Colonization and Settlement of
America
Reasons for Exploration
• Expanding populations—needed more space
• Trade increased – merchants wanted access to
Asia – spices, silk, porcelain
• Three G’s—in this order
• 1. Gold *any riches (gold, silver, resources)
Most important to most explorers
• 2. God *to convert natives
• 3. Glory *to make a name for themselves
• First European explorers to reach the Americas
were Vikings – Leif Eriksson – Canada – around
1000 A.D.
• Christopher Columbus – Caribbean - 1492 A.D.
• Spain is first European country to permanently
colonize the New World
• Amerigo Vespucci—first European to map North and
South America (1501)
• Giovanni da Verrazzano – first European to reach
North Carolina (1524)
• Natives were treated poorly – Plantation System –
used for agricultural (sugar cane) and mining work
(gold and silver)
• Columbian Exchange – movement of stuff (animals,
plants, diseases, religions, knowledge, technology,
culture, resources etc.) between Old World and New
World
• Old World – Europe/Africa/Asia
• New World – North and South America
Columbian Exchange Chart
• 1. Create your own chart
• 2. Five categories of stuff
• 3. List three historical examples for each
category, then three modern examples
• 4. List where the example came from and
where it went to.
• 5. For each category, explain how one
historical example and one modern
example impacted people.
Smallpox Victim
Native populations were devastated by disease
Leif Eriksson sights land
Christopher Columbus
Amerigo Vespucci
Locations
• English focused on the
Atlantic Coastline of
North America
• Reasons for Colonizing
• 1. Interested in room for
expanding population unwanted
• 2. Agriculture
• 3. Protestant
Reformation – Religious
Freedom
• 4. Mercantilism
• Late entering American
colonization due to
issues at home
How does geography impact
how and where people live?
Roanoke
Voyages
• English made 3 voyages to the Outer Banks of
North Carolina (1584, 1585, 1587); organized by
Sir Walter Raleigh (NC capital named for him)
• 1st voyage—named land Virginia (Queen
Elizabeth) – Amadas/Barlowe,
Manteo/Wanchese
• 2nd voyage—found Chesapeake Bay, attempt to
create military settlement, ended in violence with
local natives – Ralph Lane - Jerkwad
• 3rd voyage—The Lost Colony—a colony of men,
women, and children led by John White; do not
know what happened to them
Jamestown
• 1st permanent English settlement – Virginia in
1607 – established for profit – Virginia Company
• John Smith (military leader), John Rolfe (tobacco
– made the colony successful), Pocahontas
(married Rolfe, not Smith)
• Colony almost did not survive – bad location
• 1609-1610 – Starving Time – only 60 of 215
survive – colony survived because new colonists
came each year.
• 1619 (a big year): House of Burgess (1st
representative assembly), English women arrive,
Africans brought as Indentured Servants
Why was Jamestown successful
while Roanoke was not?
John Rolfe
marries
Pocahontas
John Smith
Pocahontas
Colonies developed different identities
according to climate and charter
The New England Colonies
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Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New Hampshire
The Middle Colonies
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New York
Delaware
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
The Southern Colonies
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Virginia
Maryland
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
English Colonies
• Split into three regions
• New England (MA, NH,RI,CN) – settled by
many people seeking religious freedom –Economy was based on fishing,
lumbering, and shipbuilding
• Middle Colonies (NY, NJ,PA,DE) ––More
of a mix coming for religious freedom and
economic opportunities – more diverse
backgrounds – farming and trade
13 Colonies
• Southern Colonies –(MD, VA,
NC, SC, GA) mostly came for
economic opportunities
• Economy was based on
agriculture – Tobacco, Cotton,
Rice, Indigo
• Georgia – place for debtors and
poor to live
What caused each region to
develop differently than the
others?
What prediction can you
make for the future
development of each region?
(Use Concepts)
Immigrant Groups of the 13
colonies
• New England
• Pilgrims - Settled in
Massachusetts in
1620 – Plymouth
• Puritans - Settled in
Massachusetts in
1630 – Boston
• Wanted religious
freedom
• Middle Colonies
• Catholics
• Quakers –William
Penn
• More tolerant and
diverse
Carolina
• Settled by members of the
other colonies. Original
settlers English. Granted
a private company in 1663
and divided into two
colonies in 1711.
• Great place to grow indigo,
rice, and tobacco.
• Name came from the Latin
word carolus, meaning
“Charles.”
• Officially became a state
on November 21, 1789.
• Lords Proprietors – 8 noble supporters of
Charles II, awarded Carolina in return for
their support – 1663
• 1706 – Bath – first NC town
• 1710 – New Bern founded – became 1st
capital of NC
• Three regions
• 1. Coastal Plain in east – first region
settled by Europeans
• 2. Piedmont in central
• 3. Mountains in west
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New Immigration
NC becomes royal colony in 1728.
New settlers
1. Scots-Irish – settled in east
2. Highland Scots – settled in east
3. Germans and Moravians –settled in Piedmont –
backcountry
Great Wagon Road – main route to travel through
backcountry
Moravians – name their land Wachovia
1766 – establish the towns of Bethabara and Salem
4. Africans – brought as slaves – fewer than many other
southern colonies
Great Wagon Road
• Were the reasons why people immigrated
to the 13 colonies similar to the reasons
why people immigrate to America today?
Economy/Social Structure
• Economy – North Carolina was mostly
agricultural.
• Cash Crops – Tobacco, Rice, and Indigo
• Naval Stores – tar, pitch, turpentine
• Trade was difficult due to NC’s lack of roads and
difficult waterways.
Mercantilism – the colonies existed for the
economic benefit of England
• Social Classes
• 1. Gentry – rich planters, doctors, lawyers
• 2. Artisans – craftsmen – blacksmith, cobblers
• 3. Small Farmers – Yeomen – biggest group
• 4. Indentured Servants – poor people who
bought their passage to America with their
service.
• 5. Slaves/Indians
• Triangle Trade – three-part voyage
• A. Europe to Africa – manufactured trade goods
• B. Africa to America (Middle Passage)- slaves
• C. America to Europe – raw materials (lumber,
cotton, tobacco)
• Growing conflict between Eastern and Western
NC over taxes and political power.
Triangle Trade
Early Government in the Colonies
• Magna Carta – Even the King had to obey the
law
• English Bill of Rights – limited King’s power;
gave representative government (Parliament)
more power
• Representative Government – the people elect
representatives to speak for them in government
• Mayflower Compact – first attempt at selfgovernment in the English colonies
• Town meetings – first form of American
government in which all free men could
participate
• House of Burgess – first representative
government in America
• Proprietary colony – privately-owned
colony
• Royal colony – government-run colony
• Which common theme did each of these
government examples have that led to the
colonists’ desire for independence?