ALIEN ENCOUNTERS: EUROPE IN THE AMERICAS

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ALIEN ENCOUNTERS EUROPE IN THE AMERICAS

• Columbus and the Discovery of America
• Christopher Columbus reached the West Indies on
  October 12, 1492
• by the fifteenth century, western Europeans
  discover direct routes to the East
• Prince Henry of Portugal sponsored improvements
  in navigation and voyages of exploration

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• Spains American Empire
• in 1493, Pope divided the non-Christian world
  between Spain and Portugal
• Portugal concentrated on Africa and Brasil
• Spain concentrated on the Caribbean and Americas
• The Indian and the European
• European technological superiority, particularly
  in instruments of war, provided the tools for
  domination

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• Relativity of Cultural Values
• Europeans regarded as heathens because the did
  not worship the Christian God
• most Indians were deeply religious
• some Europeans believed Indians were minions of
  Satan, unworthy of Christianity
• some, such as Spanish friars attempted to convert
  them
• Indians exploited the land as Europeans did

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• fished, hunted, modified vegetation and
  wildlife
• different approaches to land and government led
  to conflict
• even in warfare, the two cultures differed
• Indians fought to display valor, avenge insult,
  or to acquire captives
• Europeans fought with the intent to obliterate
  the enemy

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• Disease and Population Losses
• Europeans brought with them diseases for which
  Indians had no immunities, particularly smallpox
  and measles
• these diseases devastated Indian populations
• Spains European Rivals
• Spain dominated exploration of the Americas
  during 16th century due to its internal stability
• but corruption over gold and silver began to
  erode this stability and the disruption of the
  Catholic church undermined Spanish power

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• The Protestant Reformation
• the sale of indulgences and the luxurious
  life-styles of popes led to a challenge by
  reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin
• in England, Henry VIIIs search for a male heir
  led him to split from Rome when the Pope refused
  him a divorce

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• English Beginnings in America
• Queen Elizabeth supported the explorations of
  English joint-stock companies and encouraged
  privateers, such as Sir Francis Drake, to plunder
  Spanish merchant shipping
• she supported colonization of New World
• in 1587Sir Walter Raleigh settled Roanoke Island
• after the Spanish Armada was destroyed, Spain
  could not stop English colonization of New World

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• The Settlement of Virginia
• London Company established first permanent
  English settlement in America at Jamestown in
  1607
• half the settlers died during first winter
  because of mismanagement, ignorance of
  environment, and scarcity of people skilled in
  manual labor and agriculture
• London Company encouraged useless pursuits such
  as searching for gold rather than building a
  settlement

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• settlement survived in part because Captain John
  Smith recognized the importance of building
  houses and raising food
• aid from Native Americans
• settlers realization that they must produce
  their own food and the introduction of tobacco as
  a cash crop saved the colony
• James I revoked the companys charter in 1624,
  and Virginia became a royal colony

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• Purifying the Church of England
• Under Elizabeth I, the Church of England became
  the official church
• Elizabeth Is middle way
• Catholics who could not reconcile themselves left
  the country
• others practiced their faith in private
• other sects of Protestantism formed

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• Puritans who objected to the rich vestments, the
  use of candles, and the use of music in services
  Puritans belief in predestination also set them
  apart from the Anglican church
• Some Puritans, later called Congregationalists,
  also favored autonomy for individual churches
• Others, called Presbyterians, favored an
  organization that emanated up from the churches
  rather than down from the top
• Puritan fears that James I leaned towards
  Catholicism further alienated them from the
  Anglican church

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• Bradford and Plymouth Colony
• English Separatists set sail from Plymouth,
  England, on the Mayflower to settle near the
  northern boundary of Virginia
• since they were outside jurisdiction of London
  Company, they drew up the Mayflower Compact
• a mutually agreed upon covenant that established
  a set of political rules
• they elected William Bradford their first governor

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• Winthrop and Massachusetts Bay Colony
• a group of Puritans formed the Massachusetts Bay
  Company
• obtained a grant to the area between the Charles
  and Merrimack rivers
• they founded Boston in 1630
• elected John Winthrop governor
• founders established an elected legislature
• voters and members of the legislature had to be
  members of the church
• Under Charles I, Puritans were persecuted in
  England, and the Great Migration of Puritans to
  Massachusetts Bay took place in the 1630s

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• Troublemakers
• Several groups dissented from the Massachusetts
  Bay colony
• Roger Williams opposed alliance of church and
  civil government and championed the fair
  treatment of Indians
• Banished from the colony, he founded the town of
  Providence and later established the colony of
  Rhode Island and Providence Plantation

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• Anne Hutchinson preached that those possessed of
  saving grace were exempt from rules of good
  behavior
• General Court charged Hutchinson with defaming
  the clergy, brought her to trial, and banished
  her
• Hutchinson and her followers left Massachusetts
  for Rhode Island in 1637

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• Other New England Colonies
• Congregations from Massachusetts settled in the
  Connecticut River valley
• a group headed by Reverend Thomas Hooker founded
  Hartford in 1836
• their instrument of government, the Fundamental
  Orders
• did not limit voting to church members

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• French and Dutch Settlements
• England was not alone in challenging Spain's
  dominance in the New World.
• French planted colonies in the West Indies and,
  through the explorations of Cartier and
  Champlain, laid claim to much of the Saint
  Lawrence River area
• Dutch also established themselves in the
  Caribbean and founded the colony of New
  Netherland in the Hudson Valley

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• Maryland and the Carolinas
• in 17th century, English colonization shifted to
  proprietary efforts
• proprietors hoped to obtain profit and political
  power
• Maryland was one of the first proprietary
  colonies
• established under a grant to the Calvert family
• Lord Baltimore hoped not only to profit but to
  create a refuge for Catholics

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• Catholics remained a minority in the colony, and
  Baltimore agreed to the Toleration Act
• guaranteed freedom of religion to all Christians
• in what is now known as the Carolinas,
  proprietors, with the help of John Locke, drafted
  a plan of government called Fundamental
  Constitutions
• two separate societies emerged in Carolina
• north was poorer and more primitive
• Charleston colony to the south developed an
  economy based on trade in fur and on the export
  of foodstuffs

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• The Middle Colonies
• British eventually ousted the Dutch from New
  Amsterdam, which became New York
• Quakers settled in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
  and there they drafted an extremely liberal
  constitution that guaranteed settlers freedom of
  conscience
• William Penn, proprietor of Pennsylvania, treated
  the Indians fairly and permitted freedom of
  worship to all who believed in God Penns ideas
  were more paternalistic than democratic

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• Indians and Europeans as Americanizers
• relationship between Native Americans and
  Europeans best characterized as interactive
• Indians taught colonists how to grow food, what
  to wear, and new forms of transportation
• Native Americans adopted European technology
  (especially weapons), clothing, and alcohol
• out of the interaction between cultures came
  something new and distinctively American