Struggle for North America

1. Struggle for North America

2. Colonization In the 1600’s the French, English, Dutch and the Swedish joined Spain in populating North America. The English and French were the most successful and made big profits. All the colonies differed in language and form of Government.

3. Building New France In the 1500’s French sailors harvested rich catches of fish in the Atlantic on the cost of Newfoundland and Canada. Within two hundred years, the French claimed half of the whole North American continent.

4. “New France” (Canada) was now governed by French Missionaries (under the super vision of the French king) that were trying to convert the Natives to Christianity, which was not very successful. Natives showed the French Canada’s rich forests. The French were very impressed and went haunting to produce fur for the wealthy people in Europe.

5. The Slow Expansion The French King Louis XIV requested more taxes for his new country. He also sent more French people all over his new Atlantic coast, including women, because although it was profitable, the population did not grow a lot. Yet After this decision the population did not grow as rapidly like the English did. This was probably due to the hard Canadian winters.

6. Religious Freedom In 1620 a group of English settlers settled at Plymouth. The “Pilgrims” were looking for religious freedom because they did not agree with the official Church of England.

7. The English Colonies In the 1600’s and 1700’s the English established more colonies along the today’s United States of America. They made large profits with their plantation economy. They used slaves to work on the plantations.

8. Governing the British Colonies English monarchs had the control over the colonies. Still, there was a large degree of self Government and every colony had their own representative. The American born British viewed themselves as “Freeborn Englishmen”.

9. Struggling for Power By the 1700’s the French, Dutch and English began to fight for power. Natives joined different European countries, hoping they would play them against each other. In 1754 British and French fought the “French and Indian War” that also spread over Europe and lasted for almost nine years until 1763 when the British captured Quebec.

10. Treaty of Paris The Treaty of Paris in 1763 officially ended the war and handed in most of North America to the British. The French gained power over the rich sugar producing countries in the Caribbean and Slaving posts in Africa. The Spanish now dominated the Louisiana territory.