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Zaina Siddiqi
Zaina Siddiqi
The years 1607 to 1754 saw great change in the Americas. The Native American population rapidly declined due to disease and conflicts with the newly arrived White Europeans. Europeans began to establish successful colonies, expanding first from Jamestown, then to places like the Puritan refuge in Massachusetts Bay, the Catholic colony in Maryland, the "holy experiment" in Pennsylvania, and the debtor's colony in Georgia. Life in the north, middle, Chesapeake, and southern colonies was drastically different.
In this section, we'll compare the effects of the development of colonial society in the various regions of North America.
| Spanish | French | Dutch | British | |
| Regional Impact | Present-day Florida, California, and New Mexico. Some notable examples include: St. Augustine, Florida and Santa Fe, New Mexico. | Primarily located in present-day Louisiana, Mississippi River Valley, and the Great Lakes region. Ex: Quebec, Louisiana | Primarily located in present-day New York and Delaware. Some notable examples include: New Netherlands and New Amsterdam | Early British colonies developed along the Atlantic coast. |
| Economic/Imperial Goals | Primarily focused on colonization, conversion of indigenous peoples to Christianity, and the establishment of a strong economic presence through trade and resource extraction. | Establishing settlements and forts along the Mississippi River and in the Great Lakes region in order to control the fur trade and secure valuable resources such as furs, timber, and land, along with exploring and mapping the interior of the continent to expand their knowledge and control of the land. | Promoting religious toleration and diversity in the colony, which attracted many non-Dutch settlers, including Walloons, Germans, and French Huguenots and built a strong trading presence in the region, primarily through the Dutch West India Company, which controlled the colony of New Netherland. | |
| Political Development | To assert control over these territories and defend them against potential encroachment by other European powers, particularly the French and the English. Additionally, the Spanish sought to convert the indigenous populations to Catholicism and establish a strong presence in the region to support their trade and economic interests. | One of the main political goals of the French in the early 18th century was to create a buffer zone between their settlements in Canada and the British colonies to the south. They also sought to gain control of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, which would give them control over trade and transportation in the region. | The main political goals of the Dutch during this period were to establish and maintain control over these settlements and the surrounding regions, and to use them as a base for trade and economic activities. The Dutch also sought to establish trade and economic relations with the indigenous peoples, and to convert them to Christianity. | One of the main goals was to establish and maintain control over the 13 British colonies that were established along the east coast of North America, from present-day Maine to Georgia. This was done to assert British authority over the region and to use it as a base for trade and economic activities. |
| Social Development & Relationship w/ Natives | Competition over resources between European rivals and American Indians encouraged industry and trade and led to conflict. | Established alliances and trade relations with indigenous populations, such as the Huron, Iroquois, and Algonquin tribes. | They established alliances with some native tribes as a way to secure their trade routes, and to protect their settlements from potential attacks. | Competition over resources between European rivals and American Indians encouraged industry and trade and led to conflict. |
As more and more people came to the Americas, trade heavily increased. A large part of that trade was the importation of enslaved Africans beginning in 1619. This slave trade would go on for another two centuries before being stopped.
Try to find similarities and differences between the colonies in the chart. When writing FRQs, being able to recall this information will help immensely!
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