European Incursion in and
Settlement (Conquest) of the
Americas
The Renaissance and
Reformation
• Heroic Individualism
• Interest in Geography
• New maritime technology—astrolabe,
lateen rigging
• Emergence of Dynastic States
• Strategic and Religious Rivalry
Other European Motives
• Escape disease and scarcity
• Secure raw materials and markets
• Why Europe and not China? Zheng He
commanded a large treasure fleet in the
1430s, but China had no incentive to
explore beyond the Indian Ocean and East
African Coast.
Portuguese Forays
• Along the African Coast to India (Prince
Henry the Navigator)
• Bartholomew Dias around the Cape of
Good Hope (1488)
• Vasco da Gama to India (1498)
• Pedro Cabral to Brazil (1500)
Spanish Forays
• Christopher Columbus (1492—first of 4
voyages)
• Columbus Controversy—hero or instigator
of genocide?
Christopher Columbus
The Pinta and the Santa Maria
Spanish Empire in the New World
• Conquistadors conquer Mexica and Quechua
(Cortes and Pizarro)
• Coronado and DeSoto explore interior of North
America
• Focus on Silver in Mexico, especially rich strikes
at Zacatecas.
• Encomienda
• Great Biological Exchange—colonization as
Swarming
• Black Legend (la leyenda negra)
Empire and Balance of Power
• England and Spain clashed over trade.
• England raided Spanish treasure fleets and
supported Protestant Rebels in the Spanish
Netherlands.
• Elizabeth I refused to marry Philip II
• Philip II sent Spanish Armada
Results of Armada
• English freer to exploit North Atlantic
• Spanish sea power was considerably
weakened
• English morale heightened.
English Motives for Colonization
• Richard Hakluyt
• Source of raw
materials and
agricultural products
• Prevent Spain and
other Catholic Powers
from settling
• Promote a better
standing navy
• Spread the Anglican
faith
• Acquire precious
metals
• Need to dispose of
excess population
Walter Raleigh
• Established Roanoke
on Carolina’s outer
banks
• Armada interfered
with supplying ti.
• “Lost Colony”
Roanoke
Features of 17th Century English
Colonies
• Mixture of governmental regulation and private
enterprise.
• Religious, social, and economic diversity
• A relatively great deal of local control—House of
Burgesses, Colonial Charters, Town Meetings
• Trend toward greater Royal control after 1650
• More highly peopled by Europeans than the
colonies of France and Spain.
• Displacement of Native Peoples; enslavement of
African peoples.
French Colonies
• European Strategic rivalries and internal
French politics shaped French Settlement
• Originally looking for a Northwest passage,
France used the Empire as a source of furs
and as a check on Spanish and English
Expansion
• Controversial coureurs de bois.
• Ecological balance of power
So what?
• Indigenous people weakened
• Europe surges ahead of Middle East, India, and
China, in wealth, commerce, and military power
• Europeans establish themselves in Western
Hemisphere, India, and Australia and New
Zealand
• Incorporation of non-European world into
European economic and diplomatic systems.