Transcript Unit One: Pre-Columbian America

Unit One: Pre-Columbian
America
The Race for the New World
Race for the New World
• Spain was not the only country looking to
expand its new nation/state into an empire by
using the New World.
• Other countries like Portugal, France, and
Britain (England) explored the coastlines of the
Americas looking for suitable places to
establish colonies.
• Even though these countries explored the
Americas, Spain enjoyed almost a century
(hundred years) of control of the New World.
Portugal
• Although Portugal had received the right to
Africa and had a sea route to the East, it still
wanted a foothold in the New World as well.
• In 1498 Joao Fernandes Lavrador
explored the Northern Coast of North
America discovering the Labrador
Peninsula.
• In 1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral sailed to
South America and claimed the
land of Brazil for Portugal.
Portugal
• Portugal instead of focusing intensely on the
New World chose to perfect their sea routes
along Africa effectively creating a trade
monopoly on spices.
• Portugal also developed the Trans-Atlantic Slave
trade by purchasing slaves from African tribes in
Western Africa (Slave Coast), using the Island of
Vera Cruz as a way station, and then
transporting the slaves to Brazil and places in
the Spanish Maine to grow sugar, cacao,
molasses, and rum and other cash crops.
• African slaves were also transported to different
parts of Europe to be used as domestic (house )
servants.
France
• In France around 1515, the French
kingdoms were united under Francis I
making it into a Nation/State.
• To expand France’s new nation/state
Francis looked to the New World for
wealth, colonization, but also for a trade
route to the East Indies known as the
Northwest Passage ( a river or sea route
above or through the Americas to the
Pacific Ocean).
French Explorations
• In 1524 Francis funded an Italian
Giovanni da Verrazano, who
explored and mapped the
Eastern Coastline of North
America from Cape Fear to
Newfoundland searching for the
Northwest Passage.
• In 1534 Francis sent Jacques
Carter to search for the
Northwest passage, where
he found and explored the
St. Lawrence seaway and
claimed all of Canada for France.
French Explorations
• The next major French expedition was not until
1604 when Samuel de Champlain founded the
city of Quebec to start the colonization
of New France (Canada), aided in the
founding of the island Fort of Acadia,
and explored the Great Lakes.
• The French did not colonize New France in
great numbers but chose to setup small fur
trading outposts for Coureurs de bois (runners
of the woods) with the most hunted animal
being the great American beaver.
French Explorations
• In 1673 Louis Joliet and Father Jacques
Marquette were the first Europeans to
navigate and map the Mississippi River to
the mouth of the Arkansas River.
• In 1682 René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La
Salle finished the exploration
and mapping of the entire
Mississippi River to the Gulf
of Mexico and claimed all of
the territory for Louis XIV
naming it Louisiana.
England
• In 1485 England was reunited after a
bloody civil war known as the War of the
Roses, where Henry Tudor (VII) became
the unified leader.
• To discredit the Spanish, the English under
Henry VII started the Black Legend (stating
the Spanish awful treatment of the natives)
and creating the idea of a Noble Savage
(the idea of the perfect person not changed
by civilization or the dogma’s of religion)
against the idea of the brutal savage.
English Exploration
• In 1497 John Cabot
an Italian explorer who
sailed for Henry VII
explored the Northern
portion of North America
looking for the Northwest Passage.
• The exploration of John Cabot was the
only major early exploration of the New
World due to conflict within England during
the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VII, and
Mary I (bloody Mary).
English Exploration
• In 1558 the daughter of Henry VIII
Elizabeth I became queen of England.
• Instead of sending large expeditions to
explore the New World, she hired
privateers (a private person or private
warship authorized by a country's
government by letters of marque to attack
foreign shipping) to attack the Spanish
Gallons (large cargo/military ships) to steal
the Spanish gold coming from the New
World.
British Seadogs
• The privateers also called seadogs were very
effective at raising money for the British Crown.
• One of the most successful seadogs was Sir
Francis Drake with his attacks on Spanish
settlements and shipping including burning
Saint Augustine to the ground.
• Sir Francis Drake in 1579 led an expedition
around Cape Horn (tip of South America)
creating the Drake Passage,
instead of taking the
Straits of Magellan to attack
Spanish shipping and
settlements along the Pacific.
British Seadogs
• In 1576 Martin Frobisher lead an expedition in
the Northern part of Canada looking for the
Northwest Passage.
• In 1587 John Davis tried to navigate the polar
regions above North America looking for the
Northwest Passage.
• Some of these seadogs were the first Pirates of
the Caribbean.
• The attacks on the Spanish shipping angered
Philip II of Spain, so he planned an invasion of
England by the Spanish Armada (fleet of ships).
Spanish Armada
• The Spanish Armada was sent in 1588 to
invade England, but due to weather
conditions and the better maneuverability
of the smaller English ships in the English
Channel, the Armada was defeated.
• The defeat of the Spanish Armada led to
the end of Spanish dominance over the
New World.
• After this event many European countries
moved in on the New World to found
colonies of their own.