2-4 The Race for Empires
Pgs 52-57
What was the Protestant
Reformation?
EVENTS IN EUROPE
Protestant Reformation
• 1517 (Germany) Martin Luther
– Publicly criticized the Roman Catholic Church
• Church too wealthy and abused its power
– Religious movement began in small German
towns but quickly spread to most of Europe
• Create political disputes
– Protestants – reformers who protested some
of the Catholic Church’s practices
• Religion should be simple
– Printing press spread Reformations ideas
• Bible’s, essays
• Allowed independent study
– Conflict between Catholics and Protestants
• Civil war
–1500s French Catholics vs. French
Huguenots (protestant) = Huguenots
emigrated to Americas
»Religious freedom
– 1534 Church of England created by Henry the
VIII
• Challenged Popes authority
What happened in the war between
Spain and England during the
1500s?
Spain and England Go to War
• 1500s King Philip II of Spain led Catholic
Reformation in response to the Protestant
Reformation
– Goal: Drive the Protestants out of
England
• Sea Dogs = English sailors led by Sir
Francis Drake
• Spanish Armada – huge fleet of
warships meant to end English plans
–Invade England Overthrow Queen
Elizabeth and the Anglican Church
–1588 Smaller English fleet defeated
the Armada
»Shocked Spain
»Spain’s economy is in trouble
»Ends Spain’s dominance of the
sea
Who searched for the Northwest
Passage? Were they successful?
Search for a Northwest Passage
• Northwest Passage – water route through
NA that would allow ships to sail from the
Atlantic to the Pacific
– John Cabot – Sailed for England (14971498)
• Basis for the English American
colonies
– Giovanni da Verrazano – 1524 (Italy)
• Coasts of North Carolina to Maine
– Jacques Cartier (France)
• St. Lawrence River
• Land claimed for France
– Henry Hudson (England) 1609
• Found NY
• 1st trip he sailed for the Dutch and the
2nd for the English
• Hudson Bay
What was the earliest English
Settlement? Was it successful?
Why?
EUROPEAN PRESENCE
• Spain and Portugal dominated Americas
early
• England, France, and Dutch explored NA
• English Presence in the New World
– 1500s set up permanent settlements
– Sir Walter Raleigh
• Charter – document that gives
permission to start a colony
–1584 expedition landed in present
day Virginia and North Carolina
–Roanoke Island founded in NC in
1585
»Hard life – fought with Native
Americans, trouble finding and
growing food
»1 year later returned to England
»John White resettled in 1587,
returned to England for supplies
but war with Spain prevented
him from returning for 3 years.
When he did colony was
deserted
»“lost colony”
What were the earliest French
Settlements?
• French Presence in the New World
– 1st NA settlement was Florida (1564)
• Destroyed by Spanish
– Settled Present Day Canada
• Samuel de Chaplain
–Followed Cartier
–1608 colony on the St. Lawrence
River in Quebec for fur trade
– 1600s New France
• Fur traders, explorers, missionaries
• Mississippi River – Louis Jolliet and
Jacques Marquette (1673)
–Mississippi Valley claimed for
France called Louisiana
– 1700s New Outposts
• Detroit, St. Louis, New Orleans
• 12000 settlers
• Allied with Native Americans because
of Fur Trades
What were the earliest Dutch
settlements like?
• Dutch Presence in the New World
– Dutch were searching for trade
– Claimed the land between the Delaware
River and the Hudson River = New
Netherlands
– 1624Dutch West India Company
• Bought Manhattan Island for $24
–New Amsterdam
• Religious freedom
– New Sweden in the same area along
the Delaware River – later became part
of New Netherlands