The Origins of Empire
Early American Social History
Term 1 Week 3
Questions
• 17thC saw 1st British empire established -. 16thC
therefore crucial to understanding how this
Imperial mentality was created.
• Why did authorities think that an overseas Empire
was a good idea?
• How did it manage to achieve it?
• Why did the English chose America?
• Why did other powers not stop the English
expansion?
New Era
• 15thC Renaissance, encouraged new thinking
about world, scientific enquiry.
• Reformation challenged flat earth ideology and
power of Catholic church
• Ren/Ref together challenge trad social hierarchies,
allow more social mobility
• New era of nation state, consolidation of power
into centralised monarchies, eg France, Spain,
England.
Age of Empires
• Commercial imperatives drive voyages of
discovery by Portugal into Atlantic, Africa, and
India.
• 1492 Spanish monarchy commission Columbus to
find western route to Indies.
• Caribbean islands sighted Oct 14th 1492, start of
regular transatlantic voyages
• Rapid development of Sp empire, conquest of
Mexico 1519, Peru 1533, consolidation of
European territories under Charles V.
• Empire gives Sp power / influence in Europe, and
wealth from Americas supports European
ambitions.
Charles V
Role of England
• England weak, politically and economically in
comparison to Spain.
• Henry VII had sponsored John Cabot’s voyages to
Canada 1497, lost interest when NW passage not
discovered.
• Lack of political will, and military capacity to
challenge Spain before later 16thC
• But- dry run for colonial expansion in Ireland
Ireland
• Ireland conquered by Normans, but grad lost
control. Tudors show renewed interest.
• Major military expeditions during Elizabethan
period, led by soldiers & adventurers.
• Followed up by colonisers, esp those seeking large
land holdings, use of Gaelic Irish as serfs, frequent
atrocities and brutality towards Irish - seen as
Catholic, barbaric, sub-humans.
• About 200,000 migrants from GB to Ireland 16001670, twice no. who went to America
English settlement in
Ireland
Ireland as a blueprint
• Financed by Joint Stock Companies, same as
would finance American colonies and other
commercial ventures eg Muscovy Co., Levant Co.
• Use of promotional literature to popularise
colonisation
• Attitudes towards native peoples similar
• Many of the individuals involved in Irish
colonisation later involved in American
colonisation eg Richard Grenville, Humphrey
Gilbert, Walter Raleigh.
English Imperial Ambitions
• Motivation: envy of Sp treasure from America; wealth
helped Sp become most powerful nation; English policy to
break the Iberian monopoly on America due to fear that
American wealth, after Henry VIII's split with Rome
(1534), could be used against them.
• Eng govt sanctioned privateering operations against
Spanish. Capturing Sp treasure ships bringing gold &
silver from New World.
• By 1580 increasingly dangerous to prey on Sp shipping suggestion that American base needed.
• Idea that American cols would also ease Eng reliance on
southern Europe for citrus fruits, silks, and vines.
• Imp of Propaganda, cf Richard Haklyut.
• 1st patent to settle in America granted to Sir Humphrey
Gilbert, half brother to Walter Raleigh, permitted him to
settle anywhere between Florida and Northern Canada
Sir
Humphrey
Gilbert
Sir Walter
Raleigh
Roanoke
• 3 Eng voyages to settle North America in 1580s. The first
landed at Roanoke Island, North Carolina on July 13th,
1584, short lived military expedition which found that the
land was suitable for both cultivation and defense, then
returned home to England with 2 local Indians, Manteo &
Wanchese.
• 1585-6, 2nd mission under Ralph Lane, discovered
Chesapeake Bay, ideal as naval base.Noted for the oil
paintings of John White and the descriptions of Thomas
Hariot. But, young male adventurers, with ambitions of
land and wealth, not ideal colonists. (esp since no easy
wealth to be had)
• Indian relations deteriorated, food supply from Indians cut
off - Drake arrived summer 1586, seeking re-supply, ends
up providing food for colonists, eventually agrees to return
them to England.
Sir
Francis
Drake
John White’s
map of Virginia
Roanoke
Island
Fort Raleigh
Fort Raleigh
Village of
Pomeiooc
The Flyer
The Lost Colony
• Third voyage 1587: very diff from previous ones - most
colonists farmers not soldiers, & came in family groups.
Clearly intended to be a permanent settlement, selfsustaining and self-reproducing.
• John White = Governor, returned to England for more
supplies, leaving daughter and grand-daughter, Virginia
Dare, at Roanoke.
• But unable to return until 1590 due to Sp Armada, since all
ships diverted to defence of realm. When finally arrives,
found settlement abandoned, colonists never seen again.
• Most likely attacked by Indians, survivors absorbed into
tribes.
Importance of Roanoke
• 3 voyages saw evolution of colonising thought
• Roanoke originally seen as a base for privateering,
then a place where valuable raw materials could be
shipped to England, only third voyage aimed to
settle permanently.
• The lessons of Roanoke were clear:
• no colony could exist without full support from
mother country in terms of men and supplies for at
least the first few years of existence;
• clear goals were needed to give direction and purpose
to the colonisation effort.
• good relations with the Indians were necessary to
learn the best survival techniques in the American
wilderness.
Conclusions
• Failure of Roanoke great setback for Eng
imperial ambitions.
• 1600 still no permanent Eng settlement in
N. America
• Yet Eng had taste for colonisation, saw it
was practical, possible and still thought it
worthwhile & potentially profitable.