British And British Culture And Cultural Changes In The New World

Between 1492-1776, although many people moved to the “New World”, North America lost population due to the amount of Indians dying from war and diseases and the inability of colonists to replace them. John Murrin states, “losers far outnumbered winners” in “ a tragedy of such huge proportions that no one’s imagination can easily encompass it all.” This thought of a decreasing population broadens one’s perspective of history from that of an excluded American tale full of positivity to that of a more unbiased, all-encompassing analysis. The Indians and slaves have recently been noted as a more crucial part of history than previously accredited with.

Before the Spanish ship that changed it all, which arrived in the “New World” in 1492, there was a vast population of native people who had lived on this land for centuries prior. That ship, skippered by Christopher Columbus, raised arguably one of the most influential turning points in Native American and European history. It sparked the fire of cultural diffusion in the New World which profoundly impacted the Native American peoples and the European settlers.

Before the English ventured to Roanoke Europeans explored and settled the New World. The Spanish were the most successful in settling the New World. They conquered most of Central and South America. Their main objective was to convert all of the Indians to Christianity. “Spain’s claim to posses the Americas was based on discovery, conquest, and settlement, but even more important, it was founded on the sacred enterprise of extending the Catholic faith to (in Spanish eyes) “barbarous” native peoples” (Horn 12).

Although the Spanish and the British started colonizing the new world relatively at the same time their colonization efforts we’re extremely different but had some overlapping similarities. The differences include the two nations different reasoning to explore the New World, their relationship with the Natives, and it types of governments that they attempted to set up. Although some of these differences might not seem as if they are very important, they helped one nation do you better than the other one when it came to colonization efforts.

From the mid 1500’s to the 1700’s, people from all over Europe flocked to the vast lands of North America. Spain and England quickly became the most dominant European presences in the Americas. Citizens of the two countries had very different experiences in the New World. This was partially due to their different interactions with Native Americans, religions and their different motivations for coming to the New World. Although rivals at the time, Spain and England’s colonization efforts shared many similarities.

Although each country had their own motives for why they wanted to come explore the "New World", they shared some similar intentions. The Spanish wanted to bring Christianity to American for the non believers, and to attain the fortunes that American obtained. They sent their army of soldiers known as the conquistadores. The conquistadores focus was mainly to find gold and slaves; they did not pay much attention to creating permanent settlement. As they became more ambitious for gold, there was nothing but pure disaster by the conquistadores. They burned villages, apprehended women to be their servants. Since the Spanish was causing such chaos, it alerted the Spanish King back in Spain. He made Bartolome de Las Casas, who was a Dominican Priest; head of a newly office to protect the Indians in 1516. Though the idea was noble, it did not last long. Throughout 1500 and 1650 the Spanish acquired tons of gold and silver. They shipped about 181 tons of gold and 16,000 tons of silver to Spain from the New World; back then this made them the richest state in Europe.

During the 15th through 17th centuries, advancements in technology and the desire for new resources spurred the exploration of the New World for both Spain and England. Spain's interest in exploration soon surpassed the rest of the countries in the Old World and the nation began to claim the majority of territory in Central and South America. Spain sent conquistadores to assert their dominance in the New World through violent conquest which resulted in difficult relations with native populations. Although the English did not settle in North America until the early 17th century, well past the period of the Spanish conquest, their methods of colonization were more successful in the long term. The English were able to find economic success

Native Americans lived on the North American continent centuries before the arrival of Europeans. These native groups developed and preserved cultural traditions. Many European explorers traveled to the New World around the 1500s in search for God, gold, and glory. This brought them into contact with the Native Americans, and led to a complete change in their lifestyle. Europeans brought the Natives diseases, forced them to relocate, and altered their cultures. All in all, the Europeans left a devastating impact on the Native Americans.

Spanish and English had similar motivations for exploration of the New World, such as gaining land, goods from the natives, and gold. However, their motivations also differ greatly. The Spanish conquistadors also gained slaves from the native people, as well as spreading the word of Christianity. The English settlers came to the New World to get away from the religious oppression in England and to practice religion freely, and to grow tobacco to send back to England. The Spanish gained much more land quickly because, upon landing in places like the Caribbean and Brazil, because of their conquering and enslaving of the natives. The English came to the New World much less prepared,

The readings, films, and lectures from this unit all teach the same time period of history in their own distinct way. In Ronald Takaki’s book, A Different Mirror, the main focus of the first section of the book is hegemonic power. This term was relatable to a past popular culture class that I had taken where hegemonic power was discussed thoroughly. The first chapter 1 involves the author explaining how the educational system in America doesn’t properly integrate the various cultures that populate the country. It continues to explain in chapter 2 how the Europeans migrated to the land where Native Americans were living and gradually began to take it over. Also in that

Closely followed by Columbus’ “discovery” of the New World in 1492 were the establishments of European colonies with the French primarily in the north and down the Mississippi, and with the British along the east coast. As a result, the Native Americans’ lives changed drastically. Before 1750, in terms of economically, French responded mutually in terms of economy, culturally befriended them and in terms of religion, responded benignly by encouraging Catholicism through missionaries and on were on the best terms with the Natives; the British by contrast, economically

The years of 1200-1750 were times of massive change in Western Europe and much of the world. However, one of the most important turning points of the time period occurred when advances in seafaring technology led the Americas to be discovered and trans-regional trade to intensify and expand across the globe. This intensification of trade led to the beginnings of the African slave trade and the destruction of the indigenous peoples of South and Central America, which changed the course of history. Despite all of this change, however, trade still remained a profound source of cultural diffusion, and the influence and power of China on world trade and politics did not waver. This essay will be outlining the specific ways in which the world changed and stayed the same during the age of exploration, with

The English colonists initially believed that they would discover fertile and mineral rich lands, similar to the Inca empire; however, instead, they found disease, starvation, and native populations who were sparse, thus, colonists had to largely create communities on their own, however, when they had relations with Indians, they exploited them for their game and corn.

The origin of the term “British” can be traced back to the 5th century, arriving from the word “Brythonic”, or “old Brittonic”, which was an ancient Celtic Language spoken in modern day Britain. Today the word has transcended into a much broader term, used to refer to characteristics of Britain or any of its natives, citizens, or inhabitants of the United Kingdom, or language as spoken or written in Britain.

Having been born in America, the American culture differs slightly from the British culture particularly due to the influence the British exerted on North Americans during the colonial period. Further, most of the Americans are immigrants from other countries, with most of the people coming from the United Kingdom and Ireland. The eminent cultural differences between the two cultures is that the behavior of people in the British culture are laid back while their American counterparts are more hectic and appear to be in a hurry. The British do not like to engage in conversations with strangers and tend to stick to their close friends while Americans are social to strangers in public places.