European Explorers
Country
Henry the Navigator
Vasco da Gama
Pedro Cabral
Christopher Columbus
Ferdinand Magellan
Sir Francis Drake
Henry Hudson
Jacques Cartier
Dates Sailed
Goal of Exploration
Length of Voyage
Explored
Notes
European Colonies in the Americas
and New Patterns of Trade
Objectives:
• Students will discover how the Spanish built an
Empire in the Americas and its characteristics.
• Students will explore how the French and English
colonies differed in the New World and the
consequences of conflict.
• Students will discover how exploration resulted in
a new exchange of plants and animals.
• Students will investigate mercantilism, and how
this theory pushed the drive to establish colonies.
Spain Builds an Empire
• Scramble to establish colonies and empires in new lands
• Spain first to successfully settle in the Americas
• Eventually conquered native empires, the Aztecs and Incas
Spain in Caribbean
• First areas settled by
Spanish, Caribbean
islands, Hispaniola,
Cuba
• Columbus hoped to
find gold, did not
• Spanish introduced
encomienda system
there
Encomienda
• Colonist given land and
Native Americans to
work the land
• Required to teach
native workers about
Christianity
Millions Died
• Disastrous system for
Native Americans
• Mistreatment,
overwork took toll on
population
• Europeans spread new
diseases
The Conquest of Mexico and South America
Conquistador
• Some Spaniards moved from Caribbean to mainland to set up colonies
• Hernán Cortés led expedition to Mexico, ended with conquest of Aztecs
• Cortés a conquistador, military leader who fought against Native Americans
Cortes Marches on Capital
• Moctezuma II, Aztec emperor at time of Spanish arrival in Mexico
• Aztecs powerful, ruled much of Mexico; unpopular with those they conquered
• Cortés joined by thousands of those who wanted to defeat Aztecs
Pizarro and the Inca
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10 years after conquest of Aztecs, Francisco Pizarro led expedition to Peru
Inca Empire already weakened by smallpox; many killed, including emperor
1532, new ruler, Atahualpa, agreed to meet with Spanish
Spanish killed Atahualpa, destroyed Inca army, took over empire
• ADVANTAGE GUNS, GERMS and STEEL
Beginnings of Slavery
• Disease, mistreatment took toll on native population
• Some appalled at treatment
• One reformer, Bartolomé de Las Casas recommended replacing Native Americans
as laborers with imported African slaves
• Slave labor soon became common practice in Americas
Spanish Colonies
Exports
Spanish goal for
colonies was to
export gold and
precious metals
back to Europe
Summarize
How did the Spanish create an empire in the
Americas?
Answer(s): conquered Aztec and Inca empires
The Portuguese in Brazil
Portuguese built an empire in the Americas
Because of treaty, their empire was not as large as the Spanish one
Treaty
• 1494, Treaty of Tordesillas drew
imaginary line through Atlantic Ocean
– Everything west, including most of
then-undiscovered Americas,
would belong to Spain
– Everything to east would be
Portuguese
– Only Brazil remained as
Portuguese colony
• Heavy Brazilian jungles made mining,
farming difficult
• Portuguese in no hurry to settle
• First used Native American, then
African slave, labor to work on farms
French, Dutch, and English Colonies in the Americas
Silver and gold from American colonies began to circulate in Europe; other European
countries paid close attention.
Leaders in France, England, and the Netherlands decided that they needed to
establish colonies in the Americas.
New France
Trade and Colonization
• French explorers established colonies
in New France, or Canada
• Waters of North Atlantic swarming
with fish, staple of European diet
• Hoped this would be a rich source for
gold, silver
• Forests yielded valuable furs
• Did not find riches, but found other
potentially valuable trade goods
• French did not send large numbers of
colonists; small groups of traders
• Did not enslave Native Americans
Native American hunters were the French traders’ main source of furs.
Many traders married Native American women, intermingling the two cultures.
Further Explorations
South from New France
• A few French explorers headed south
to seek more lands to claim
• 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded
city of Quebec
Mississippi to Gulf of Mexico
• 1682, René-Robert La Salle canoed
down entire Mississippi River to Gulf
of Mexico
• Claimed enormous Mississippi region,
tributaries for France
• French also explored Mississippi River
• Thought it flowed to Pacific, would
provide route to Asia
• Named huge, fertile area Louisiana,
after King Louis XIV
The English Colonies
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1607, first English colony established at Jamestown
Settlers hoped to find gold, silver, river route to Pacific
Instead found marshy ground, impure water
80 percent of settlers died during first winter in America
Colony still endured
Pilgrims
• 1620, Pilgrims sailed from England
Native Americans
• Pilgrims had been persecuted in
England for religious beliefs
• English settlers did not share same
relationship with Native Americans as
French, Dutch
• Established colony at Plymouth,
Massachusetts
• Jamestown, Plymouth colonies
received aid from local peoples
• Persevered despite difficulties
• Still, colonists viewed Native
Americans with distrust, anger
• Colony self-sufficient within 5 years
British-French Conflict
Problems
• English ran into conflict with French settlers in Americas
• Mid-1700s, English colonists attempted to settle in French territory, upper Ohio
River valley; tension in region grew; war broke out, 1754
French and Indian War
• Both had Native American allies; English called it French and Indian War
• Also Called the Seven Years War
• War began badly for British; French had more soldiers than English
• British turned tide, took city of Quebec
Costly War
• Eventually French surrendered, yielded Canada, all French territory east of
Mississippi
• War costly for British; king tried to place costs of war on colonists
• Led to resentment, which eventually brought about American Revolution
The Columbian Exchange
• Voyages launched large-scale contact between Europe and Americas.
• Interaction with Native Americans led to sweeping cultural changes.
• Contact between the two groups led to the widespread exchange of plants,
animals, and disease—the Columbian Exchange.
The Exchange of Goods
Sharing Discoveries
• Plants, animals developed in very
different ways in hemispheres
• Arrival of Europeans in Americas
changed all this
• Europeans—no potatoes, corn, sweet
potatoes, turkeys
• Previously unknown foods taken back
to Europe
• People in Americas—no coffee,
oranges, rice, wheat, sheep, cattle
• Familiar foods brought to Americas by
colonists
The Rise of Capitalism
Increasing trade between Europe and colonies created new business and
trade practices during the 1500s and 1600s. These practices would have a
great impact on the economies of European nations.
Capitalism Emerges
Overseas Trade
Increased Business
Activity
• During this time,
capitalism expanded
• Individuals amassed
great trade fortunes
• Overseas trade made
many merchants rich
• In capitalism, most
economic activity
carried on by private
individuals,
organizations in order
to seek profit
• Merchants supplied
colonists with European
goods
• Wealth enabled them
to invest in more
business ventures
• Returned products, raw
materials
• Business activity in
Europe increased
greatly
A New Business Organization
New Ventures
Joint-Stock Companies
• Overseas business ventures often
too expensive for individual
investors
• Investors bought shares of stock in
company
• Investors began pooling money in
joint-stock companies
• If company made profit, each
shareholder received portion
Shares
Financing Colonies
• Profit, loss based on number of
shares owned
• British East India Company, one of
first joint-stock companies
• If company failed, investors lost
only amount invested
• 1600, imported spices from Asia
• Others formed to bear cost of
establishing colonies
The chart shows the
average annual rate at
which earnings rose
for full-time working
men (in dark blue)
and women (in light
blue) in each 10
percent bracket from
1980 to 2005. So the
poorest men and
women are on the left
of each chart, and the
richest are on the
right.
http://www.theatlantic.com/busines
s/archive/2013/01/why-us-incomeinequality-is-more-frightening-thaneuropes/272529/
Origins of the Slave Trade
• Slavery has existed in many parts of the world
• People forced into slavery came from different walks of life
• Farmers, merchants, priests, soldiers, or musicians; fathers and mothers, sons and
daughters.
Beginnings
Native Americans
• Shortage of labor in
Americas led to
beginning of Atlantic
slave trade
• Planters first used
Native Americans;
European diseases
killed millions
• European planters
needed workers on
sugar, tobacco
plantations
• 1600s, used indentured
servants
• Expensive to support
workers
African Slaves
• Millions forcibly taken
to Americas
• Most from coast of
West Africa
• Some exchanged for
firearms, goods
• Others kidnapped on
raids by traders
Trade Network
Captured Africans became part of network called the
triangular trade
• First leg of triangle, ships carrying European goods to Africa to
be exchanged for slaves
• Second leg, Middle Passage, brought Africans to Americas to
be sold
• Third leg carried American products to Europe
• Some slave traders from Americas sailed directly to Africa, not
following triangular route
Middle Passage
Ordeal
• Middle Passage, terrifying ordeal
• Captive Africans chained together,
forced into dark, cramped quarters
below ship’s decks
• Could neither sit nor stand
• Journey lasted three to six weeks, ten
to twenty percent did not survive
Horrific Conditions
• Olaudah Equiano wrote about
conditions on slave ship:
• “The stench of the hold…was so
intolerably loathsome, that it was
dangerous to remain there for any
time…
• “The shrieks of the women, and the
groans of the dying, rendered the
whole scene of horror almost
inconceivable.”