Global Impacts of American Colonization

France in the Americas• Settled Canada, built town of

Quebec• Claimed an area from Canada

all the way to Louisiana• Used Catholic Jesuit

missionaries to try to convert natives to Christianity

• Had trouble attracting European settlers

• Main exports back to Europe: furs and codfish

England in the Americas• Established colonies in the

Caribbean at Jamaica, Barbados, and other islands

• First attempt at creating a permanent settlement in North America came at Roanoke Island, NC; that colony failed (“The Lost Colony”)

• Claimed an area stretching from Massachusetts to Georgia

• Main exports back to Europe: sugar, tobacco

Jamestowne Colony• In 1607, English

established a permanent colony at Jamestown, VA

• One of the founders was an English adventurer named John Smith, who documented the early days of the colony in his book A True Relation of Virginia

Pocahontas: Myth or Fact?• Unfortunately, Smith probably

exaggerated much of his account, especially in relation to his capture by the Powhatan Indians where he claimed to have been saved by the Indian princess, Pocahontas

• Pocahontas would have only been about 11 years old at the time of the encounter (Smith was closer to 30)

• Pocahontas later married Englishman John Rolfe and died, probably of smallpox, at age 22

Freedom of Religion• English were Protestants,

not Catholics like their French and Spanish neighbors

• The appeal of religious freedom drew Puritans, Quakers, Catholics, & other religious minorities to leave England and colonize America

The Slave Trade• Starting in the 1400s, Portuguese

began building forts along the coast of Africa– Used these outposts for trade and to

replenish Portuguese ships on their way to India

– Portuguese even managed to push Muslim Arab traders out of East Africa

• Portuguese were copied by others and soon the coastline of Africa was dotted with European trading posts

• Europeans traded muskets, tools, and cloth for gold, ivory, and, increasingly, slaves

The Slave Trade• Slaves quickly became the

most desired commodity for Europeans looking for cheap labor

• Slave trade involved coastal Africans capturing and selling inland Africans; these slaves were then transported to sugar and tobacco plantations in the Americas

African Slaves• 1530s – first Africans

imported by Spanish arrived in the Americas (Only 38 years after Columbus’ arrival)

• 1619 – first Africans imported by English to Jamestown (only 12 years after the settlement was founded)

Where Did They Go?

The Middle Passage• The roughly six-week trip by

slave ship across the Atlantic was known as the “Middle Passage”

• About 30% mortality rate for slaves on ships crossing Atlantic

• As many as 10 million Africans may have been cast into watery graves in the Atlantic

• Hundreds packed in on each ship

• At least 15 million slaves had arrived in the Americas by 1850

A typical slave ship

The Triangle Trade• A three-legged trade network

opened up between Europe, Africa, and the Americas

• Finished goods from Europe sent to Africa for slaves

• Slaves from Africa sent to Americas for sugar, molasses, and other raw materials

• Raw materials from America to Europe to be made into finished goods

How Americas Changed Europe• New high-energy foods

became available to Europeans– Corn– Potatoes– Peppers– Sugar (sugar cane, imported

from Africa, could be grown in the Americas much more successfully and cheaply)

• With starchier diets, European workers became more productive

The “Columbian Exchange”

Population Changes• More food = larger

populations• European colonists began to

move to Africa, Asia, & Americas to manage European interests

• Africans forcibly moved to Americas as slaves

• Native American population declined dramatically due to diseases such as smallpox

Commercial Revolution• Inflation (rise in prices) in Europe as too

many new goods become available– more people = more demand for goods– more silver and gold in Europe (from

the Americas) means that money is worth less, because there is more of it

• Growth in capitalism (private ownership of businesses operated entirely for profit)– More investors willing to take risks– More banks opened as post-

Reformation Christians no longer followed the ban on usury (lending money at interest)

– Guilds begin to collapse as individuals began to seek personal profits over cooperative goals

Mercantilism• Mercantilism: economic policy

based on accumulating bullion (gold or silver) by establishing colonies, exploiting natural resources, and developing industry to create a favorable balance of trade.

• Colonies provided Europe with both raw materials AND a market for finished goods, thereby doubly enriching their parent countries

• The result is a “bleeding” of wealth away from the colonies and towards their European controllers