The “New World”
Colonization
1491-1700
Early Exploration & Contact
• Columbus 1492 arrived in
Bahamas. Hispaniola. Columbus
controversial legacy?
• Columbian Exchange: transfer of
plants, animals, and
germs/diseases. FSpanish
• conquistadores – search for gold
“requerimiento”
• Encomienda system: land grants
& natives to Spaniards
• Asiento system: slave trade from W.
Africa taxes supported monarch
Jamestown & Virginia
• 1606 - James I issues a to the Virginia
Company a joint-stock company.
• Jamestown founded 1607 swampy area along James
River
• Problems: malaria & dysentery, “gentlemen” didn’t
want to work, searched for gold, “starving time”
• Survived under leadership of John Smith &trade w/
Powhatan Confederacy
• John Rolfe (married to Pocahontas) developed
tobacco - cash crop
• Most immigrants were indentured servants under
Headright system
James I
John Smith
John Rolfe
Plymouth
• Founded for more religious reasons – Puritan
Separatist “pilgrims” – based on Calvinism – belief
in predestination
• 1620 Mayflower – 100 passengers– less than half
Separatists – permission from VA Company but
landed in Massachusetts. Mayflower Compact
• Lost ½ of settlers during 1st winter, but with
leadership of William Bradford & Captain Miles
Standish & help of Wampanoag Indians survived,
1st Thanksgiving in 1621
• Grew slowly & remained small colony
• Economy: fish, fur, and lumber
Gov. William Bradford
Squanto
Massachusetts Bay Colony
• Founded by moderate Puritans –
persecution increased in England
1625 under Charles I
• 1630 John Winthrop leads 1,000 to
form Massachusetts Bay Colony in
Boston
• Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian
Charity” “We shall be as a city upon
a hill” represents ideals of colony
• “Great Migration” English Civil War
drove 15,000 settlers to New
England during 1630s
John Winthrop
King Philip’s War (1675-1676}
Metacom (King Philip) Chief of the
Wampanoags united the tribes of
New England.
The war ended in failure for the
Indians
 Metacom beheaded and drawn
and quartered.
 His son and wife sold into
slavery.
 Never a serious threat in New
England again!!
Maryland
Lord Baltimore formed a proprietary
colony in 1634.
Haven for Catholics
Tobacco main cash crop.
“Act of Toleration” 1649
Huh?
Freedom of worship
for all!
Death to all
Jews and Atheists !
New Netherlands to New York
James II Duke of York
Founded by the Dutch in 1625
1664 British take over without a fight
Center of trade and very Cosmopolitan 
diverse population with many different languages.
Pennsylvania
Founded by William Penn in
1681
Quakers “Society of Friends”
pacifists,
fair treatment of Indians,
more equality,
religious freedom
Opposed slavery
Philadelphia “City of
Brotherly Love”
Carolinas & Georgia
North Carolina: Tobacco plantations
South Carolina: Rice & Indigo
High demand for slaves from West
Africa
By 1710  black slaves were a
majority in South Carolina.
Georgia: Founded by James
Oglethorpe in 1732.
“Buffer-zone” from Spanish Florida
Haven for debtors
American Long
Grain Rice
Rise of Slavery
First Africans arrived in Jamestown in 1619 treated
like indentured servants.
Slavery not significant until the late 1600s
1690: 13,000 slaves
1750: more than 200,000
S
•
Causes of Rise of Slavery
Increased demand for slaves
1. Less English indentured servants
2. West Africans were experienced in Rice cultivation
and more resistant to malaria.
3. Cheap labor—tobacco prices fall, need large
numbers of unskilled workers for rice & indigo
•
Effect on population:
– By 1750 slaves were 50% of Virginia, 66% of South
Carolina populations.
S
The Atlantic “Triangular” Trade
Slaves – sugar – rum - guns
The “Middle Passage”
Harsh conditions:
13% died along
journey from West
Africa to Americas
Slave Codes & Stono Rebellion
• Slave Codes: harsh laws passed in South
• Stono Rebellion: 1739 in South Carolina – 20 slaves
revolted from one plantation (80 others joined)
• 50 slaves and 25 whites killed- largest slave revolt
during the Colonial Period.
The Enlightenment
• Early 1700s philosophy
movement from Europe
• Reason over faith, science
over religion
• Benjamin Franklin
inventions & almanac
• Questioned traditional
monarchy
• John Locke “Natural
Rights”
R
The Great Awakening
• Religious revival in
response to effects of
Enlightenment in 1740s
• Jonathan Edwards &
George Whitefield
leading ministers
• “Sinners in the Hands of
An Angry God”
• God is angry but can
forgive – anyone can
repent & be saved
• Blamed science, greed, &
traditional church for
drop in faith
R
Effects of the Great Awakening
RELIGION
• Emotional services
• Ministers lose authority
many people study bible at
home
• New Lights (supporters):
– Baptists, Methodists
• Old Lights -(anti)
traditionalists - ministers
needed to interpret Bible
• Causes diversity of sects &
competition
•
•
•
•
POLITICS
Affects all classes and
regions
Experience shared by
all American colonists
Changes how people
view authority in
general
Long-term drive to
expand political
equality
Mercantilism
• Mercantilism: Dominant European economic system
in 17th Century – self-sufficient kingdoms
• Empires compete through favorable balance of trade
= export manufactured goods, import wealth
(gold/silver)
• Colonies exist to benefit the mother country
• Highly government regulated economy
• “Navigation Acts” (1650-1673)
1. Trade only on English or colonial-built ships
2. All goods imported to colonies must first travel to English
ports
3. Specified goods (tobacco) from colonies could only be
exported to England (eventually includes most goods)
• Effects: NE shipbuilding prospered, military
protection, but limited colonial manufacturing, higher
prices for English imported goods
•
Some goods prohibited to export from colonies: Woolen Act (1699,
Molasses Act of 1733 banned import from French W. Indies
• Colonists resented acts over time
-
led to smuggling of Dutch & Spanish goods, & corruption
MA Bay had charter revoked in 1684 due to rampant
smuggling
Map Quiz
• Which colonies are considered part of
New England?
• Which colonies are considered
Southern Colonies?
• Which colonies are considered the
Middle Colonies?
• Which colony was originally founded
by the Dutch?
• Which colony was founded by
Quakers?
• Which colonies relied on tobacco as
their cash crop?
• Which colony’s cash crop was indigo
and rice?
• Which colony was founded by Lord
Baltimore as a haven for Catholics?
• Which colony was founded as a
buffer against the Spanish and a
refuge for debtors?
• Which colonies were founded by
Puritans?
• Which colony had the highest % of
slaves?
North America in 1750
What caused the French & Indian War?