The New World By Christopher Columbus

Europeans came to America out of a desire for gold, God, and glory. Many notable explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Hernando Cortez traveled to the New World and encountered native populations. Columbus tried to convert

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

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).

Have you ever wondered where why the many different countries in Europe came to America to explore and colonize? There were two main concepts that drew the Europeans to America: the excitement and profit of the "New World", and the past histories of their countries. The English, French, and Spanish each came to the Americas in search of a new beginning; a fresh start in which they could escape past torment and capture new wealth. However, each motive defined the character of each settlement.

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.

At first France had no intention to get anything from the New World; they paid little to it. They began acquiring interest when Cortes exploits were in Mexico. King Francis I wanted also his own empire in the New World, so that France could gain more kingdom than the Spanish. Another motive the French has was to find a water passaged route that connected the new world to Asia, known as the Northwest

Slavery, like Portugal, was crucial for Spain. Unlike Portugal Spain used Native Americans as their slaves. (Mainly because of geography) Spain also believed in Encomienda. Which is basically there way of “giving back” to Native Americans, they would teach Native Americans their religious views and in return Native Americans would be forced to work to death. So it would appear that converting people (slaves) to Catholicism was an important reason why they went to the “new world”. Needless to say relations between Spain and the Native Americans spoiled just like the relationship between Portugal and Africans did. A lot of Native Americans believed that Spain gave them nothing. Most if not all of Spain’s economy was based on mining silver and gold and sugar plantations. At the time of this colonization and for the next 200 years Spain is extremely rich.

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,

Until the late 1400's, Europeans did not know the existence of the two American continents ( North and South America ). To the European explorers, exploring the other side of the Atlantic was like exploring an entire different world, hence the name- the New World. In 1492, Christopher Columbus unknowingly discovered the new continent. His original motives for exploring was to find an easier route to Asia but instead, he discovered the New World. Thus; Spain, France and England began sending out conquistadors and explorers to the uncharted terrains of the new continent. Motives for the Spanish, French, and English explorers varied greatly, however, they were similar in some ways. The motives of the Spanish explorers were acquisition of

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.

One motive for the Europeans to take the American territory was to gain an economic strength through the use of colonization. When the Europeans first stumbled upon the Americas, they saw thousands of miles of pure, fertile land. Mentioned in Christopher Columbus’s letter to Luis de Sant Angel, the many sea ports along the East Coast of Northern America made it easy to infiltrate. Along with the discovery of items such as corn and tobacco, which were easily tradable and could grow on either continent. When the Europeans came to the New World, they did one of two things; used the land and forced trade, or destroyed it.

European expansion into the New World brought a lot of changes, motivated by boosting trade and economy, some countries failed to see the harm done in accomplishing it. It was the colliding of two worlds that were not ready to meet that suddenly and abruptly. Without the brave explorers and colonists however, America may have not been discovered, or noticed for many years. The New World gave the Old World something and vice versa it is obvious today one needs the other to survive and that is what we all strive

The Spanish immigrants arrived to the Americas and established their colonies in the islands of Caribbean. The Spanish established their settlements in warm, or tropical areas such as Mexico and Southwest America. During their time of settlement, there was three distinct periods: Age of discovery and exploration, Age of conquest, and the Spanish laws-the Ordinances of Discovery. The Spanish began their settlement in the early sixteenth century; their reason to settle in the Americas was to gain wealth. According to American History Volume 1: To 1865, Alan Brinkley states, “ Spanish America yielded more than ten times as much gold and silver as the rest of the world’s mines put together” ( Brinkley 15). Soon enough, Spanish immigrants changed the landscape and social systems in America. By doing so, the immigrants spread Catholicism faith. The reasons for the settlement of Spanish immigrants was to gain wealth, adapt to the landscape to their needs of survival, and spread the Catholic faith.

Spain and Portugal were the first European countries to start the exploration and colonization of new lands across the Atlantic Ocean, and although Portugal led the way from a chronologic standpoint, Spain outpaced Portugal in its conquests. The Spanish were motivated by power-competition with Portugal and religious dominance in expanding Catholicism. After Portugal and Spain’s pioneering steps, England, Netherlands, and France initiated their conquering advances onto the New World. The British’s conquests and colonization of American lands were motivated by financial profit, pursuit of religious freedom, and power-competition with Spain.

Historians often question why Europe had such an advantage over the three existing worlds during the 16th and 17th century. Europe managed to take over the New World—even though they were greatly out-numbered by the native people—due to the fact that Europeans were at both a material and cultural advantage. Europeans took command over the New World because their technology was superior to that of the Native people, they were more organized politically speaking, and they had a capitalist attitude toward the New World.