Exploration of America

8000 B.C. - Mexican Indians spread culture northward

600 B.C. - The Adenans, the first Indian group to build a settlement in what is currently
Phoenix, Arizona
First Century A.D. - The Hohokum Indians
1000 A.D. Leif Ericson discovers Newfoundland
1215 The Magna Carta is adopted
1492 Columbus discovers the New World
1497 John Cabot explores Canada
1499 Amerigo Vespucci sights the coast of South America
1507 The term America is used
1513 Ponce de Len lands in Florida
1517 Martin Luther launches the Protestant Reformation
1519 Hernando Corts defeats the Aztec Empire
1519 - 1522 Fernando Magellan sails around the world
1524 Giovanni da Verrazano discovers the Hudson River
1541 Hernando de Soto discovers a settlement in Mississippi River
1565 Saint Augustine, Florida, founded by the Spanish
1587 Sir Walter Raleigh lands on Roanoke Island
1588 England defeats the Spanish Armada
1607 Jamestown founded in Virginia
1609 Henry Hudson explores North Hudson
1619 The Virginia House of Burgesses meets in Jamestown
1619 Twenty Africans are brought to Jamestown for sale, marking the beginning of slavery
1620 The Mayflower lands at Cape Cod, Massachusetts
1620 The Mayflower Compact is signed

The first recorded evidence that the North American continent became settled occurred around 30,000
B.C., during the height of the Ice Age. much of the worlds water was locked up in vast continental ice
sheets. A land bridge as much as 1,500km wide connected Asia and North America. By 12,000 years ago,
humans were living throughout much of the Western Hemisphere. The first Americans crossed the land
bridge from Asia and were believed to have stayed in what is now Alaska for thousands of years.

The first settlers probably crossed what is now known as the Bering Sea to Alaska.

They moved south into todays mainland United States. They lived by the Pacific Ocean in the
Northwest, in the mountains and deserts of the Southwest, and along the Mississippi River in the
Midwest.

Natives
Indians began to settle around the river valleys of New Mexico and Arizona. The first known tribe was
called the Adenans. They began building burial sites and forts around 600 B.C. By the first century A.D., a
dominant Indian culture, the Anasazi, emerged in what is now Mesa Verde, Colorado

These early groups are known as Hohokam, Adenans, Hopewellians, and Anasazi.
 They built villages and grew crops.
Their lives were connected to the land.
Family and community were important to them.
History shows they told stories and shared information mostly by talking, not writing.
Some used a form of picture writing called hieroglyphics.
Nature was important to their spiritual beliefs.
Some groups built big piles of earth in the shapes of snakes, birds, or pyramids.
The different groups traded with each other, but they also fought.
No one knows why, but these groups disappeared.

Other groups, Hopi and Zuni, later came to this land and prospered. By the time the first Europeans
arrived, about two million native people lived in what now is the United States. Their population was
largely reduced due to diseases such as chicken pox and influenza.

Zuni and hopi civilization large multiple family dwellings and canyons which they left because of
droughts

Most groups in pre Columbian America lived in tribes and organized themselves according to the
resources available to them. West coast Indians did fishing, hunting, gathering and plains Indians were
buffalo hunters. Tribes organized themselves into loose confederacies or leagues. Best known amongst
them is iroquios confederacy also known as the great league of peace.

Religion usually involved the vibrant spiritual world with ceremonies geared towards the tribes lifestyle.
Hunting tribes geared towards the animals and agricultural tribes on good harvests. Most believed in
one god who stood above all other deities however it wasnt like the Christian god

The first people had a different concept of land from Europeans. Land was to be assigned by the tribe
leader to families to be used it wasnt to be owned, most land was seen as common to everyone.

Tribes were matrilineral. Women were religious leaders and owned dwellings and tools. Much less
obsessed with female chastity unlike the Europeans who named their first English colony virginia

many assume the Indians to be free from class differences however class systems exisited. Rulers arose
from the same family. Wealth however was much evenly distributed than in Europe

while some Europeans found Indians to be free from greed and character flaws of the Europeans, there
were many who saw them nothing but savages who didnt know how to write, didnt consider sex to be
something ashamed of and were not Christians.

summarize geographically the dominant Native American cultures that developed in North America
prior to European exploration:

North America had diversified groups of people. There are some key features of people who lived here
which are

1. There were no classical style empires such as Aztecs or Incus with monumental architectures

2. No metal work, no gunpowder, no written language, no domesticated animals

3. They had farming and complex socio political structures and widespread trade networks
We cannot call these backwards and see people from being evolved from primitive to civilized because
its a very contemporary centric approach to think that we are better more evolved human beings than
our predecessors just because we are technologically more evolved is self-aggrandizing

Explorers
Trade and the desire for new routes became the key motivation for Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain to
begin exploration. What they, of course, did not realize was that instead of finding a faster way to Asia,
they began the quest for colonization of a new world.

Historians believe that the Norse (Norther seamen from sccandivian countries) may have been the first
Europeans to arrive. They came from Greenland, where Erik the Red had started a settlement around
985. His discovery opened the way for other Viking voyages. Perhaps, because of rough seas, the
climate, or injuries, Viking voyages were limited and overshadowed by European exploration. It was not
until 1963, when the ruins of some Viking houses were discovered at L'Anseaux-Meadows in
Newfoundland, that their voyages were confirmed.

In 1001, Eriks son, Leif, explored the northeast coast of what now is Canada. Remaining pieces of Norse
houses were found in northern Newfoundland.

It took almost 500 years for other Europeans to reach North America, and another 100 for them to
build permanent settlements.

Until the 15th century nobody in Europe knew that there was a continent across the Atlantic. The first
and most famous of these explorers was Christopher Columbus whose voyage of exploration finally
brought the Americans and Europeans in contact.

Columbus was born in 1447 in Genoa, Italy;

he was a son of a wool comber.

He spent eight years seeking to be financed for his trip to explore the Indies across Atlantic
Ocean.
Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor, believed that sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean
was the shortest sea route to Asia.
Ignorant of the fact that the Western Hemisphere lay between Europe and Asia and assuming
the earth's circumference to be a third less than it actually is, he was convinced that Japan
would appear on the horizon just three thousand miles to the west.
Like other seafarers of his day, Columbus was ready to sail for whatever country would pay for
his voyage.
Either because of his arrogance (he wanted ships and crews to be provided at no expense to
himself) or ambition (he insisted on governing the lands he discovered), he found it difficult to
find a patron.
He was twice rejected by Portuguese, and the rulers of England and France were not interested.
With influential supporters at court, Columbus convinced King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of
Spain to partially underwrite his expedition.
Voyages of Columbus

1st voyage, 1492: San Salvador, The Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola

2nd voyage, 1493: Dominica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica
3rd voyage, 1498: St. Vincent, Grenada, Trinidad, Margarita, Venezuela
4th voyage, 1502: St. Lucia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama

Once Columbus landed in America he discovered that there were already civilizations living in America.
He named the Native of America as Red Indians, thinking that he had landed in India and those peoples
are Indian.

John Cabot of Venice came five years later on a mission for the king of England. His journey was quickly
forgotten, but it provided the basis for British claims to North America. In 1497, John Cabot, landed in
eastern Canada. His arrival established a British claim to land in North America.

During the 1500s, Spain explored and claimed more land in the Americas than did any other country. In
1513, Juan Ponce de Lon landed in Florida. Hernando De Soto landed in Florida in 1539 and then
explored all the way to the Mississippi River.

Spain conquered Mexico in 1522. In 1540, Francisco Vzquez de Coronado wanted to find the mythical
Seven Cities of Cibola. He started looking in Mexico and then traveled north to the Grand Canyon in
Arizona and into the Great Plains.

Other Europeans, such as Giovanni da Verrazano, Jacques Cartier, and Amerigo Vespucci, explored
further north. The two American continents were named after Amerigo Vespucci.

Name of America in Beginning New World Strange Land Golden Land

Name of America after the death of Columbus in 1506, Amerigo Vespucci, another Italian navigator,
sailed extensively along the American coast and is considered to be the first to realize that the Indies
were in fact a New World and not part of Asia. The first map that identified known parts of the
Western Hemisphere as America, after Vespucci, was published in 1507.

Jaun Ponce de leon arrived in Florida in 1513 looking for gold and the fabled fountain of youth. They
didnt find gold but made later colonization easier because they brought with them microbes that wiped
out the native population.
The work of the environmental historian Alfred Crosby has been particularly influential. In 1984, Tindall
mentioned disease as a contributing but relatively minor factor in the colonists displacement of natives;
he put far more emphasis on the colonists violent conquest.7 By 2010, however, Tindall and Shi attached
more importance and causal weight to disease. By far the most significant aspect of the biological
exchange,they wrote, was the transmission of infectious diseases from Europe and Africa to the
Americas. European colonists and enslaved Africans brought with them deadly pathogens that Native
Americans had never experienced . . . The results were catastrophic. Far more Indianstens of
millionsdied from contagions than from combat. Major diseases such as typhus and smallpox
produced pandemics in the New World on a scale never witnessed in history.

Colonization of America
Columbus returned from his first voyage, they persuaded Pope Alexander VI to issue an edict giving
Spain all lands west of an imaginary line through the Atlantic. Portugal was not satisfied. Through the
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), the two countries agreed to move the line further west and give Portugal
exclusive right to the territory to the east. Which put the eastern quarter of South America (Brazil) in
the Portuguese sphere

It wasnt just explorers who settled in the New World. People started to come to the New World to live.
These people were immigrants from Europe.

The first permanent European settlement in North America was Spanish. It was built in St. Augustine
in Florida.

Spanish wanted to colonize Florida to thwart pirates from stealing silver laden ships coming out of sante
fe new Mexico. Spanish missionaries also came along hoping to convert native people. This led to an
uprising by guale Indians in 1597. Colonizing Florida was hard, Spain was much more successful at
colonizing the American south west. The native people called pueblos by Spanish saw their fortunes
declining since the arrival of the Europeans. Their population went from 60,000 to 17,000 from 1600 to
1700.

French who came to convert the natives were increasing militant about local religions

1680, a religious leader Pope organized the tribes to drive out the Spaniards. He gathered 2000 warriors
who killed 4000 spanish warriors and effective destroyed Spanish colony in new mexico. But after the
revolt the Spanish were much more tolerant of indigenous religions and also abandoned the forced
labor practice

The black legend is the tale that Spanish unleashed on the Indians unspeakable cruelty. That idea was
true but the later English settlers used this as an excuse to enter Indians telling them that they are there
to save them from the Spanish even though they themselves were very cruel. Because American Indians
didnt have writing, we dont know what their perspective is

Thirteen British colonies to the north would later form the United States. Virginia and Massachusetts
were the two earliest. These are the people who form America.

Most settlers who came to the British colonies in the 1600s were English. Others came from The
Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, France, and later from Scotland and Northern Ireland. Some left their
homelands to escape war, political oppression, religious persecution, or a prison sentence. Some left as
servants who expected to work their way to freedom. Black Africans were sold into slavery and arrived
in shackles.

By 1690, the population was 250,000. Less than 100 years later, it had climbed to 2.5 million. The
settlers had many different reasons for coming to America, and eventually 13 distinct colonies
developed here. Differences among the three regional groupings of colonies were even more marked.

The popular story is that US was formed by people who escaped religious persecution but that is only
true for a small number of population who settled in Massachusetts. Most people came here to get
rich.

Jamestown was the first English successful colony.

Before that there was a colony of roanake island by sir realton Kaleigh which is famous because all the
settlers disappeared and left the word croatoan written on a tree. They too came to look for gold and a
lot of people who came were goldsmiths. They were too fancy to get involved in farming. In the first
year half of the settlers died, 400 replacements came but by 1610 number of colonists had dwindled to
65.

1618 Virginia company started a recruiting strategy which offered 50 acres of land for each person the
settler paid to bring over.

1624, Jamestown was producing 200,000 pounds of tobacco per year, by 1680s more than 80 millions
pounds a year. This was so profitable that the settlers created huge plantations. The industry structured
the social society, most of the population three quarters of it were slaves in the 17th century.

Virginia became a microcosm of England a small class of wealthy individuals sitting atop servants.
Society was mostly male because most were slaves needed for farming and immigrants were male
outnumbering women 5 to 1. Most women were indentured servants who only married after their
service period was over. Delayed marriage meant less population growth further reducing the number
of population but their husbands often died leaving them with a special status

Most of the men and women who settled in new England were uber puritans who believed that the
protestant church in England was too catholic with its kneeling and extravagant archbishops. The
particular puritans were called Congregationalists because they believed congregation should decide
leadership and religious structures and not Bishops.

Pilgrims were more extreme. They wanted to separate more or less completely from the church in
England so first they fled to Netherlands but the Dutch were more corrupt for them so they rounded
up investors and founded a new colony in 1620. They were headed to virgina but landed at
Massachusetts founding a colony called Plymouth. While still on the ship, 40 of the 150 signed a
mayflower agreement. As soon as they landed it was winter and half of them died, the rest saved by a
local leader Squanto who fed them and taught them farming. The pilgrims held a big feast in order to
thank the native, hence the thanksgiving.

The north Massachusetts and the south Virginia had different social and religious systems. Puritans
werent individualists but collectivists. The needs of the many outweighed the needs of an individual.

The director of the Massachusetts bay company moved to America to enjoy more autonomy and self
government unlike the director of virginia who still controlled from England allowing a more hierarchical
social structure as compared to in Massachusetts where the social setting was more egalitarian.

New England towns were governed democratically but not everyone was allowed to vote only members
of state could vote who were called visible saint. People who were socially well off and had influence.
Eric foner described it as Inequality was considered as gods will and while some liberties applied to all
inhabitants there were separate lists of rights for freemen, women, children and servants. Slavery in
Massachusetts begin in 1640. When roger Williams preached that everyone should be allowed to preach
whatever they want, he was banished from the colony. So was Ann Hutchinson who argued that
membership of the church should be based on inner grace and not on outward manifestation like church
attendance. Williams went out to find rhode islands but huttchinson a women preaching unorthodox
ideas was banished to new York where she was killed with her family by the Indians
In truth America was also founded by native americans and Spanish settlers and the earliest colonies
werent just there for religious freedom but majorly for money

Political Organization in English colonies

What came to called America

first sustained contacts between American people and European explorers, conquerors and
settlers from 1492 to 1600. During this period, in the wake of Columbus's voyages, Africans also
arrived in the hemisphere, usually as slaves. All of these encounters, some brutal and traumatic,
others more gradual, irreversibly changed the way in which peoples in the Americas led their
lives.

people had lived in the Western Hemisphere for tens of thousands of years. For much of this time
it is believed that they experienced virtually no recorded, sustained contact with other parts of the
world -- Europe, Africa, or Asia.

Millions of people lived in an area some five times the size of Europe. In strikingly diverse
habitats and climates they developed possibly the most varied and productive agriculture in the
world. Their lifestyles and belief systems differed widely and they spoke hundreds of distinct
languages.

Throughout the hemisphere, states and centers of high civilization had risen and fallen. The
dynamic Mexica (Aztec) and Inca empires were still expanding at this time and internal
migration and warfare were common. The peoples did not see themselves as part of an entity.
Only later would this area be given a unifying name - America - and the people labeled "Indians"
by Europe.

We have focused on five geographical areas of the region to represent the variety and complexity
of peoples and cultures before 1492: the Caribbean, Middle America, the Andean region, the
South Atlantic, and North America. In order to understand what came to be called America we
are often dependent on European observations.

The Caribbean - Island Societies

The largest group of people living in the islands of the Caribbean were the Tainos. Their villages were
governed by chieftains, or "caciques," who enjoyed some distinctions of rank but received tribute in
times of crisis only. Related families lived together in large houses built of poles, mats, and thatch.

The Tainos were known for their fine wood carving and hammocks woven from cotton. Not a
particularly warlike people, they played ceremonial ball games, possibly as a substitute for
warfare and as an outlet for competition between villages and chiefdoms.

The other major group living in the Caribbean were the more mobile and aggressive Caribs, who
took to the sea in huge dugout canoes. By the late 15th century, the Caribs had expanded into the
smaller islands of the eastern Caribbean from the mainland, displacing or intermingling with the
Tainos.
Middle American Culture
Before 1492, modern-day Mexico, most of Central America, and the southwestern United States
comprised an area now known as Meso, or Middle, America. Meso American peoples shared many
elements of culture: pictographic and hieroglyphic forms of writing; monumental architecture; a diet
primarily of corn, beans, squash and chiles; weaving of cotton cloth; and extensive trade networks.
While most people lived by working the land, many societies also included nobles and priests, warriors,
craftsmen, and merchants.

The Mexica (Aztec) had formed a powerful state in the central valley of Mexico and conquered
many neighboring states by the late 15th century. The bustling island capital, Tenochtitlan, with
a population of perhaps 200,000, was located in the middle of Lake Texcoco. Groups like the
Tarascans in the west and Zapotecs to the South, however, remained relatively independent.
Even states that had been absorbed by the Mexica retained their rulers as well as their religion,
language, and lands

The Andes - Life in the Highlands

Organized states and advanced cultures had long flourished in the Andean mountain region. The semi-
arid highlands were the center of the far-flung Inca empire, Tahuantinsuyu, that extended from today's
Chile to Colombia. Cuzco, the capital, was located at 10,000 feet above sea level.

Impressive adaptations to this unique environment allowed civilizations to thrive at higher

altitudes than anywhere else in the world. The Andean peoples had learned to freeze-dry foods
by taking advantage of the daily extremes of temperature at high altitudes. They kept herds of
llamas and alpacas in the altiplano, weaving textiles from the wool. Using irrigation and
terracing, they developed varieties from the wool. Using irrigation and terracing, they developed
varieties of potatoes at high altitudes; grew corn and coca at lower levels; and raised cotton in the
lowlands. They were knowledgeable miners, fine metalworkers, and great builders.

A rotating system of labor for public works that was traditional among Andean peoples was used
to construct thousands of miles of roads. These roads greatly facilitated the movement of troops,
peoples, and goods

South Atlantic Peoples

The coastal areas of eastern South America and the interior of the Amazon basin were home to several
million people at the end of the 15th century. This enormous area, bordering the Andes mountains on
the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east, extends from present-day Argentina to the Guianas.

Socio-political structures were usually not highly developed in this area. The Tupi-speaking
groups lived in villages in which related families resided together in large houses. They practiced
slash-and-burn agriculture, and hunted and fished using blowguns and poinson-tipped arrows.
Manioc, a tuber, was their staple crop. They engaged in warfare and some groups practiced ritual
cannibalism. Tupan groups eventually overcame the Tapuyas, mobile hunters and gatherers.

North America - Diverse Societies

In the 16th century, North America -- occupied today by Canada and most of the United States -- was
home to hundreds of groups speaking a striking variety of languages and dialects. They lived in diverse
settings, from the Algonquian of the eastern woodlands, to the Caddo and Wichita of the grassy
Midwestern plains, and the Taos of the arid southwest.

Some North American tribes, like the Iroquois, were organized into large political
confederations. Extensive trade networks - sometimes operating over long distances - allowed
for the exchange of products such as animal skins, copper, shells, pigments, pottery, and
foodstuffs. Housing styles varied from covered wood to multilevel dwellings constructed of
stone and mud, and transportable shelters made of poles and animal hides. Many tribes played
games such as lacrosse and stickball. Religion was an integral part of daily life, tying them to the
land, to other living things, and to the spirits that animated their world and provided order to
social relations.

The Changing Order

The Renaissance was an age of paradox in Europe. This period witnessed dramatic changes in cultural
and intellectual life, linked to the enthusiastic rediscovery of the ancient Greek and Roman past. Artists
and writers brought a new, intense scrutiny to the individual human subject within the context of an
emerging secular spirit. Yet, during the Renaissance, religious mysticism, superstition, and political
authroitarianism intensified.

Though handwritten and illuminated manuscripts had been the preserve of the learned few, the
invention of printing led to a democratization of information. The creation of increasingly
modern and powerful economies, based on banking, trade, and commerce enabled an emerging
middle class to participate in this free exchange of ideas. Readers were exposed to dramatically
different world views, ranging from imaginary maps and accounts of travels to information
partly based on practical experience.

"O Adam, you may have whatever you desire"

Expanding Horizons
European exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries drew on many sources. A growing desire for
expansion and trade, along with advances in shipbuilding and commercial technique, fostered the
search for new markets and for the legendary sources of precious metals and other commodities.

Portuguese exploration and trade along the West African coast and to Atlantic islands,
encouraged and directed by Prince Henry de Avis, the Navigator, continued throughout the 15th
century. He assembled an international team of experts which made revolutionary advances in
geography, navigation, and cartography.

Handbooks, guides, and charts, along with the invention of more sophisticated and practical
nautical instruments, professionalized what had been largely an intuitive craft. Crucial to these
innovations were Muslim and Jewish contributions in mapmaking and navigational instruments.
Christopher Columbus went to sea on the crest of these maritime advances.
European World View: Imagined and Observed
European world view in the late 15th century wavered between bizarre imaginings about the unknown
and scientific observations of the known. T-O maps illustrate a Medieval world view laid out into three
continents by a T within a circle, but also record real and imagined countries.

Theories of the universe first proposed by ancient Greek or Roman philosophers were accepted
well into the 16th century. For example, the Vopel globe was based on Ptolemy's idea of an
earth-centered universe. Ironically, it was made in 1543, the same year that Nicolaus Copernicus
published his heliocentric, or sun-centered, theory of the universe. Caspar Vopel was a master-
craftsman of astronomical and navigational tools. He made the sphere encircling the globe so
that the seasonal changes in the orbits of the heavenly bodies could be observed. His "nocturnal,"
or compendium, was used for telling time at night and had several other navigational functions.

Christopher Columbus
Man and Myth
After five centuries, Columbus remains a mysterious and controversial figure who has been variously
described as one of the greatest mariners in history, a visionary genius, a mystic, a national hero, a failed
administrator, a naive entrepreneur, and a ruthless and greedy imperialist.

Columbus's enterprise to find a westward route to Asia grew out of the practical experience of a
long and varied maritime career, as well as out of his considerable reading in geographical and
theological literature. He settled for a time in Portugal, where he tried unsuccessfully to enlist
support for his project, before moving to Spain. After many difficulties, through a combination
of good luck and persuasiveness, he gained the support of the Catholic monarchs, Isabel and
Fernando.

The widely published report of his voyage of 1492 made Columbus famous throughout Europe
and secured for him the title of Admiral of the Ocean Sea and further royal patronage. Columbus,
who never abandoned the belief that he had reached Asia, led three more expeditions to the
Caribbean. But intrigue and his own administrative failings brought disappointment and political
obscurity to his final years.

In Search and Defense of Privileges

Queen Isabel and King Fernando had agreed to Columbus's lavish demands if he succeeded on
his first voyage: he would be knighted, appointed Admiral of the Ocean Sea, made the viceroy of
any new lands, and awarded ten percent of any new wealth. By 1502, however, Columbus had
every reason to fear for the security of his position. He had been charged with maladministration
in the Indies

Inventing America
The name America was given to the Western Hemisphere by European writers and mapmakers after
Columbus's death. Nothing in their experiences had led the first explorers to realize that they had come
into contact with a vast and unrecorded continent, many times the size of Europe. Previously there had
been no accounts, or even rumors, of the "unknown" peoples of this "new" continent in European
scholarly literature and discussion or in popular chronicles.

Mediterranean explorers in search of the spices and riches of the Far East initially believed that
they had reached Asia. In part due to this confusion, Europeans conjured up or "invented" images
and tales to explain America that would conform to the descriptions of Marco Polo and others.

In early allegorical images, "America" was sometimes portrayed as a noble, native woman
submissively awaiting European arrival. Ferocious sea animals and exotic creatures filled early
maps of the region. Regrettably, we still have incomplete knowledge of the world view and
everyday life of the varied peoples of the Americas before European settlement.

Europe Claims America

The Atlantic Joined
The dramatic encounters of Europeans and American peoples from 1492 to 1600 varied considerably
from place to place and over time. This section of the exhibit examines the immediate consequences of
contact in the five geographical areas of America reviewed previously.

The Indian peoples sometimes greeted Europeans warmly, provided them with food, and taught
them important new survival skills. In some cases, they perceived them as being divine, or at
least spiritually powerful. Some used the newcomers as allies against old enemies. Others saw
them as new enemies, to be grudgingly tolerated or strongly resisted. Native peoples were
quickly disillusioned by treachery or mistreatment at European hands.

The Europeans brought technologies, ideas, plants, and animals that were new to America and
would transform peoples' lives: guns, iron tools, and weapons; Christianity and Roman law;
sugarcane and wheat; horses and cattle. They also carried diseases against which the Indian
peoples had no defenses.

The interaction among groups produced a complex mosaic of relationships. Varying forms of
resistance and adaptation among Indian, African and European peoples occured throughout the
region.

The Caribbean
Las Indias
The arrival of Europeans proved disastrous for the people of the Caribbean. Within 20 years, it is
estimated that native population of Hispaniola dropped from one million to 30,000.

The Spaniards settled first on the island of Hispaniola and later moved on to Cuba, Puerto Rico,
and Jamaica, forcing the Tainos to mine for gold. The local population quickly declined as a
result of mistreatment, flight, disruption of agriculture, and disease. African slaves were
imported as early as 1502 to replace the dwindling labor supply.

As mining decreased, the Spanish introduced livestock, crops, and fruit trees. Cattle ranching and
sugarcane became important and a stable Spanish society took hold in the large islands. The
Caribbean played a crucial role as a staging ground for further exploration and conquest, and as a
strategic defensive point for the Spanish empire

Conquest in the Andes

The conquest of Peru was similar to that of Mexico in many ways. Inspired by rumors of a rich empire,
Francisco Pizarro and others reconnoitered the western coast of South America in the 1520s. In 1532, in
the midst of a civil war, the Spaniards seized the Inca emperor Atahualpa. After exacting a huge ransom
in gold and silver, they executed him, but it was some time before they consolidated their conquest.

The Spaniards conquered the Inca capital of Cuzco, but found the imperial city too high and
remote. Instead, they established a new capital, Lima, near the coast. Highland communities,
therefore, experienced less contact with Spanish culture than did lowland communities.
However, all Indian communities were subject to Spanish tribute and labor demands, adapted
from the Incan mita system. These often onerous obligations brought disruption, change, and
hardship.

Europeans Along the South Atlantic

Portugal's claim to Brazil resulted not only from Cabral's 1500 landing, but also from the 1494 Treaty of
Tordesillas. French efforts to exploit the resources and to establish settlements in the area persisted
through much of the 16th century. The Spanish concentrated on the Riode la Plata region and
established the cities of Buenos Aires in 1536 and Asuncion in 1537.

Intense Portuguese colonization of Brazil began in the same decade. The capital, Salvador, was
established in 1549 at the Bay of All Saints. The first Jesuits, who would play a crucial role in
Brazilian society, arrived the same year. They established missionary settlements called aldeias
in which they hoped to bring Tupinambas and other groups into "civilized" society by subjecting
them to a disciplined routine and making them full-time farmers. Portuguese efforts to use
indigenous labor were never very successful. Gradually they began to import African slaves as
sugarcane cultivation got underway in the northeast. The Portuguese, after first attempting to
develop the Brazil wood trade, changed, in the mid-16th century to sugarcane production and the
importation of African slaves to work in that industry.

Incursions in North America

The French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English arrived in North America in the 16th century, sporadically
and in small numbers. Fishermen plied their trade off the Newfoundland coast from around 1500. Some
Europeans hoped to find an alternative route to Asia (the Northwest Passage), wealthy civilizations, or
precious metals, but few found what they sought. They did not however, confront an untamed
wilderness but rather people who often lived in villages and towns.

The European intruders depended almost entirely on the indigenous people, who provided them
food and guides, sometimes under duress. They made few serious attemps to settle in the early
years. Frequently, the most enduring impact of their expeditions was negative. Their diseases
devastated native populations, and violence and wholesale commandeering of food supplies left
a legacy of fear and hostility.
The Spanish and French Disrupt Life in Florida
Almost from the outset, European arrivals in the Florida peninsula produced violent confrontations. The
Spanish came first, presumably as an extension of slave raiding in the Caribbean islands. Ponce de Leon's
expeditions, in 1513 and 1521, failed because of Timucua and Calusa resistance. Subsequent Spanish
expeditions moved on without fouding any permanent settlements until St. Augustine was established
in 1565.

In the early 1560s, French Huguenots established a colony at the mouth of the Saint Johns River.
Jacques Le Moyne, who mapped the area and wrote an account of his experiencies, survived the
1565 Spanish attack that destroyed the French colony. Engravings based on his drawings show
the site in Florida where the French first landed; Timucua men and women carrying fruit; and a
battle scene in which French soldiers aided their ally Outina against his enemy Potanou. The
French initially touched the Florida coast near the St. Mary's River in the early 1560s, attempted
settlements in the region, created alliances with the various Indian settlements, and eventually
were annihilated by the Spanish in 1565.

Spanish Conquests

In 1499 the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci was commissioned by Spain and discovered
the coast of what is now known as South America. Shortly thereafter, the word ''America" was
used to describe the New World.

Ponce de Leon landed in Florida in 1513 near the present city of Saint Augustine (the guy who
converted spain and was remembered everytime christains thought of attacking non christains)
and proclaimed that he had found the "fountain of youth."

In 1540 Francisco Coronado attempted to find the mythical Seven Cities of Cibola. Instead, his
journey from Mexico took him to the Grand Canyon and Kansas.

In 1541 Hernando de Soto of Spain navigated the Mississippi River. This important water route
became a major artery for future settlement.

By 1565 the first Spanish settlers had made a permanent home in Saint Augustine after Pedro
Menendez established it when Spain drove the French out of Florida

French Exploration
Italian sailor Giovanni da Verrazano was hired by France and made landfall in North Carolina
in 1524. Then he sailed north along the Atlantic Coast past New York.
Frenchman Jacques Cartier left Europe and instead of finding Asia, discovered the Saint
Lawrence Seaway in 1535. By the sixteenth century, France had laid claim to North America.

English Exploration
Though getting a late start, England became a dominant player in exploration. In 1578
Humphrey Gilbert, after receiving a commission from Queen Elizabeth I, began the search for
the Northwest Passage. He was lost at sea, and in 1585 his half-brother Walter Raleigh continued
the journey and established the first British colony off the coast of North Carolina. It proved to
be a failure

Events in Europe caused a major shift in world leadership as England defeated the Spanish
Armada in 1588. This event established England as the new world power and gave them an
advantage in creating and maintaining colonies in the New World.

The New World Develops Settlements

By 1600 the era of European migration to the North American continent was well underway. The
settlers chose geographic areas first discovered by their country's explorers. Spanish colonies had
been established in Mexico, the West Indies, South America, and Florida. The French settled in
parts of Canada. The Dutch established a home base in what is now New York City. The country
that had the most influence and quickly emerged as the dominant colonizer was England.

Voyages to the New World took six to twelve weeks in small overcrowded ships. Many settlers
died of disease and some ships were lost at sea. The reasons why Europeans left their homeland
varied, and included:

1. political oppression
2. lack of freedom to practice their religion
3. economic hardship
4. Sixteenth-century England was a tumultuous place. Because they could make more money from
selling wool than from selling food, many of the nations landowners were converting farmers
fields into pastures for sheep. This led to a food shortage; at the same time, many agricultural
workers lost their jobs.
5. The 16th century was also the age of mercantilism, an extremely competitive economic
philosophy that pushed European nations to acquire as many colonies as they could. As a result,
for the most part, the English colonies in North America were business ventures. They provided
an outlet for Englands surplus population and (in some cases) more religious freedom than
England did, but their primary purpose was to make money for their sponsors.

THE TOBACCO COLONIES

In 1606, King James I divided the Atlantic seaboard in two, giving the southern half to the
London Company (later the Virginia Company) and the northern half to the Plymouth Company.
The first English settlement in North America had actually been established some 20 years
before, in 1587, when a group of colonists (91 men, 17 women and nine children) led by Sir
Walter Raleigh settled on the island of Roanoke. Mysteriously, by 1590 the Roanoke colony had
vanished entirely. Historians still do not know what became of its inhabitants.
In 1606, just a few months after James I issued its charter, the London Company sent 144 men to
Virginia on three ships: the Godspeed, the Discovery and the Susan Constant. They reached the
Chesapeake Bay in the spring of 1607 and headed about 60 miles up the James River, where they
built a settlement they called Jamestown. The Jamestown colonists had a rough time of it: They
were so busy looking for gold and other exportable resources that they could barely feed
themselves. It was not until 1616, when Virginias settlers learned how to grow tobacco, that it
seemed the colony might survive. The first African slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619.

In 1632, the English crown granted about 12 million acres of land at the top of the Chesapeake
Bay to Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore. This colony, named Maryland after the
queen, was similar to Virginia in many ways. Its landowners produced tobacco on large
plantations that depended on the labor of indentured servants and (later) African slaves.

But unlike Virginias founders, Lord Baltimore was a Catholic, and he hoped that his colony
would be a refuge for his persecuted coreligionists. Maryland became known for its policy of
religious toleration for all.

Let's look at three early colonies:

Jamestown

named after King James I, based on a charter that granted the Virginia Company the right to
settle the area. After receiving a charter from King James I, around 100 men set out for the New
World and established Jamestown in 1607. They were really interested in finding gold, but had
to settle on farming to make a living. A leader by the name of Captain John Smith became the
head of the colony. He had to face attacks from Indians as well as starvation. After he returned to
England, the colony fell apart because of smallpox. Of the 300 original colonists, only 60
survived. The turning point for Jamestown came in 1612 when tobacco became a major export
and began to make the colony prosperous. Though this product brought more people to the
colony, the death rate from disease and Indian attacks was high. From a peak of 14,000
inhabitants, the colony had only 1,132 people in 1624 when it was officially made a royal
colony.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

settled by the Puritans in 1620. This colony was developed primarily by a group called the
Puritans. They were very unhappy about religious practices and persecution in England and
organized a group called "Separatists."

Separatists: A radical group of Puritans who did not feel that the Church of England could be
reformed. They received a land grant from the Virginia Company and set out for the New World
in 1620.

The Puritan group boarded The Mayflower and after facing a terrible storm that sent their ship
off course, they landed in Cape Cod. The group, better known as the Pilgrims, named the colony
Plymouth.
After landing, the Pilgrims signed an agreement to form a government in 1620 that had "just and
equal laws." This agreement became known as the Mayflower Compact. In their first winter, the
Puritans faced extreme conditions and many died. By the next fall, they were helped by the
Wampanoag Indians who taught them how to plant and grow maize. Our national holiday of
Thanksgiving is an outgrowth of the successful fall harvest. The Massachusetts Bay Colony
played an important role in early colonial history. It is interesting to note that even though the
Puritans left England protesting religious persecution, they set forth strict religious rules in the
new colony. Because of these rules, some Puritans, such as Roger Williams, left Massachusetts
and started a settlement in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1636, where he allowed complete
religious freedom.
New Netherland

established by Henry Hudson in 1609. Named by Henry Hudson, who explored the area around
what is now New York City in 1609, the Dutch East India Company laid claim to it. The
company's interest was fur trade and the settlers developed a relationship with the Five Nations
of the Iroquois. The settlement grew in the early 1620s, and in 1624 the island was obtained from
the Indians by Peter Minuit for the ridiculously low price of $24. The Dutch form of government
was very different from that of the English. They set up what was known as a patroon system

Patroon System: Set up by the Dutch in New Netherland and based on the feudal system of
aristocrats owning the land and a lower class working the land.

The First Slaves

The first black slaves were brought into the New World in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619, just 12 years
after its founding. Slavery existed in African society, long before Europe even began to trade with Africa.
The Portuguese began European slave trading in 1441 when a ship returned from Africa with its cargo of
slaves. Slavery quickly became a way of life and by the end of the fifteenth century, Portugal became the
center for trade in African goods and slaves. We will return to this subject in more detail in the next
chapter

Relations between Indo- Europeans

for many Indians the increased number of white settlers would pose a threat. Even though there was
cooperation, such as we saw with the Pilgrims, there were many conflicts. An example occurred in
Virginia in 1622 when there was an Indian uprising and over 300 whites were killed, including
missionaries. As the European settlers moved deeper into the interior of the Eastern colonies, they
became a greater threat to the Indians. Animal game was killed off by the settlers and, of course, the
Indians resisted these advances. The Iroquois nation was the most successful in stopping further
movement into their territory. In 1570 the Indians formed an organization called the League of the
Iroquois. It consisted of a council that had the ability to pass laws. It also set up trading agreements and
became a key player in what was known as the French and Indian War of 1754-1763.

Colonization and Settlements (1508-1763)

Time Line (1619 1754)

1619 House of Burgesses founded

 1630 The Massachusetts Bay Colony founded
1634 Maryland founded
1636 Roger Williams leads a settlement to Providence, Rhode Island
1638 Anne Hutchinson ordered to leave Massachusetts
1652 Rhode Island passes the first laws protecting the treatment of slaves
1660 The Navigation Act passed
1672 The Royal Africa Company gets exclusive rights to the English slave trade to the New World
1675 King Philip's War breaks out
1676 Bacon's Rebellion erupts
1681 Pennsylvania founded by William Penn
1684 The Massachusetts Bay Colony charter taken back by King Charles II
1690 King William's War breaks out
1690 John Locke writes an Essay Concerning Human Rights
1692 The Salem witch trials reach a frenzy
1696 Quakers forbid the importing of slaves
1696 The Royal African Trade Company loses its exclusive right to trade slaves
1705 Virginia passes a law stating that black slaves were to remain in servitude for life
1711 The Tuscarora Indian War breaks out in North Carolina
1718 New Orleans founded by the French
1720 The colonial population grows to over 400,000 people
1725 The population of African slaves grows to 75,000
1729 Benjamin Franklin begins the publication of The Pennsylvania Gazette
1732 Georgia chartered; Franklin publishes Poor Richard's Almanack
1734 John Peter Zenger tried for libel
1744 The Great Awakening religious movement
1754 The French and Indian War

New England Colonies: Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island

Middle Atlantic Colonies: New York, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey

Southern Colonies: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia

look at how the geography influenced the economy of the region

New England Colonies: Because of the severe winter climate and the lack of good land for farming, the
New England colonists turned to shipbuilding and trading, and established the beginnings of a factory
system. By the middle of the seventeenth century, the Massachusetts Bay Company established itself as
a central force. Boston Harbor became one of the best-known ports. One third of the British fleet was
built in New England. New Englanders also took advantage of the slave trade by participating in what
became known as the Triangular Trade

Triangular Trade - Slaves were bought from Africa for rum made in New England, then sold in the West
Indies for molasses, which was sold back to the rum producers

The first English emigrants to what would become the New England colonies were a small group of
Puritan separatists, later called the Pilgrims, who arrived in Plymouth in 1620. Ten years later, a wealthy
syndicate known as the Massachusetts Bay Company sent a much larger (and more liberal) group of
Puritans to establish another Massachusetts settlement. With the help of local natives, the colonists
soon got the hang of farming, fishing and hunting, and Massachusetts prospered.

As the Massachusetts settlements expanded, they generated new colonies in New England. Puritans
who thought that Massachusetts was not pious enough formed the colonies of Connecticut and New
Haven (the two combined in 1665). Meanwhile, Puritans who thought that Massachusetts was too
restrictive formed the colony of Rhode Island, where everyoneincluding Jewsenjoyed complete
liberty in religious concernments. To the north of the Massachusetts colony, a handful of adventurous
settlers formed the colony of New Hampshire.

The Middle Atlantic Colonies: If your focus your attention on Pennsylvania and New York, you will be
able to see the influence that Europeans, especially the Scots and Irish, had on these colonies. In
Pennsylvania, which was founded by William Penn in 1681, the geography of its largest city,
Philadelphia, reflected a city soon to be called the ''city of brotherly love." Based on a Quaker tradition,
Pennsylvania houses were made of brick and stone. Philadelphia also had many busy docks and it
pursued trade. The population grew to over 30,000 people by 1776. New York, which was originally
founded by the Dutch and sold to them by the Native American inhabitants for the meager sum of $24,
became the home of many Europeans French, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, English, Scots, Irish, and
Germans. Even after the British gained control of the colony, it continued to have a strong Dutch
influence. New York City also became the center for trade.

In 1664, King Charles II gave the territory between New England and Virginia, much of which was already
occupied by Dutch traders and landowners called patroons, to his brother James, the Duke of York. The
English soon absorbed Dutch New Netherland and renamed it New York, but most of the Dutch people
(as well as the Belgian Flemings and Walloons, French Huguenots, Scandinavians and Germans who
were living there) stayed put. This made New York one of the most diverse and prosperous colonies in
the New World.
In 1680, the king granted 45,000 square miles of land west of the Delaware River to William Penn, a
Quaker who owned large swaths of land in Ireland. Penns North American holdings became the colony
of Penns Woods, or Pennsylvania. Lured by the fertile soil and the religious toleration that Penn
promised, people migrated there from all over Europe. Like their Puritan counterparts in New England,
most of these emigrants paid their own way to the coloniesthey were not indentured servantsand had
enough money to establish themselves when they arrived. As a result, Pennsylvania soon became a
prosperous and relatively egalitarian place.

The Southern Colonies: The South was much different in geography as well as economic interests from
New England and the Middle Atlantic colonies. Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
later, Georgia were mostly rural. Large plantations were built. Big landowners held much of the political
power, and they were supported by slaves. Charleston, South Carolina, became one of the largest
trading centers in the South. Unlike their northern cousins, people living in the South combined the
benefits of agriculture and commerce. Tobacco became a major crop, especially in Virginia. In the other
southern colonies rice and indigo were produced; later, cotton became the major southern product,
supported by slave labor. European influences in the South included German immigrants and Scot-Irish,
as well as English settlers. Living within these colonies and certainly outside their borders were
numerous Native American tribes.

By contrast, the Carolina colony, a territory that stretched south from Virginia to Florida and west to the
Pacific Ocean, was much less cosmopolitan. In its northern half, hardscrabble farmers eked out a living.
In its southern half, planters presided over vast estates that produced corn, lumber, beef and pork, and
starting in the 1690srice. These Carolinians had close ties to the English planter colony on the
Caribbean island of Barbados, which relied heavily on African slave labor, and many were involved in the
slave trade themselves. As a result, slavery played an important role in the development of the Carolina
colony. (It split into North Carolina and South Carolina in 1729.)

In 1732, inspired by the need to build a buffer between South Carolina and the Spanish settlements in
Florida, the Englishman James Oglethorpe established the Georgia colony. In many ways, Georgias
development mirrored South Carolinas.

New England Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts wanted to create a "Puritan Utopia" for the
region.

Middle Atlantic William Penn wanted to start a "holy experiment" for the region.

Southern Colonies In pursuing his rebellion, Nathaniel Bacon pledged to ''wage war against all Indians
in general."

In order to evaluate whether an event had a positive or negative political impact, you must measure the
extent it contributed to democratic values. These include representation, the right to vote, the right to
protest peaceably, and the right to engage in free trade.

The House of Burgesses Contributed to democratic values because it increased representation.

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut Contributed to democratic values because it increased

representation.
 New England Confederation Contributed to democratic values because it moved the colonies towards
democracy

The Navigation Act Restricted democratic values because England controlled free trade.

Bacon's Rebellion Restricted democratic values because the rebellion was not successful and violence
was used.

Zenger's Trial Contributed to democratic values because it helped establish freedom of the press.

English Institutions
political picture of the colonies
The Magna Carta A key event in Great Britain that later had a significant impact on the democratic
values in the United States was the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215. The Magna Carta also known as
the Great Charter; it guaranteed rights such as trial by jury, reduced the rights of the English monarch,
and resulted in the creation of the Parliament.

In the future no official shall place a man on trial upon his own supported statement, without
producing credible witnesses to the truth of it.

The Magna Carta is one of the most important documents to signal the acceptance of democratic
values. The portion that was quoted above is similar to our own Bill of Rights in the following way:

The Bill of Rights requires that a witness be used to prove there is a crime.

It also requires a trial by jury.

It has a provision that calls for a fair and speedy trial

In 1619 the first meeting of the House of Burgesses took place.

House of Burgesses- The first representative assembly. It met in Virginia.

It was significant that the people of Virginia were able to freely elect representatives who could pass
laws. In 1639 the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut were passed. This document also established a
representative assembly for Connecticut. The ideas were also picked up by Rhode Island. The New
England Confederation was established in 1643. Consisting of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth,
Connecticut, and New Haven colonies, it was the first attempt to form a regional organization. The
Navigation Act was passed by England in 1660. This act established a mercantilist policy

Mercantilism: An economic policy that placed the colonists' trade profits in the hands of England, the
mother country

Bacon's Rebellion broke out in Virginia in 1675. Nathaniel Bacon, a Virginia farmer, organized an armed
uprising against Virginia Governor William Berkeley over the issues of low tobacco prices and difficult
living conditions. Berkeley refused to give in to the demands, but did agree to hold new elections for the
House of Burgesses. After winning a series of victories and gaining the support of many of the farmers,
Bacon died and the rebellion was crushed. Berkeley punished Bacon's followers by hanging 23 rebels

Individuals also added to a political climate that viewed democratic values in a positive way. English
philosopher John Locke wrote a series of essays including an Essay Concerning Human Rights. In this
essay, he stressed the need for natural rights, the right of people to enjoy the freedom of life, liberty,
and property. The Glorious Revolution in England (16881689) had many positive effects on the British
colonies. Though it established the supremacy of the English Parliament over the colonies, the colonists
were able to use some of the powers of Parliament. They made laws such as the right to vote on taxes
and the right to pass legislation. A blow was struck for freedom of the press in 1734 when John Peter
Zenger was defended by a young lawyer named Alexander Hamilton when Zenger was accused of
libelwhich is making false statementsagainst the colonial governor of New York. Zenger was found not
guilty and an early principle of freedom of the press was established.

Religious Institutions in the English Colonies

the early exploration of the New World because of religious persecution in England. The groups that
were affected were the Puritans who settled in Massachusetts, and a group that broke away from the
Puritans, led by Roger Williams, which set up a colony in Rhode Island.

other religious groups became strong influences in the colonies. One such group was the Quakers, who
settled Pennsylvania. But, even with these religious influences, the status of religion in later colonial
history ranged from attempts to guarantee religious freedom to ugly acts of religious persecution

Let's evaluate how the following events pertained positively or negatively to religious freedom. You
must measure the extent to which each event allowed for the tree exercise of religion and the extent to
which government did not impose its own religion

Time Line (1634-1728)

1634 Maryland accepted Catholics - Contributed positively because it allowed the free exercise
of religion.
1638 Ann Hutchinson Massachusetts restricted religious freedom.
1646 Death penalty to those who didn't follow Puritanism Restricted religious freedom because
the government imposed a religion.
1649 The Toleration Act Contributed to religious freedom because it allowed the free exercise of
different religions.
1660 Mary Dyer banished and then hung. Restricted religious freedom because the state
imposed a death penalty.
1667 William Penn's charter. Contributed to religious freedom because it encouraged the
separation of Church and State. Separation of Church and State The doctrine that makes it illegal
for the government to impose an official religion on individuals.
1692 The Salem witch trials Restricted religious freedom because the state allowed executions
of those thought to be practicing a different religion.
1702 The Anglican Church made the official religion in Maryland Restricted religious freedom
because the government was imposing a religion.
1728 Jewish Synagogue built in New York. Contributed to religious freedom because it
encouraged different religious practices.
1741The Great Awakening Restricted religious freedom because the sermon preached that
there is only one acceptable religion.
Social Institutions of the English Colonies
the beginnings of the colonial culture took place as the new settlers brought their own culture from
Europe. They also adopted many of the traditions of the Native Americans.

Time Line (1631- 1742)

1631 The first Thanksgiving celebrated holiday

1636 Harvard College founded education

1638 The first almanac describing life in the colonies published popular entertainment

1647 The first public education law put into place in Massachusetts education

1658 The first hospital set up in New Amsterdam social issue

1660 Marriage laws passed in Connecticut and other colonies social issue

1690 The first newspaper published in Boston. It only survives for four days since it did not have the per
mission of the government to publish popular entertainment

1701 Yale founded in Connecticut education

1732 Poor Richard's Almanack was published by Benjamin Franklin popular entertainment

1742 The Franklin Stove invented science

Benjamin Franklin FRS, FRSE (January 17, 1706 [O.S. January 6, 1705][1] April 17, 1790) was one of the
Founding Fathers of the United States. Franklin was a renowned polymath and a leading author, printer,
political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and
diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics
for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod,
bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions.[2] He facilitated many civic organizations,
including Philadelphia's fire department and the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution.[3]

Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial
unity, initially as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States
Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation.[4] Franklin was foundational in
defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education,
community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and
religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment. In the words of historian Henry
Steele Commager, "In a Franklin could be merged the virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the
illumination of the Enlightenment without its heat."[5] To Walter Isaacson, this makes Franklin "the
most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America
would become."[6]

Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the
colonies, publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette at the age of 23.[7] He became wealthy publishing this
and Poor Richard's Almanack, which he authored under the pseudonym "Richard Saunders". After 1767,
he was associated with the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper that was known for its revolutionary
sentiments and criticisms of the British policies.

He pioneered and was first president of The Academy and College of Philadelphia which opened in 1751
and later became the University of Pennsylvania. He organized and was the first secretary of the
American Philosophical Society and was elected president in 1769. Franklin became a national hero in
America as an agent for several colonies when he spearheaded an effort in London to have the
Parliament of Great Britain repeal the unpopular Stamp Act. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely
admired among the French as American minister to Paris and was a major figure in the development of
positive Franco-American relations. His efforts proved vital for the American Revolution in securing
shipments of crucial munitions from France.

He was promoted to deputy postmaster-general for the British colonies in 1753, having been
Philadelphia postmaster for many years, and this enabled him to set up the first national
communications network. During the Revolution, he became the first US Postmaster General. He was
active in community affairs and colonial and state politics, as well as national and international affairs.
From 1785 to 1788, he served as governor of Pennsylvania. He initially owned and dealt in slaves but, by
the 1750s, he argued against slavery from an economic perspective and became one of the most
prominent abolitionists.

His colorful life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, and his status as one of America's
most influential Founding Fathers have seen Franklin honored more than two centuries after his death
on coinage and the $100 bill, warships, and the names of many towns, counties, educational
institutions, and corporations, as well as countless cultural references.

The Status of Slavery and Its Impact on Colonial Life Slavery

continued to play an increasingly important role in both the New England and southern colonies

slaves were first bought by the Portuguese and soon thereafter brought to the New World. A triangle
trade was set up for the benefit of New Englanders, and the South began to use slaves on their farms.

Look at the Time Line and locate the events that impacted on the development of slavery in the
colonies. Which events could be classified as positive? Which events can be classified as negative?

Time Line (1652-1739)

1652 The Dutch government approves exporting African slaves negative

1652 Rhode Island passes laws protecting the treatment of slaves positive
1664 A slavery act passed in Maryland. It provides for the lifelong status of slaves. Similar laws
passed in other colonies negative
1672 Royal African Trade Company obtains exclusive rights to the English slave trade in the New
World negative
1696 The Quakers outlaw importing slaves positive
1696 The Royal African Trade Company loses its exclusive right to trade slaves negative
1725 Slave population reaches 75,000 negative
1739 Three slave uprisings break out in South Carolina positive
 The issue of slavery caused much controversy even in the early days of colonization. Northerners felt
that slavery was wrong, while in the South, plantation owners saw the need for what they called
"the peculiar institution

At the height of the most recent Ice Age, about 35,000 years ago, much of the worlds water was locked
up in vast continental ice sheets. A land bridge as much as 1,500km wide connected Asia and North
America. By 12,000 years ago, humans were living throughout much of the Western Hemisphere. The
first Americans crossed the land bridge from Asia and were believed to have stayed in what is now
Alaska for thousands of years. They then moved south into the land that was to become the United
States. They settled along the Pacific Ocean in the Northwest, in the mountains and deserts of the
Southwest, and along the Mississippi River in the Middle West.

Early Settlers in America These early groups that settled in America are known as Hohokam Adenans
Hopewellians Anasazi. They built villages and grew crops. Some built mounds of earth in the shapes
of pyramids, birds, or serpents. Their life was closely tied to the land, and their society was clan-oriented
and communal. Elements of the natural world played an essential part in their spiritual beliefs.

The 1st Europeans in America The first Europeans to arrive in North America, at least the first for whom
there is solid evidence were Norse. They traveled west from Greenland, where Erik the Red had founded
a settlement around the year 985. It would be almost 500 more years before other Europeans reached
North America and another 100 years after that before permanent settlements were established. The
first explorers were searching for a sea passage to Asia. Others chiefly British, Dutch, French, and
Spanish came later to claim the lands and riches of what they called the New World.

Exploration of America

Europe towards Exploration of the New Land Until the 15th century nobody knew that there was a
continent across the Atlantic. The first and most famous of these explorers was Christopher Columbus
whose voyage of exploration finally brought the Americans and Europeans in contact. Columbus was
born in 1447 in Genoa, Italy; he was a son of a wool comber. He spent eight years seeking to be financed
for his trip to explore the Indies across Atlantic Ocean. Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor,
believed that sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean was the shortest sea route to Asia. Ignorant of the
fact that the Western Hemisphere lay between Europe and Asia and assuming the earth's circumference
to be a third less than it actually is, he was convinced that Japan would appear on the horizon just three
thousand miles to the west. Like other seafarers of his day.

Christopher Columbus

Columbus was ready to sail for whatever country would pay for his voyage. Either because of his
arrogance (he wanted ships and crews to be provided at no expense to himself) or ambition (he insisted
on governing the lands he discovered), he found it difficult to find a patron. He was twice rejected by
Portuguese, and the rulers of England and France were not interested. With influential supporters at
court, Columbus convinced King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to partially underwrite his
expedition. In 1492, Granada, the last Muslim stronghold on the Iberian Peninsula, had fallen to the
forces of the Spanish monarchs.

Causes of Colonization

1. Improvement in Technology In Europe, there occurred a rebirth of classical learning. Columbus and
other navigators lived in the time when the creativity was vitally at the peak and navigator and mariners
were being financed to find out the shortest and safest routes to Asia. Europeans were improving in
technology from gun powder to the sailing compass. There were also major improvements in ship
building and map makings.

2. Renaissance in Europe 1400 AD onwards is considered that to be the rising time of Europeans after
the Dark Age which was 200 to 1200 AD. The Europeans now were making progress in every field of life
and were keenly involve in learning and exploring. The technology of printing press after 1450 also
spread the knowledge across Europe which played a very important role in educating the common man
in Europe.

3. Religious Conflicts in Europe The later years of renaissance were a time of religious zeal and conflict
in Europe. The dominant Roman Catholic culture was threatened by Othman empire while the
Protestants revolted against the popes authorities in Rome led to a series of war between Protestants
and Catholic Christians. The reforms by Protestants were known as Protestants Reformation.

4. Expanding trade Roots to Asia were blocked after Othman had taken over the city of Constantinople
in 1453. Europe were dependant on Asian for trade, herbs and agriculture therefore they were in
extensive need to find any other route to Asia.

5. Search for New Routes To maintain the trade relation with Asia Europeans wanted to find out the
shortest possible root which can again connect them to the sub-continent. They started financing
navigators for exploration of new sea routes, which ultimately led them to the discovery of America.
Although in 1448 Vasco De Gama was the 1st person to reach India by the route of Africa.

6. Pressure of population 15million Peoples were living in Europe before America

7. Trade and Agriculture Since Europe is not an agrarian continent therefore it heavily depended on the
agriculture of Asia to fulfill the demands for their huge population. But the discovery of America gives
them a land where they were able to cultivate the crops themselves with ideal weather and big rivers
i.e. Mississippi and Missouri.

8. Desire for wealth By the time America was discovered it was known as a Golden Land. The normal
perception was as if there is a lot of gold in America which can be easily excavated. This was another
important factor leading toward the colonization of the New Land.
9. Imperial Race The Imperial powers of Europe were in race of having more and more land of America.
As in older days the country with most colonies and vast majority of land was considered to be a super
power. Which today is been replaced by economy and technology.

10. Royal Proclamation Treaty of Westphalia was signed in 1648, between Spain and Dutch republic by
which each state would have the right to determine the religion of his own state and also colonial claims
were adjusted.