edu

1. Consider as you wait…
 What were the conditions in Europe that
encouraged exploration?
 What were the conditions in the Americas at
the time of the arrival of Columbus and other
explorers?
 How could this merge of cultures been
managed successfully?

2. The beginning of the European
influence on the Americas

3.  King Joao I wanted to
establish trading empire to
compete with Muslims
(1385)
 Prince Henry established
an academy (geographers,
instrument makers,
shipbuilders, & seaman)
 By mid-15th century, most
educated Europeans knew
the world was round.

4.  Shipbuilders developed the “Caravel”
 Armed vessels with cannon, making them floating
fortresses
 Began to explore coast of Africa, for route to the
Indies
 1488, Bartolomeu Diaz rounded the tip of Africa
 By 1500, Vasco da Gama reached the coast of India.
 Portuguese explorers established trading posts
along coast of Africa and India, setting stage for
further exploration and European colonialism.
 Portugal also established the African slave trade
(1440s).

5.  Genoese sailor
 Wanted to reach Spice
Islands sailing west
instead of east
 Portuguese Monarch
felt Columbus’
calculations of distance
west to Asia was too
short.
 Columbus’ proposal
also rejected by French
and English

6.  In 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of
Spain conquered the last of the Islamic states in
Spain
 end of a drain on the national treasury
 surge in nationalism.
 Sponsor 3 ships for Columbus’ plan to sail west to
Asia.
 Goals:
 Establish commercial trade with Asia
 Occupy and settle any lands not under the control of
another monarch
 Bring Christianity to any non-Christian peoples

7. 1st Voyage
 Left Palos, Spain August, 1492
 6 weeks and 3000 miles later, reached the
Caribbean island he named “San Salvador” in
the Bahamas
 Explored nearby islands, including Hispaniola
and Cuba
 No gold
 Ferdinand and Isabella agreed to finance 3
more voyages.

8.  European colonization of the New World began
 Transatlantic slave trade began
 Spanish control of large part of Americas was
established
 Exploitation of Native Americans began
 Other Explorers eager to head west
 Permanent contact between Europe and the Americas.
 “The Columbian Exchange”
Note: Columbus never acknowledged that he had discovered new
continents, but stubbornly insisted he had reached Asia. America
was named after explorer Amerigo Vespucci, a fellow Genovese,
who first claimed that this was Nuevo Mundo, or a “New World.”

9.  1513 – Juan Ponce de Leon discovered and
named Florida
 1513 - Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovered the
Pacific Ocean (across the isthmus of Panama)
 1519 - Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztecs of
Mexico
 Superior Weapons
 Alliances with Aztec enemies
 European diseases (smallpox, influenza, etc.)
 1524 - Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas of
Peru

10. From Americas to Europe
 Corn
 Potatoes
 Gold
 Silver
 Squash
 Tomatoes
 Peppers
 Chiles
 Cocoa
From Europe to the
Americas
 Cattle
 Horse
 Chickens
 Small Pox
 Influenza
 The “Cold”
Brought great
strength to
Europe
Brought
great
weakness to
Native
Americans

11.  John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto)-
1497
 sailed for England
 Explored Canadian coast of
Newfoundland and Nova
Scotia
 Giovanni de Verrazanno
 sailed for France - 1524
 Explored Atlantic coast from
North Carolina to Maine
 Jacques Cartier (France)
 French King commissioned
Cartier to find the “Northwest
Passage”
 1534, 1535, 1541
 Explored St. Lawrence, giving
France claim to large tracts of
land.

12.  Huge demand in Europe for Fish
 to feed the growing population
 Grand Banks off the coast of New England and
Canada.
 Huge demand for Furs
 Growing demand for fashion and warmth
 Shortage of wild game in Europe caused high prices
for furs
 French established fur trade with Native Americans.
 Fur trade and fisheries didn’t require settled
colonies.

13. Take a moment to discuss with the people on
either side of you:
 What could cause a colony to fail?
 What could help a colony to succeed?

14.  1608 Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec
as fur trading post
 1662 King Louis XIV made New France a royal
colony, began subsidizing migration of settlers.
 Population never became very large.
 French settlers introduced European diseases
 French trading of guns set off a series of wars
among the native people, resulting in the rise
of the Iroquois.

15.  By 1600, Holland is financial hub of northern
Europe.
 Banking
 Insurance
 textile industry
 Sent Henry Hudson to locate a new source of fur
supply in North America in 1609
 Established fur trading post at Ft. Orange (Albany,
NY)
 1624 – Established the settlement of New
Amsterdam on Manhattan Island
 Few settlers, but successful fur trade

16.  First English colonies founded by English
merchants and religious dissidents.
 Colonies approved by English monarchs, they
neither directed or controlled them.
Autonomy. (Salutary Neglect)
 Early attempts at settlement failed
 1580s – Sir Humphrey Gilbert at Newfoundland
 1580s – Sir Walter Raleigh at Roanoke Island, North
Carolina – “The Lost Colony”
 1607 – Sir Ferdinando Gorges at Popham, Maine

17. Both founded England in
1606 by King James I
for the purpose of
colonizing North
America
The Plymouth Company
- Popham Beach,
Maine
The London Company
- Jamestown, Virginia

18. Given your earlier discussion about how a colony
can be successful, what would you add to that
now. Develop a couple of sentences or a short
paragraph which explains what is needed to
start a successful colony.