The New World : A Competitive Drive By European Countries

European settlers first came to the New World for multiple reasons. It started with Christopher Columbus wanting to find a shorter and quicker route to the East. Failing to do so, he made the New World’s existence known to the Old World. It wasn’t just the Europeans who decided to come to the New World. The Spanish government was informed of the New World

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, New Spain and New France came to the New world for two different reasons. New France came to the new world in search of a new west passage and Spain came in search of gold and religious freedom. They both wanted to spread their religious beliefs through missionaries. The Spanish were the first to establish large settlements. The Spanish had over 200 cities by 1570. The French didn’t start colonizing until 1604. The first French colony was Acadia and Quebec which came years later in 1608. The Spanish had a huge head start on colonization over New France but they both thrived in their own ways by using Natural Resources and slaves.

In the 17th century England and Spain were both in a race to settle the New World. After Christopher Columbus had reached this New World Spain almost immediately sent people over to explore and colonize. After the Treaty of Tordesillas secured their land, Spain’s empire quickly expanded across The Americas. England had a bit of a late start when it came to colonization. Even though their first few attempts such as Jamestown, and Roanoke were not very successful England kept at it. Eventually, England and Spain became the two most powerful nations in the Americas. Even though both nations had the same goal, their political, religious, and economic development were very different.

During the exploration of the New World Portugal, France, and Spain had one thing in common to search for new resources such as sugar, spices, and gold. The European arrival in the Americas set a new era off known as the Columbian Exchange which changed the America’s forever. Native Americans introduced the Europeans to several new crops such as corn, squash, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes. Portugal set off for a search for sea route to Asia, while in competition with Spain who was also seeking an active root to Asia as well. The French exploration occurred later after the “New World” was found, and their target was to find a Northwest Passage where they hoped for a route through North America to the pacific.

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

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,

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 colonization of the New World was a trying time for the European powers trying to catch up the Spanish, such as the British. Sometimes colonies were successful, and sometimes they didn’t last long at all. There were not only the differences in terms of failing or succeeding, but differences in terms of how the successful colonies succeeded. Two of the most successful colonies were established and developed in totally different ways. The difference in the successful development of the colonies in the Chesapeake region was totally different than the successful development of the colonies in the New England region, and was caused by different populations, climate, geography, and motivations.

Following Columbus's discovery of America, colonial expansion drove European powers to gain colonial territories. As conquest continued among countries for the New World, the Spanish Armada was defeated by England in 1588. This event propelled the English to rapidly settle and establish colonies in the Americas. Settlements developed in New England and Chesapeake Bay. America was a source of raw materials and commodities providing a market for finished products. By the early 1700s, events in Europe caused mass migrations to the Americas. Religious groups evading persecution and scrutiny, and business adventurers seeking profits providing markets for finished products, caused the transfer

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.

Mission San Juan had its origins in East Texas in 1716 as San José de los Nazonis, but was permanently relocated in 1731 on the banks of the San Antonio River. San Juan had fertile farmland and pasturelands, and by mid-1700s, the mission was an active supplier of agricultural produce, such as peaches, melons, pumpkins, grapes, peppers, and corn. It also supplied products such as wood, cloth, and leather goods that the mission’s Indian produced.

Due to this fertile ground, Port Royal became desirable to the growing British empire. Despite the failing fort, the British settlers became interested in Port Royal and realized the potential of the marshland. “Farming was the main, but not only, occupation of the Acadians.” These people successfully grew a diverse diet including root vegetables, grains, fruit, and other vegetables, as well as raising pigs, cattle, and sheep. This aided in flourishment of the Acadian people but also turned the settlement into a potential conquest for the English Colonies.

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

In 1518, when Juan de Grijalva arrive with the first Spanish expedition, some areas of the island where deserted and unspoilt, because the mayas that were living there, considered some places sacred, and they cannot walk near them, because of their ideas, they think the goods will punish them.

When the Spanish realized that the climate of Aruba was too arid for cultivation and there was little evidence of the gold they were seeking, they essentially abandoned it to the native Caiquetios for approximately 150 years, and devoted their attention to their more lucrative possessions. Some natives were brought to Spain’s other islands, such as Hispaniola, to work as slaves, while others were converted to Christianity. Before long, however, the island became a concealed hide-away for pirates and buccaneers who preyed on ships transporting New World goods back to Europe. At Bushiribana on the northeast coast, the ruins of an old pirate castle remain today.