Transcript colonial foundations

UNIT 1: THE COLONIAL PERIOD
1:1 European expansion:
● The Iberian Peninsula took the lead in expansion
because of:
√ Geographic location.
√ Political stability.
√ Economic opportunity.
1:1 European expansion continued:
●Spain and Portugal were replaced by the British, French, and Dutch
because:
√ Spain squandered its wealth in war.
√ No manufacturing base.
√ Influx of bullion led to runaway inflation.
√ Aristocratic vales did not encourage economic
growth.
√ Portugal lacked the resources to sustain its
efforts.
Christopher Columbus
1:2 The Spanish conquest of Latin America:
●The Indians in the Americas were not unified—about 2,000
Indian languages.
●Cortez conquered the Aztecs 1519-1521 and Pizarro
defeated the Incas in 1533.
●Europeans were able to defeat the Indians
because:
✓ The centralized government of the Aztecs
and Incas and geography made resistance
Hernando Cortez
difficult.
✓ European weapons were far superior to
Indian weapons.
✓ European and African diseases decimated
the Indians.
✓ Indian enemies of the Aztecs and Incas assisted
the Spanish.
✓ The Spanish looked at warfare as a means to an
end, to the Indians warfare had a religious
connotation.
1:2 Colonial Latin America:
● Spain was too poor to put many resources into Latin America.
● The Council of the Indies controlled the Spanish
colonies. Colonists had little self-government. Graft and
corruption were widespread.
● Gold and silver flowed out of the Americas to Europe
and the Americas were under-capitalized.
1:2 Colonial Latin America continued:
The Hacienda and plantation were the foundation of
economic and social life. Colonial labor systems were not
free.
● Race played a major role in social status. The lack of
European women led to significant racial mixing.
● The Catholic Church siphoned off much of Latin America’s
wealth. The Inquisition helped control dissent.
● A major breach developed between Spaniards born in the
Americas (Creoles) and Spaniards from Spain (Peninsulars).
●
1:3 The Origins of
slavery:
● Europe had contact with Sub-Saharan Africa
through the caravan trade.
● Desire for African gold led to Portuguese
exploration and the slave trade.
● Africans were enslaved because they were a
cheap, readily available supply of labor. Almost all
labor was unfree during the Age of Exploration.
● Indians were not a good source of labor because of
deaths from disease.
● Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean was
Prince Henry the
Navigator
maintained only through the continued importation of
slaves.
● Most slaves were captured and sold by other Africans.
1:3 The Origins of slavery continued:
1:4 The British North American colonies
Britain established colonies to:
● Gain markets and raw material.
● Increase its security.
● Spread Protestantism and royal government.
● Remove “excess” population.
Jamestown
The Mayflower (replica)
Seal of MA Bay Company
1:4 The British North American colonies continued:
● Established by private joint-stock companies.
● Jamestown, VA first British North American colony (1607).
● Plymouth settled by Pilgrims in 1620.
● Massachusetts settled by the Puritans in 1630.
1:4 The British North American colonies continued:
● Georgia, the last colony, settled in 1732.
● Contact with the Indians, distance from Britain, and space of
New World influenced settlers.
● Geography caused New England, Middle Colonies and the
South to develop different economies and cultures.
1:4 The British North American Colonies:
1:4 Colonial Population Density, 1775
1:4 Unfree labor in British North America:
● Indians were not a good source of unfree labor
because of disease and ability to escape.
● Indentured servants came from Britain.
● Indentured servants were gradually replaced with
Africans beginning in 1619.
● Beginning in the 1650s Virginia had laws regulating
slavery.
1:5 Cultural conflicts between Europeans and Indians:
● Indians did not have immunity to European diseases.
● Europeans demanded that Indians follow their laws.
● Europeans wanted the Indians to convert to Christianity.
● Europeans wanted Indians’ land.
● Alcohol helped destroy Indian self-esteem.
1:5 The English Civil War and Glorious Revolution (16421688):
● Led to a period of benign neglect for the colonies.
● Led to a belief in the “rights of Englishmen.”
● Women had fewer social and political rights than men.
William & Mary
1:5 Nantucket Girl’s Song by Eliza Brock, Quoted in
Nathaniel Philbrick, In the Heart of the Sea: the Tragedy of
the Whaleship Essex (2000).
Then I’ll haste to wed a sailor, and send him off to sea,
For a life of independence, is the pleasant life for me.
But every now and then I shall like to see his face,
For it always seems to me to beam with manly grace,
With his brow so nobly open, and his dark and kindly eye,
Oh my heart beats fondly towards him whenever he is nigh.
But when he says “Goodbye my love, I’m off across the sea,”
First I cry for his departure, then laugh because I’m free.
1:6 French Canada:
●Canada’s climate made it
suited to hunting, trapping, and
fishing.
● Jacques Cartier claimed
Canada for France in 1543.
● Québec established in 1608.
Montreal established in 1642.
● The coureur de bois were the
primary contacts with the Indians.
The Indians were soon
overwhelmed by alcohol and
disease.
Cartier
1:6 French Canada continued:
The Hudson Bay Company was founded in 1670 by the
British. The Métis were the descendents of white-Indian
relationships.
● In the Seven Years War/French and Indian War (17541763) the French lost all of their territory in North America.
French-Canadians felt abandoned.
●
Hudson Bay Company 1670-1763