European Expansion In The New World

Christopher Columbus and Samuel De Champlain as early explorers and colonizers to the New World have specific agendas for the lands. Columbus was the first to travel to the New World and when he was there he wrote about his plan for the lands and its people. Columbus begins by colonizing these new lands through force and coercion of the Native American people. This leads to the first European design Columbus intends to enact and it is the conversion of the Native people to Christianity.

The early voyages by the Portuguese and Spanish were motivated by gold, trade and the spread of the Catholic faith through religious conversion. The voyages of a few adventurers show that the Spanish and Portuguese goals were to spread Catholicism, expand trade, and expand the kingdom of the Spanish and the Portuguese to the new lands they’ve discovered. These adventures were Christopher Columbus who attempted to find a new route to Asia to extend Spain’s trade and to colonize, Bartholomew Columbus and his successful founding of Santo Domingo, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and his

Portuguese explorers fled to Western India looking for new goods. Later on, Christopher Columbus was ordered to convert people to the Christian religion on and expedtion. On this expedition, he explored new things. He brought back new ideas and rulers throughout Europe began to fund voyages. The goals of the Spanish Monarchs had changed becasue of his voyage. Not only did he convert people to the churches religion, but he gained and found new land and discovered many things. The Columbian

Throughout the course of history there have been numerous accounts regarding Native American and European interaction. From first contact to Indian removal, the interaction was somewhat of a roller coaster ride, leading from times of peace to mini wars and rebellions staged by the Native American tribes. The first part of this essay will briefly discuss the pre-Columbian Indian civilizations in North America and provide simple awareness of their cultures, while the second part of this essay will explore all major Native American contact leading up to, and through, the American Revolution while emphasizing the impact of Spanish, French, and English explorers and colonies on Native American culture and vice versa. The third, and final, part of this essay will explore Native American interaction after the American Revolution with emphasis on westward expansion and the Jacksonian Era leading into Indian removal. Furthermore, this essay will attempt to provide insight into aspects of Native American/European interaction that are often ignored such as: gender relations between European men and Native American women, slavery and captivity of native peoples, trade between Native Americans and European colonists, and the effects of religion on Native American tribes.

The tribal peoples now referred to as Native Americans are a community that was brought to the brink of destruction by the combination of treatments by the Europeans who colonized what is now called the United States of America. England and France are countries that engaged in wars in North America. Both countries are important to the history of America. They differed in their objectives in America and they differed in their treatment of the Native Americans. The objectives of each respective country as well as the social, political, economic, and cultural tensions of the time served as a backdrop and a contributing factor to the variations in the relationships with the Native Americans as well as in the treatment of the people.

After 1492 with the Protestant Reformation, improved navigation techniques, the discoveries of Christopher Columbus, European exploration of the “New World” began in earnest. However, the ways in which they interacted with the Native Americans differed drastically. Some were respectful of the Native American culture, and tried to work with the natives, other tried to conform the natives to their own beliefs.

When the Europeans first came to the America, they assumed that they would be welcomed and be looked up to because of the gifts and trade they brought over. However, they couldn’t be farther from the truth, as the Natives feared their foreign weaponry, technology, and animals. Both groups, although in different circumstances, had misconceptions of each other that altered the views the Europeans and the Natives had of each other.

Europeans lived a much more modern way of life than the primitive lifestyle of Native Americans. Europeans referred to themselves as “civilized” and regarded Native Americans as “savage,” “heathen,” or “barbarian.” Their interaction provoked by multiple differences led to misunderstanding and sometimes conflict. These two cultures, having been isolated from one another, exhibited an extensive variation in their ideals. Europeans and Native Americans maintained contradictory social, economic, and spiritual practices.

armada defeated a combined fleet of Turkish and Indian ships and began to impose a blockade on the entrance to the Red Sea to cut off the flow of spices to Egypt and the Ottoman Empire

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

Unfortunately, for Native Americans their experience since initial contact with White Europeans has been a constant struggle. The very existence of Native American’s culture, religion, language, and land, and their form of political organizations have been threatened since the White Europeans began colonization in the regions indigenous to the Native Americans. Evidently, the White European’s misunderstanding of the American Indian has been a motivating factor in the poor treatment administered towards them. Not to mention, the various tribes had warfare amongst themselves, which perhaps gave the Europeans a reason to believe they were violent people and ignore any feeling of guilt for partaking in warfare with them as well. Upon arrival,

The European conquest for establishing North American colonies began with various motivations, each dependent on different, and/or merging necessities: economics, the desire to flee negative societal aspects, and the search for religious freedoms. Originally discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 in search for a trade route to Cathay (China), North America remained uninhabited, excluding the Native American establishments. Following this discovery, Spain –along with other European nations such as France, England, Sweden and the Netherlands– soon began the expedition to the new land with vast expectations. Driven by economic, societal, and religious purposes, the New World developed into a diversely structured colonial establishment

Impacts of European expansion reached across the world and affected more than the expanding European powers and their colonies in the new world. Life in the world changed when these two cultures that were directly opposite of one another collided. Europe was filled with greed for resources and wealth, the Indigenous people living on these resources were living a simple sustainable life with next to no government or regulation. Once the new world was set up Europeans who ran these new territories called colonists today developed their own society and way of living and would end up revolting against the homeland.

Power can drive people to do crazy, messed-up things; that’s what happens in the famous play Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Macbeth starts off as a respected soldier fighting for the King of Scotland. Three sketchy witches promptly tell him that he will become the next ruler. Macbeth’s wife, Lady Macbeth, is the most power-hungry, manipulative lady ever. As soon as she catches wind of the prophecy.

As early as the fifteenth century, Europeans began to become eager to discover the New World that was unknown to them. With the concerns of rapid population growth, commerce, new learning, and the rise of competing for nation states, they set out for new adventures and discovery. For a long time, Spain and Portugal were the only European powers with New World colonies.