AP US History
Course Outline
1. Discovery and Settlement of the New World, 1492 - 1650
A. Europe in the 16th Century
B. Spanish, English, and French exploration
Spanish exploration
 Owned its power in the world to conquistadors such as
1. Vasco Nunez de Balboa – crossed the isthmus of Panama and discovered the Pacific Ocean
(1513)
2. Juan Ponce de Leon – discovered Florida while searching for the fountain of youth (1513)
3. Ferdinand Magellan – sailed around the tip of South America (1520) and crossed the Pacific
Ocean; one of his ships was the first ever to circumnavigate the globe.
4. Hernan Cortes – conquered the Aztec empire in Mexico (1521)
5. Francisco Pizarro – conquered the Inca empire in Peru (1532)
6. Hernando de Soto- explored from Florida westward as far as the Mississippi River (1539 –
1542)
7. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado – explored a vast territory in North America from presentday New Mexico into Kansas (1540 – 1542)
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The conquistadors send ships loaded with gold and silver back to Spain from the New World.
They increased the gold supply by over 500%, making Spain the richest and most powerful nation in
Europe.
They killed off a significant portion of the Native American population.
English Exploration
 Claims to territory in the New World rested on the voyages of John Cabot, and Italian sea captain who
was under contract to King Henry VII.
He explored the coast of Newfoundland in 1497.
England did not follow up Cabot’s discoveries with other expeditions because it was preoccupied with
Henry VIII’s break with the Roman Catholic Church.

Sir Walter Raleigh was a later adventurer who attempted to establish a settlement at Roanoke Island off
the North Carolina coast in 1587, but the venture failed.
French Exploration
 France had territory claims based on the voyages of:
1. Italian navigator, Giovanni de Verrazano.
His goal was to find the northwest passage leading through the
Americas to Asia.
He ended up exploring part of North America’s eastern coast, including New York harbor.
(1524)
2. Jacques Car tier (1534-1542) explored the St. Lawrence River. He is responsible for most of
French claims in America.
3. Samuel de Champlain (1608) set up the first permanent French settlement in America at
Quebec (He will be called the “Father of New France” due to his strong leadership in
establishing the colony.
4. Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette (1673) – explored the upper Mississippi River.
5. Robert de La Salle (1682) – explored the Mississippi Basin, which he named Louisiana after
the French King, Louis XIV.

France developed colonies slowly in the New World due to its preoccupation with European wars.
C. First English Settlements
1. Jamestown
 King James I chartered the Virginia Company, a joint-stock company that established the first permanent
English colony in America at Jamestown in 1607.
 Early Problems
- Indian attacks
- Famine – some refused to hunt and farm in order to search for gold.
- Disease – located along a swamp = malaria and dysentery
- Their own mistakes – men were unaccustomed to physical work.

Tobacco Prosperity
 Captain John Smith and the establishment of the tobacco industry by John Rolfe allowed
the colony to survive.
 John Rolfe and his wife, Pocahontas, developed a new variety of tobacco, which became
popular in Europe and brought financial prosperity to the colony.
 It required a large labor force which was first met by the use of indentured servant and
then the introduction of African slaves.

Transition to a Royal Colony
 Jamestown made many unwise business decisions and eventually fell into debt even
though it had made profits from its tobacco sales.
 The settlement’s charter was revoked in 1624 and the colony became known as Virginia
and came under the direct control of King James I.
 Virginia became England’s first royal colony. It had previously been under the control of
the joint-stock company.
Note – A colony is controlled by a king or queen.