigrants, including John Winthrop, came to the New World • This was known as the Great Migration • Most were seeking freedom or fleeing the civil war in England

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10. The Baby Steps to Democracy!! Early Political Institutions • Majority Rule • Took the form of the Mayflower Compact • Representative Government at Jamestown • The establishment of the House of Burgesses • Representative Government in Massachusetts • Members of the Puritan Church • The town hall meeting • Limited Democracy: • Only white male landowners were generally allowed to participate in the political process

11. Native Americans Spanish Policies: • Conquest, disease and conversion • A class system developed w/ the Spanish at the top English Policies: • Initially, trade and coexistence • English had limited respect for the N.A. culture French Policies: • The French generally supported the Native populations in the North • This was to maintain control of the fur trade