VUS.2
Early European
Exploration and
Colonization
The student will describe how early European exploration and
colonization resulted in cultural interactions among Europeans,
Africans, and American Indians.
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4 Reasons for Exploring
VUS 2 Interactions among
Europeans, Africans, and
American Indians
2
VUS2a: Essential Understandings
 Early European exploration and colonization
resulted in the redistribution of the world’s
population as millions of people from Europe and
Africa voluntarily and involuntarily moved to the
New World.
 Exploration and colonization initiated worldwide
commercial expansion as agricultural products were
exchanged between the Americas and Europe.
 In time, colonization led to ideas of representative
government and religious tolerance that over several
centuries would inspire similar transformations in
other parts of the world.
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Figure 4.1: Distribution of Non-Indian
Nationalities Within the British Mainland
Colonies, 1700–1755
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Map 4.3: French and Spanish Occupation
of North America, to 1750
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Figure 4.2: Populations of Boston, New
York, and Philadelphia, 1690–1776
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VUS.2a:
1. Why did Europeans settle in the
English colonies?
2.
How did their motivations influence
their settlement patterns and colony
structures?
Immigration and British
Colonial Expansion, to 1755
How did their motivations influence their
settlement patterns and colony structures?
Land Divisions in Sudbury,
Massachusetts, 1639–1656
“We shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us.”
Reflect European’s understanding of social hierarchical order
Rich show charity to poor, who accepts rule by their superior, as god’s will
Map 2.2:
Major
Religions in
Europe, c.
1560 ???33
VUS2a: Characteristics of early exploration and
settlements in the New World
New England was settled by Puritans seeking
freedom from religious persecution in Europe. They
formed a “covenant community” based on the principles
of the Mayflower Compact and Puritan religious beliefs
and were often intolerant of those not sharing their
religion.
 They also sought economic opportunity and practiced a
form of direct democracy through town meetings.
 The Middle Atlantic region was settled chiefly by
English, Dutch, and German-speaking immigrants
seeking religious freedom and economic opportunity.
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Representative government
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New England Way: Plymouth1620
 Plymouth: Separatists called
Pilgrims went to Holland &
from there in 1620 small
group sailed on Mayflower
– One died on route & one born
–
–
–
–
named Oceanus
½ died during winter
1621 celebrated 1st
Thanksgiving due to help from
Native Americans
Leaders include Cp. Miles
Standish & Gov.William
Bradford
Fish, furs, & lumber
 Majority rule: Mayflower
Compact reflect self-gov’t and
early written constitution
 Small compared to giant
neighbor Mass. Bay
New England: Massachusetts Bay 1630
English Migration 1610–1660
 Not Separatists; persecuted
by new king, Charles I
 1630: Came with Ma. Bay
Colony led by John
Winthrop
– Great Migration (15,000 more
settlers) during 1630s due to a
civil war
 Rep. gov’t albeit limited
Plymouth and Mass. Bay Colonies
 2 Puritan Colonies: Plymouth (separatist) and
Massachusetts Bay
 Puritans were a threat to James I;
 Puritans wanted to purify Church of England from
Catholic rituals
VUS2a: Characteristics of early exploration and
settlements in the New World
 The Middle Atlantic region was settled chiefly
by English, Dutch, and German-speaking
immigrants seeking religious freedom and economic
opportunity.
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VUS2a: Characteristics of early exploration and
settlements in the New World (cont…)
Virginia and the other Southern colonies
were settled by people seeking economic opportunities. Some of
the early Virginia settlers were “cavaliers,” i.e., English nobility
who received large land grants in eastern Virginia from the King of
England. Poor English immigrants also came seeking better lives
as small farmers or artisans and settled in the Shenandoah Valley
or western Virginia, or as indentured servants who agreed to
work on tobacco plantations for a period of time to pay for passage
to the New World.
 Jamestown, established in 1607 by the Virginia Company of
London as a business venture, was the first permanent English
settlement in North America. The Virginia House of Burgesses,
established by the 1640s, was the first elected assembly in the New
World. It has operated continuously and is known today as the
General Assembly of Virginia.
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VUS 2a: European Imperial
Claims and Settlements in Eastern
North America, 1565–1625
VUS2a: Interactions among Europeans, Africans, and American Indians.
1.In what ways did the cultures of Europe, Africa, and the Americas interact?
2.What were the consequences of the interactions of European, African, and
American cultures?
 The explorations and settlements of the English in the American
colonies and Spanish in the Caribbean, Central America, and South
America, often led to violent conflicts with the American Indians.
The Indians lost their traditional territories and fell victim to
diseases carried from Europe. By contrast, French exploration of
Canada did not lead to large-scale immigration from France, and
relations with native peoples were generally more cooperative.
 The growth of an agricultural economy based on large
landholdings in the Southern colonies and in the Caribbean led to
the introduction of slavery in the New World. The first Africans
were brought against their will to Jamestown in 1619 to work on
tobacco plantations.
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Map 2.3: Major Transatlantic
Explorations, 1000–1587
Map 2.1:
Europe,
Africa, and
Southwestern
Asia in 1500
What were the consequences of the interactions
of European, African, and American cultures?
African Origins of
North American
Slaves, 1690–1807
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Protestant Reformation
Produces Puritanism
Protestant
• Anglican, Calvinists, Lutheran
• French Huguenots, Scottish Presbyterians,
Puritans, Dutch Reformed Church
Calvinists
Puritans
• beliefs: predestination, conversion
• Purest Puritans (Separatists): left Anglican Church
• Moderate Puritans: reform from within
In what ways did the cultures of Europe,
Africa, and the Americas interact?
(see motivation handout)
Attack on Mystic Fort,
Pequot War 1637
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VUS3: Essential Understanding
 Economic and political institutions in the colonies
developed in ways that were either typically
European or were distinctively American, as
climate, soil conditions, and natural resources
shaped regional economic development.
 The African slave trade and the development of a
slave labor system in many of the colonies resulted
from plantation economies and labor shortages.
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(Chapter 2) Bartholomew Gosnold Trading
with Wampanoag Indians at Martha’s
Vineyard (1602)
One dimension of the Atlantic world was the exchange of
goods between Native Americans and visiting Europeans. In this
print, Theodore de Bry, a Dutch engraver, depicts English explorer
Bartholomew Gosnold’s visit to the island of Martha’s Vineyard, off
the Massachusetts coast, in 1602. On the basis of two crew
members’ published accounts, de Bry made this print and included it
in one of the thirteen volumes of illustrations, both his own and
others’, of European voyages to the “New World.”
In de Bry’s rendering, Indians clamber aboard the ship on
the right while Englishmen come ashore in the foreground, offering
knives to their hosts in exchange for belts of wampum. Other
Englishmen approach Indians’ houses to the left, and two more
English ships appear in the background. Altogether it is a scene
characterized by unmitigated friendliness and harmony between the
two peoples. Although the men carry and exchange weapons, there
is nothing to suggest that they are anxious or suspicious of one
another.
The written accounts provide a more complicated story.
Although relations began on the friendly footing de Bry represents,
mutual suspicions and distrust grew to hostility until the English
withdrew five weeks after they arrived. Despite this discouraging
conclusion, the English remained optimistic about the prospect of
colonizing Martha’s Vineyard. Although “some of the baser sort [of
Indians] would steal,” wrote one, “the better sort [political leaders]
we found very civil and just.” Perhaps even more importantly, he
added that “the wholesomeness and temperature of this climate
rather increased our health than otherwise and . . . not one of us was
sick.” and Textiles in New England).
1.
Why would de Bry have emphasized the
friendliness of the encounter and overlooked
the tensions that arose? Does the picture
suggest in any way that one side had an
advantage over the other?
Slavery
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Colonial trade: Mercantilism
 Navigation Acts in
1651: Forced colonies
to trade only with
England
– Not allowed to make
products that they
could buy from
England
Triangular Trade Routes
1. Shipped products to
Europe
2. Colonial merchants
then traded
Europeans products
in England.
3. Finally, goods
manufactured in
England were
brought to colonies
1. Colonies to West
Indies for sugar and
molasses to make
rum
2. Colonies to Africa to
trade rum and guns
for slaves.
3. African slaves were
shipped to West
Indies or colonies
VUS3: How did the economic activity and political
institutions of the three colonial regions reflect the
resources and/or the European origins of their settlers?
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VUS3: Economic characteristics of the Colonial Period
 A strong belief in private ownership of property and free
enterprise characterized colonial life everywhere.
 The New England colonies developed an economy based on
shipbuilding, fishing, lumbering, small-scale subsistence farming,
and eventually, manufacturing. The colonies prospered, reflecting
the Puritans’ strong belief in the values of hard work and thrift.
 The middle colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and
Delaware developed economies based on shipbuilding, smallscale farming, and trading. Cities such as New York and
Philadelphia began to grow as seaports and/or commercial
centers.
 Southern colonies developed economies in the eastern coastal
lowlands based on large plantations that grew “cash crops” such
as tobacco, rice, and indigo for export to Europe. Farther inland,
however, in the mountains and valleys of the Appalachian
foothills, the economy was based on small-scale subsistence
farming, hunting, and trading.
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New England Colonies
1. Massachusetts
2. New Hampshire
3. Rhode Island
4. Connecticut
Middle Colonies
1. New York
2. Delaware
3. New Jersey
4. Pennsylvania
Southern Colonies
1. Virginia
2. Maryland
3. North Carolina
4. South Carolina
5. Georgia
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http://www.hazegray.org/shipbuilding/images
36
Why was slavery introduced into the
colonies?
37
(Chapter 3) Tobacco Label
Tobacco is a plant of course, but above all, it
is a product and a commodity. This label appeared on
packages of tobacco marketed by a London
merchant named Kositzky. In the center of the top
panel, an enslaved African wields a scythe to cut
down tobacco plants. The crest under which he works
proclaims the nobility of agricultural labor. The lower
panel seems to suggest that the gentleman sitting on
the left reached into the barrel, pinched a bit of
tobacco for his pipe bowl, and lit up. Two other
gentlemen examine some tobacco leaves, apparently
admiring their quality, while a slave arrives with a
drink for one of them.
We can begin to understand this advertising’s
appeal to English consumers by looking more closely
at the people and lifestyles it portrays. We see two
distinct kinds of people—scantily clad black slaves
and wealthy, handsomely attired white gentlemen.
The picture betrays no evidence of tension, conflict,
or exploitation, and the two peoples each play clearly
defined roles. Note the absence of either black or
white women. Tobacco was marketed to white men
who either enjoyed or aspired to enjoy the leisurely
lives of gentlemen. As gentlemen, they were above
performing manual labor themselves but liked to think
that they were benevolent toward those who did
work, especially those whom they supervised or were
otherwise associated. In smoking Kositzky’s Best
Virginia, the label assured them, they consumed a
product that was not only for gentlemen but
developed by gentlemen whose laborers were
content and well treated.
1.
How does the label reinforce English
assumptions about class and race? What
aspects of tobacco production are missing
from the label? Why do you suppose that
they are missing?
How did the institution of slavery influence European
and African life in the colonies?
Tobacco Label
VUS3: Social characteristics of the colonies
 New England’s colonial society was based on religious standing. The Puritans grew
increasingly intolerant of dissenters who challenged the Puritans’ belief in the
connection between religion and government. Rhode Island was founded by
dissenters fleeing persecution by Puritans in Massachusetts (Anne Hutcheson &
Roger Williams).
 The middle colonies were home to multiple religious groups who generally believed
in religious tolerance, including Quakers in Pennsylvania, Huguenots and Jews in
New York, and Presbyterians in New Jersey. These colonies had more flexible
social structures and began to develop a middle class of skilled artisans,
entrepreneurs (business owners), and small farmers.
 Virginia and the Southern colonies had a social structure based on family status and
the ownership of land. Large landowners in the eastern lowlands dominated
colonial government and society and maintained an allegiance to the Church of
England and closer social ties to Britain than did those in the other colonies. In the
mountains and valleys further inland, however, society was characterized by small
subsistence farmers, hunters, and traders of Scots-Irish and English descent.
 The “Great Awakening” was a religious movement that swept both Europe and the
colonies during the mid-1700s. It led to the rapid growth of evangelical religions,
such as Methodist and Baptist, and challenged the established religious and
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governmental orders. It laid one of the social foundations for the American
Protestantism: priest has no special power, wanted Bible translated,
increased literacy & indoctrination
Lutheran
Calvinis;
(Scotland =
Presbyterian)
Germany
Anabaptist/
Mennonites/
Amish
Huguenots
Anglicans
(Episcopal =
US) vs.
Puritans/
Separatists
Switzerland (John Central Europe
C is Fr)
Mennonites split
to be Amish
France
England
Henry VIII
just wanted a
divorce
Faith alone, not
deed = felt
“reborn”
Challenged
Luther’s
interpretation;
sinful humans to
hell but save a
few to show off
his grace
Wanted to restrict
baptism to
“converted
adults”/ ban or
shunning sinners
(New Testament)
View that Catholics
too obsessed with
death and the dead;
said that prayers,
ritual, saints,
pilgrimage don’t
work
Changed nam
to Church of
England
(Anglican
Church)
41
Reborn; scripture
= authority;
Predestination;
scripture; original
Gov’ts & 4/13/2015 Bartholomew
churches (L & C) Massacre
Kept all
Catholic
Social characteristics of the colonies
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Jonathan Edwards
Born in Connecticut
Major role in the
Great Awakening
1703-1758
Focus on reading
Bible on your own
VUS3 (cont.) Political life in the colonies
 New England colonies used town meetings (an
“Athenian” direct democracy model) in the
operation of government.
 Middle colonies incorporated a number of
democratic principles that reflected the basic rights
of Englishmen.
 Southern colonies maintained stronger ties with
Britain, with planters playing leading roles in
representative colonial legislatures.
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VUS3 (cont).The development of indentured servitude and slavery
1.Why was slavery introduced into the colonies?
2.How did the institution of slavery influence European and African life in the colonies?
 The growth of a plantation-based agricultural economy in the hot,
humid coastal lowlands of the Southern colonies required cheap
labor on a large scale. Some of the labor needs, especially in
Virginia, were met by indentured servants, who were often poor
persons from England, Scotland, or Ireland who agreed to work
on plantations for a period of time (4-7 yrs.) in return for their
passage from Europe or relief from debts.
 Most plantation labor needs eventually came to be satisfied by the
forcible importation of Africans. Although some Africans worked
as indentured servants, earned their freedom, and lived as free
citizens during the Colonial Era, over time larger and larger
numbers of enslaved Africans were forcibly brought to the
Southern colonies (the “Middle Passage”).
 The development of a slavery-based agricultural economy in the
Southern colonies eventually led to conflict between the North
and South and the American Civil War.
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