Spain, France, and England Lay
Claim in the New World
Competing Powers in North America
Claim to Florida
• How did Spain obtain
such wealth in the New
World?
• This wealth quickly
made others jealous –
France and England.
• As early as 1523 C.E.,
French raiders were
taking gold and silver
from Cortes’s ships.
Claim to Florida
• Hugenots went to
Florida – Why?
• 1562 C.E., Hugenots
established a
settlement at Port Royal
Sound, close to Spain’s
route of treasure fleets.
• What did this cause the
Spanish to think?
Claim to Florida
• French continued to
colonize Florida in 1564
C.E.; erected Fort Caroline
(Jacksonville).
• Spain would react; King
Philip II sent 300 soldiers
and 700 colonists to
secure Florida.
• Pedro Menendez de
Aviles; massacred
hundreds of Hugenots.
Claim to Florida
• Menendez built St.
Augustine to discourage
the French from
returning.
• After defeating the
French, Spain looked into
the interior of Florida.
• 1570 C.E., eight missions
to convert Native
Americans.
• Went to Chesapeake Bay
to look for “an intrance
into the mountains and
on to China.”
Claim to Florida
• Spain failed to secure a
foothold in Chesapeake
Bay.
• By 1572 C.E., all the
missionaries had been
killed.
• A new rival appeared on
the scene almost
overnight – who?
English Expansion
• Before he died, Henry
VIII built a sizable navy.
• English were exporting
wool and population
was rising.
• Landowners began
pushing tenants off
their land – where
would they go?
English Expansion
• London pop. soared from
50,000 to 200,000 in only
100 years.
• Wool industry collapsed,
so merchants looked
elsewhere for money.
• England began looking in
Scandinavia, Arctic
Ocean, China, Morocco,
and Africa.
• England began buying
slaves in Africa and selling
them to the Spanish in
the Caribbean.
English Expansion
• King Philip II had enough
of Protestants; he forced
English sailors like Francis
Drake out of Mexican
waters in 1568 C.E.
• With quiet support from
Elizabeth I, English
continued to challenge
the Spanish on the high
seas.
• Francis Drake was by far
the most successful.
English Expansion
• Drake’s Voyage – 1577
to 1580; plundered
Peru, claimed San
Francisco Bay for
England, sailed around
the world.
• Sacked ports in the
Caribbean, attacked St.
Augustine, and sank 2
dozen Spanish ships in
1588.
Drake’s Voyage
English Expansion
• England’s anti-Catholic
propagandists made
Drake a national hero.
• England painted Spanish
cruelties toward Native
Americans in worst terms.
• Translated Las Casas
writings into English
– Las Casas (Spain) wrote
vivid accounts of Spanish
cruelty.
English Expansion
• Hypocrisy – England
pointed out Spanish
cruelty in the New
World, but England’s
conquest of Ireland was
equally as bloody.
• Remember, it’s about
land – what is the next
logical conquest for
England.
Lost Colony: Roanoke
• 1567 C.E., Englishman
Sir Humphrey Gilbert
proposed the idea of a
northwestern passage
to China.
• Wrote an essay called
“How Her Majesty May
Annoy the King of
Spain”
– Proposed a colony in
Newfoundland
Lost Colony: Roanoke
• Numerous shipwrecks
and desertions doomed
Gilbert; dies on the way
back to England.
• Gilbert’s half-brother,
Walter Raleigh, decides
to plant a colony near
Chesapeake Bay.
• 1584 C.E., learned
about Roanoke Island
and decided to settle
there.
Lost Colony: Roanoke
• English saw it as a place
of advantage against
Spain – why?
• Raleigh failed three times.
– 1. 1585 C.E. bad storms
destroyed the ships.
– 2. 1586 C.E. ships diverted
to the Caribbean to raid
Spanish ships.
– 3. 1587 C.E. John White
w/110 settlers…….
Lost Colony: Roanoke
• May 1587 to August
1587 C.E., tough life.
• John White was sent
back to England with
supplies.
• When he got back, all
the settlers were gone
and the word
“Croatoan” was carved
on a post.
• What happened?