Global Impacts of American Colonization

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

Global Impacts of American Colonization