European Colonization in North America: Spanish, French, Dutch, and British Colonies
France claimed the land...
Canada to New Orleans and controlled territory along the Mississippi River
Spain converting Indians to...
Catholicism and created missions in America
in the 16 and 1700s Spain dominated...
Central and Southern Americas and the South East and South West regions of North America
Spain sent explorers called...
Conquistadors to the new world to find gold and conquer lands
In the East...
Indians like the Iroquois, Powhatan's, and Cherokee were settled into farming villages
In the Central plains...
Indians like the Souix and Cheyenne hunted buffalo using mass-hunting techniques
Economy:
New Amsterdam was created by private investors of a joint-stock company who hoped to profit from trade in America
Before the arrival of Europeans...
North America was dominated by diverse Indian groups
gold from America increased...
Spain's wealth and power
During the Renaissance...
a desire for new trade routes to Asia led to an Age of Exploration
Some colonists came to America for...
a wide variety of reasons -some came to escape poverty -some came fro religious freedom and to flee religious persecution -some colonists came to escape violence during the English Civil War
Society:
because the french needed furs, they were the most friendly with local Indians ...french colonists had to be Catholic and few people immigrated to America
Societies and economics of the British colonies were...
dependent upon the reasons people settled
In the 1600s...
french explorer Samuel de Champlain failed to find a north west passage through Canada...but created the french colony of Quebec
Spanish Conquistadors searched for...
gold and silver
The arrival of Europeans...
led to the introduction of new products between Indians and Europeans called the Columbian Exchange
Northern colonies
like Massachusetts were closely connected by religion and families with an economy based largely on subsistence farming
Southern colonies
like Virginia had large cash crops economies, large gaps between rich and poor farmers and slave labor
Government:
like the Spanish colonies, the french colonial gov'ts were strictly controlled by the King of France who ruled via royal governors
Economy:
most french colonists profited from fur trade, small-scale farming, or lumbering
European explorers found...
new trade routes and formed overseas colonies
the success of the Spanish colonies encouraged...
other European nations to form permanent colonies in North America
the introduction of...
potatoes and corn helped improve the diets and life expectancy of people throughout the world
The Dutch Created a colony in...
present day New York City called New Amsterdam that became New Netherland
In Central America...
the Aztecs formed a powerful empire and dominated surrounding Indians
As a result...
the British colonies were very different from each other and were never very unified
Government:
the British developed a policy called Salutary Neglect that allowed colonists to create local laws ad taxes in colonial assemblies... royal governors were sent by the King but they had little power
Like the Dutch...
the British settled in America through joint-stock companies of private investors
government:
the King of Spain who sent viceroys to strictly govern the colonies (colonists could not vote and had few freedoms)
Economy:
the economy of the Spanish colonies was based on mining gold and silver (bullion)...and haciendas (plantations) using the encomienda system of Indian workers to farm cash crops like sugar
Like Spain...
the french colonists focused on wealth and converting Indians to Catholicism
Society and Government:
to attract settlers, the Dutch government allowed anyone, regardless of religion or nation, to immigrate and granted political freedom to their colonists...as a result, New Netherlands was one of the most free and diverse colonies in America
Unlike the Spanish and French the British colonists never...
tried hard to convert, marry, or trade with local Indians, although conflicts over land were common
Christopher Columbus ...
"discovery" of America in 1492 transformed the future of American Indians and Europe
the introduction of European grains...
,horses and cattle transformed many indian cultures
Society:
-Viceroys (royal governors): had power and were at the top of society -Whhite Spanish Colonists (creoles): had land and were wealthy *lack of colonial women led to intermarriages between white colonist and Indians (mixed-race Indians were Mestizos) -Native Americans and African Slaves: made up the bottom of colonial society