Spanish and English Exploration Essay

Motivation for coming to the New World greatly influenced Spanish and British colonization. The Spanish are said to have had three distinct reasons; God, glory and gold. God meaning the conversion of natives, glory meaning the claiming of new land for the Spanish empire and gold meaning the desire to find gold to bring wealth back to Spain. The British colony of Jamestown shared the desire to find gold. Unlike the Spaniards, the British didn’t plan on permanently settling in America. However, these plans changed and Jamestown became a settlement.

During the period of Colonialism, the English settlers arrived in America from Europe looking for religious freedom, land and the opportunity for wealth. While the Spanish Settlers arrived at Hispaniola unexpectedly, like the English; however, the Spanish did not leave Europe because of religion persecution; rather, they wanted to expand their religious belief to the New Word. While in both the English and the Spanish colonization, the Indigenous people were oppressed and enslaved but the English took a different approach. Thereby, although both the English and the European colonized in order to obtain gold and silver to help their countries wealth, the Spanish explorers took a more forceful method of gaining land.

There were many reasons the New World was the most wanted to explore. The Spanish, French, and English came about the New World the same way but for different reasons. The Spanish came in search for God, Gold, and Glory. The French, for money and religious conversions of Native Americans; and the English, to find religious freedom. Each of these empires expected to come and establish a powerful empire in the New World but came across difficulties along the way, their values dictating how they run their colonies.

The Indians knew how to live off the land and were expert hunters and gatherers their main food they grew was corn and traded with the colonist by giving them corn and gathering up food for them. Back in England people who were wealthy had no clue how to survive on the plains and take care of a farm and plow fields and hunt for meat. Since they came from the city of England the Englishmen were people who did not know that kind of life. They were wealthy Englishmen; most of these men were lazy and didn’t know what manual labor was. In addition, there were Englishmen of trade who were carpenters, blacksmiths, shoemakers who settled down in Jamestown. It was known that one of the main reasons why the Englishmen settled in Jamestown in hope to find gold, rubies, pearls, and silver and to be able to sell it in England for a profit. Devastation struck instead, within a few months less than hundred died. These deaths were excruciating deaths, and the horror of deaths continued from 1607 to 1610. Some men would find themselves going out of their mind, while others had a blistering burning fever, and some men’s skin would just peel off like peeling off a boiled potato and sudden deaths rapidly appeared, some licked up the blood from their falling comrades as some swelled up so fast less than a hundred from five hundred survived. Many of the colonists were very weak and could not do hardly anything. Some figured the cause of the deaths was from

With Francis West taking the only grain the colony had and the corn he had taken from the Patawomeke he left Jamestown with very little food, knowing most of the people wouldn’t make it without the food he had

According to Document A, a section from ‘Jamestown’s Environment’ it states, “...Fish are present in local streams, but only in the spring and early summer are there in impressive abundance…” This proves that in the winter and most of fall the fish, one of the only sources of protein, aren’t around. Other animals, such as the bear, hibernate therefore, food is scarce. Also, they didn’t have many options for clothing because colonists made their clothes themselves and the colonists most likely weren’t prepared for the winter. According to Document B, a fragment from ‘The Virginia Adventure’ it says, “... No one doubted that this new supply of grain would help, but it would not be enough to last the winter.” The colonists had to prepare a lot for winter in order to stock up enough food to last winter. Instead of growing the grains themselves though, they forced the Patawomeke to trade with them by cutting of two of the tribe members’ heads. Therefore, they ran out of food and the Patawomeke probably attacked them, due to their cruel

Colonies in the “new world” continent of America differed in many ways. some of which were the Southwest Spanish settlements and the English colonies in North America. They both came with different motives and differed politically, economically and religiously. One of the main differences was that the English colonies aimed to create long-term settlements while the Spanish settlements aimed to gather material wealth and spread Catholicism. During the 17th century, the Southwest Spanish settlements and the English colonies in North America were close geographically, but the way they ruled their colonies was completely different in terms of politics, religion, and economic development.

As John Smith and the settlers had begun to create their colony, the Indians had other ideas, as they were hiding amongst the bushes and trees. They found their chance of ambush, set fire to their tents, and killed two of the English men. However, they didn’t stop from there. During mid June, at least three more had died in the ambushes (Document E). This contributed to deaths in Jamestown because, the Indians could not find it easy to live alongside with strangers on the Island, thus, lead to misunderstandings and blood. In 1609, a man named Francis West and several men sailed up the Chesapeake Bay to trad corn with the Indians. However, their trades became harsh if the Indians had not agreed to give anything. For example, Francis had two Indian heads cut off, because they wouldn’t take the grain he was trading with them (Document D). What’s important to realize about this was the fact that the english men had killed two Natives, and this alone could trigger any kind of mistrust and suspense. This was most likely one of the reasons why many colonist had died, because they depended on the Indians for food and trade. So when the Indians had stopped trading with them, it left the colonist to starve for the winter. Also known as the starving time, when man decided to eat each other for food. On November 1610, Powhatan, the leader of the nearby Indian tribe seized Jamestown and killed a

The Virginians of 1619 were desperate for labor, to grow enough food to stay alive. Among them were survivors from the winter of 1609-1610, the "starving time," when, crazed for want of food, they roamed the woods for nuts and berries, dug up graves to eat the corpses, and died in batches until five hundred colonists were reduced to sixty.

In 1607 more than 100 men set out to start a new colony for their king. Young men excited for a new future and new adventure in a new land. What was waiting for them though was not the future they had hoped for. They arrived in a land with unpredictable weather, inhabited by unwelcoming tribes, and they had no idea how to survive the unsettled land. The Jamestown colonists died due to the environment, indian attacks and their lack of experience.

On May 14, 1607 a New World was discovered by English settlers, they claimed a land known as James Fort then later changed it to Jamestown (Lewis, 2009). Little did the English settlers know, was that they had claimed a land that had already belonged to the natives, unaware that it was a horrible time to start colonizing. This was known as the “starving time” because a little ice age was in the making and many men were going to die since they did not come prepared. English settlers came to the new world with intentions of new land and trading. Somehow, “the Powhatan’s were forced to move in a land away from the fertile river valleys that had long been their

He was very interested on exploring and getting rewarded for doing so. He sailed to Tumbes and took his 180 armed men to the Incan town of Cajamarca up in the Andes Mountains. Pizarro met with the emperor, Atahuallpa, who had just won one of the largest battles in Incan history, and was feeling unstoppable. Pizarro invited the emperor to a feast of honor and the emperor came. On the day of the feast, the emperor arrived with around 1,000 unarmed men. Pizarro sent a priest up to Atahuallpa to change his ways to Christianity, but the emperor refused, resulting in an immediate ambush from Pizarro and his armed men. The Incan soldiers could not fight back due to the surprise attack and lack of artillery, and were slaughtered, but the emperor was captured and brought with Pizarro. The emperor offered to give Pizarro his treasure and Pizarro accepted, but still brought him to be killed because of his past intentions and murders. Atahuallpa was sentenced to death by the Spanish tribunal and died from iron collar. Spain profited from these voyages because they could expand their country and be given treasure, making their country higher than

Cortés came not to the New World to conquer by force, but by manipulation. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, in the "Conquest of New Spain," describes how Cortés and his soldiers manipulated the Aztec people and their king Montezuma from the time they traveled from Iztapalaopa to the time when Montezuma took Cortés to the top of the great Cue and showed him the whole of Mexico and its countryside, and the three causeways which led into Mexico. Castillo's purpose for recording the mission was to keep an account of the wealth of Montezuma and Mexico, the traditions, and the economic potential that could benefit Cortés' upcoming conquest. However, through these recordings, we are able to see and understand Cortés'

Spain and North America Colonies: The Founding of a “New” Mexico: Onate an English settler made a decision to move to Rio Grande, believed it would’ve been better for him. But to his surprise it wasn’t what he taught it would’ve been. In 1606, the Royal Authority imprisoned Onate on charges of ill-treating and mismanaging the natives of Pueblo. The Growth of Spanish Florida: Franciscan was on the second Voyage of Christopher Columbus. He was sent to Florida to convert the native Indians follow the Catholic teachings. English Society on the Chesapeake: They Created mercantilism to have a balance of trade with each nation. The Virginia Company: The Virginia Company was started to sell shares to English investors and also for individuals

He accomplished this by ambushing and capturing the Inca ruler Atahualpa. Pizarro invited Atahualpa to a "peaceful gathering", but when Atahualpa arrived, he was captured, imprisoned and ransomed. Atahualpa's ransom was paid by the Inca empire with what would be equivalent to 50 million dollars worth of gold today, or, better stated by Pizarro, as "enough gold to fill a room". Unfortunately, this ransom was paid to no avail; in 1533 the Spaniards strangled and beheaded Atahualpa. The Spaniards extended their control over Inca territory in the following years. In 1572 they overwhelmed the last of the Inca forces and captured the last emperor, Túpac Amaru. In beheading him, they ended the Inca dynasty.