Struggle for North America
16.3
· Europeans were disappointed that North America had no water passage to Asia & had no gold treasure.
· Before long, the English & French made profit from growing tobacco, fishing, & the fur trade.
Building New France
· Early 1500s French ships fished off Newfoundland but due to wars at home, it only built a settlement in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain in Quebec.
· Missionaries, especially Jesuits, converted many Native Americans to Christianity.
Slow growth
· French fur traders travelled inland & claimed territories form Quebec to the Great Lakes to Louisiana.
· The population of New France grew slowly because the harsh weather attracted few peasants.
· Many left farming in favor of fur trapping & trading because of the high European demand for fur.
· Many married native American women. Some settlers depended on Fishing cod & exporting to Europe.
Government policy
· In the late 1600s, Louis IX appointed officials to oversee justice & economic activities overseas.
· He sent many settlers, soldiers, & unmarried women to New France. However, Quebec’s population remained small compared to the 13 English Colonies.
The 13 English Colonies
· 1st permanent colony at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, but the settlers struggled losing some to famine & disease.
· Natives helped the settlers to stay alive & they learned how to grow tobacco & other crops from them.
· 1620, the puritan pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. They wrote the Mayflower Compact as a guideline for governing their future colony.
· Many pilgrims died but the natives taught them how to grow crops & survive
· Later more Puritans arrived to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Growth
· Colonies such as Virginia were set up for commercial reasons, while Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, & Maryland were set up for persecuted (treated unfairly) religious groups.
· In New England, settlers depended on farming; In parts of the South, a plantation economy dominated.
· Since working hands were needed to clear land & raise crops, many Africans were brought as slaves.
Government
· Compared to Spanish & French colonies, English colonies enjoyed a large degree of self-government.
· Each colony had its own representative assembly which advised the royal governor in making decisions.
· English citizens had gained certain legal & political rights & the colonists who saw themselves as “freeborn Englishmen” expected the same rights.
Caught up in Global Power Struggles
· By the 1600s, Spain, France, England, & the Netherlands competed for trade & colonies around the world.
· 1664, after several naval wars with the Dutch, the English captured New Netherland & renamed it New York.
· The English settlers in Georgia fought with the Spanish in nearby Florida.
· In the Caribbean, the French got Haiti, Guadeloupe, & Martinique. The English took Barbados & Jamaica.
· By late 1600s, the Caribbean islands passed Brazil to become the world’s largest exporter of Sugar.
British-French rivalry
· The Seven Years’ War between France & England began in Europe in 1756 & soon spread to India & North America. (The French Indian War)
· Although the French had more territory in North America, the British had more colonists.
· British colonists pushed west into the Ohio Valley & met with French resistance.
· 1759, the British captured Quebec & then Montreal & eventually in 1763 controlled Canada.
The Peace Treaty
· France gave up Canada & its lands east of the Mississippi River to Britain. Out of India as well
· The French regained control of the sugar producing Caribbean islands. Settlers stayed in Louisiana & Canada.
Impact on Native Americans
· Some traded & formed alliances with the settlers.
· The introduction of the horse changed the lives of buffalo-hunting Indians.
· Slowly, the flood of new settlers pushed the Indians westward.
Disease
· 1608, 30,000 Algonquians lived in Virginia. By 1670, only 2000 remained.
· In New England disease brought by European fishing fleets wiped out entire Indian villages.
Legacy
· The Natives taught settlers how to grow corn, beans, squash, & tomatoes & to hunt & trap animals.
· Trails used by Indians became highways. The Mississippi & the Appalachians bear Indian names.
· Thanksgiving menu of turkey & pumpkin pie are Indian food.
· Moccasins that keep feet warm were also adopted from the Indians.