European countries colonized other lands in the 1500s due to overpopulation and lack of natural resources in Europe. This led to the colonization of the Americas by countries like England, France, Portugal, and Spain. However, the colonization resulted in the genocide and enslavement of millions of Native Americans, and the introduction of African slaves. Colonialism brought death, slavery, and the destruction of indigenous groups to expand the power of European nations.
2. One reason many European countries colonized other lands and
people is because many European countries were running out of
natural resources.
3. In Europe by the 1500's and on, there was much deforestation
and poverty, and the population was becoming too great for the
land and government to handle.
4. By colonizing the Americas, for example, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish
colonists were able to have new lands and opportunities, but in the process millions of
Native Americans were killed, enslaved, intermarried, or forced to leave their land.
5. Indeed, the European colonization of the Americas was perhaps the bloodiest
and most horrific time in human history.
6. Besides the genocide of Native Americans, European colonists brought African slaves to
the Americas to work, especially after finding out that Native American would just die in
slavery.
7. Image this: men, who you have never seen before, come to your house and
your neighbors house and they all have as much weapons as they carry.
8. Then they start killing or enslaving you, your family, and your neighbors.
9. And you and your family and your neighbors fight back but are crushed by the
men's superior weapons.
10. And soon, you and most of your family and your neighbors are gone--killed,
enslaved, intermarried, or forced to live somewhere else.
11. This is what colonialism is: it is death, it is slavery; it is the end of one group and the
expansion of another group.