EUROPEAN COLONIZATION OF North America

1. EUROPEAN COLONIZATION OF North America Ashley smith

2. Colonization • Colonization occurs when one country discovers, settles, and exploits another part of the world. • The Spanish were of the first Europeans to established settlements in North America in the areas we know now as Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Mexico, and in Central and South America, also the islands of the Caribbean. • French colonized parts of North America in what is now eastern Canada, along the Mississippi River south to where it meets the Gulf of Mexico. • The Dutch mainly settled in what is now New York and New Jersey. • The English settled mainly in other parts of the eastern United States and what is now Canada. • Both the Dutch and the French eventually lost their North America colonies to England.

3. Disease in the Americas • European countries caused a lot of tragedy for the American Indians. They killed many American Indians and forced others into slavery. Colonists took land from the American Indians, thousands of American Indians-sometimes whole villages- died from diseases the Europeans carried such as smallpox and measles.

4. The Mayflower and Pilgrims • The Pilgrims were from a religious group that were persecuted in England because their beliefs differed from teachings of the Church of England. They went to Holland and ended up not being happy there so they got permission to settle in America near the first English colony in Virginia.

5. Thirteen English colonies • By the 1730’s, there were thirteen English colonies in what is now the United States. • The differences in geography caused people to earn their living in many different ways. • The New England colonies had poor soil and cold winters. However, they did have good harbors. • The middle colonies had soil that was good for growing grains such as wheat. • The southern colonies had warm weather and rich soil which made it possible to raise crops such as tobacco and cotton. These crops were grown on large farms called plantations.

6. Conquistadors and Aztecs • In the early 1500s, soldier-explorers called conquistadors defeated the native Aztec people in Mexico and established Spain’s first colony in North America. • As Spanish settlement slowly spread north, Catholic priests founded missions. Each mission consisted of a town built around a church. • The Spanish founded about 150 missions in what is now the United States. Most missions were in the present-day states of Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. • The purpose of a mission was to develop the surrounding region and convert its American Indians to Christianity. • The lives of the “mission Indians” consisted of working in shops, weaving cloth and making other products. • In fields, they tended to cattle and raised the variety of crops. • They were forced to obey the priests’ orders and also give up their religions. • Those who resisted were often whipped.

7. Democracy • Democracy means that the people rule themselves. The greater the voice of the people, the more democratic the system. • In a true democracy, all the people have a voice in the government. However, systems of government can be democratic in different ways.

8. British colonies • Before the outbreak of the American revolution in 1776, the thirteen British colonies were governed in three different ways: as royal colonies, as proprietary colonies, or as self-governing colonies. Each of these systems applied democratic principles differently. • Nine of the colonies were royal colonies. In royal colonies, the king of England appointed the governor. • In proprietary colonies, the proprietor, or owner, of the colony selected the governor. • Maryland and Pennsylvania were proprietary colonies. • Connecticut and Rhode Island were self-governing colonies, the colonists themselves elected the governor and all members of the legislature. • Colonial legislatures had two sections, or houses. In most proprietary and royal colonies, the colonists elected the members of one house. The proprietor or the kind appointed the other house. In Pennsylvania, however, the colonists elected both houses of the legislature.

9. Questions • What was the purpose of colonization of America? • In your own words what does colonization mean? • What did this mean for American Indian’s who were already settled here? • What purpose did the Pilgrim’s serve? • How many colonies were settled in the United States by the 1730’s? • What did the conquistadors do/what was their purpose? • Prior to the American Revolution, how many different methods were used to govern the colonies? • List the methods. • What kinds of diseases did the Europeans bring to the American Indians? • What was the purpose of the Mayflower Compact?