The Role Of European Colonization In The 17th And 18th Century

Duran, Diego. The History of the Indies of New Spain. 1581, trans. Doris Hayden. University of Oklahoma Press, 1994.

There is an extensive history empirical power, repeatedly and successfully controlling another state or group of people in order to exploit it economically. In Southeast Asia there were 5 colonial powers; the United Kingdom, France, Dutch, America, and Japan, their primary motives for establishing colonies in the region was to get control of trade routes, to get access to the natural resources and raw materials, and the cheap labor, as well as to establish naval and military bases so that they could amass influence in the region. Prior to World War II, a third of the world 's area was colonized by European colonial powers between the 15th and 19th centuries, and another third of the world 's population were in colonies, dependencies, protectorates, or dominions. In this essay, I will focus on the British and French colonization in Southeast Asia. The British-controlled Burma, most of the Malayan peninsula, and Singapore, which was a strategic port and later became a naval base for the British. Meanwhile, the French controlled the adjoining countries of Vietnamese, Cambodia, and Laos, collectively known as French Indochina. This period of colonization in Southeast Asia brought many changes to the regions society, politics, and the economy. For instance, both colonial powers introduced political changes such as introducing a centralized form of government and changes to the justice systems in many of the colonized countries. There were also social impacts resulting from the

1. The main contours of English Colonization in the 17th century were Protestant motives to strike Catholicism, along with solving England’s social crisis. With the rumors of the Spanish Empire’s atrocities reaching England, one motive to colonize the America’s was to strike the Catholics, and save the natives from captivity (Foner 51). This shows an interesting aspect of the English Colonization: the English allowed their people to go colonize just to strike the opposing religious country. Along with this, England sending emigrants over solved their social crisis. Because of England’s growing population and economy, the amount of peasants in cities grew. This is because of landlords using land for sheep, which kicked out peasants from their land (Foner 51-52). England hoped that some people of the lower classes would then go to America: to be out of the big cities where important people were, while still helping England in it’s economy.

"The Colonization of North America." In Modern History Sourcebook. April 1999- [cited 17 September 2002] Available from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall.mod/modsbook.html., http://curry.eduschool.virginia.edu.

The long history between Native American and Europeans are a strained and bloody one. For the time of Columbus’s subsequent visits to the new world, native culture has

As the English neglected mid-atlantic area the Dutch and Swedes were able to create their own colonies of New Netherland and New Sweden. As the crown made many royal charters to establish Proprietary colonies slowly England began to convert some of its colonies into royal colonies. This took a long time to recognize less profitable colonies such as New England which was very against becoming a royal colony. To try and impress the New English, England conquered New Netherland showing its intimidating power. Although small the New Netherland colony was very remarkable showing Dutch power. Netherlands the home of the Dutch was very big into policies of religious toleration and intellectual freedom. These ideas with the economic ambition of the Dutch turned the Netherlands into an economic giant.

In the book They Came Before Columbus written by Ivan Van Sertima, chapter twelve, “Mystery of Mu-lan-pi”, there is a reoccurring theme of disproving the notion that Columbus brought over many different things and products from his expeditions to American to the Eastern parts of the world when in reality there is factual evidence that Africans made contact with America far before Columbus did. The author of this book, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, has his undergraduates degree in African languages and literature from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Van Sertima also worked as a journalist in Great Britain and did broadcasted to the Caribbean and Africa. With and extensive knowledge and work experience in African American Studies it is clear why he chose to wrote this book. The idea that Columbus was the first to bring things like maize from America is widely believed to be true but Van Setima saw that this was false and published They Came Before Columbus to show the facts and evidence that Columbus was not the first person to accomplish this. After writing this book Van Sertima went on to complete a master’s degree in African Studies at Rutgers University and even became a professor of African Studies at the same university. In this essay I will be going deeper into the theme and its relationship to African American history and discussing three other articles that can be related back to chapter twelve of They Came Before Columbus.

-1A COMPARISON OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS ENCOUNTERED BY COULUMBUS ON THE ISLANDS OF THE CARIBBEAN WITH THE ENCOUNTERED BY CORTES IN THE MESO-AMERICA.

The combination of Mercantilist ideals and joint stock companies fueled intense Colonial competition between European nations, and these competitions decided who stayed in power. One specific nation that was constantly in competition with the English were the Dutch. They fought over similar colonies including those in North America and the Caribbean. In 1652, a Dutch letter wrote about all the money that the Dutch had put into securing an island in the Caribbean, but more importantly how there were “Great swelling words abound, so that the scene is altered and nothing thought of but domineering over England”. All the Dutch thought about were ways to beat England and become more profitable than they were. They know that the country with more

The founding of the New World fascinated many Europeans because of the possibilities of the economic, political, and social growth. Europeans packed their belongings and boarded the boat to new beginnings. Arriving in the Americas was not what they had expected. Already pre-occupied in the land, were the Native Americans. The Native Americans refused the Europeans colonization in the America’s, but not all colonies in the Europe just wanted to colonize with the Natives. The intentions of the Europeans colonies were all different, as the Dutch solely came for business transactions. The Dutch business transactions resulted in the change of economic, political, and social movements, changing the lives of the Native’s.

Author and professor of Africana studies, Ivan Van Sertima is known for shining a light on topics often discredited or brushed off in regards to the history of African Americans in the United States. In his book, They Came Before Columbus, Van Sertima outlines a theory about the presence and influence of black Africans during a pre-Columbian contact time period. A multitude of topics are addressed along the book, ideologies from ship traveling, trading, dynasties, and cultural identities. However, a specific theme that will be analyzed is Van Sertima’s discussion of ‘Plants and Transplants’ in a pre-Columbian America. Specifically, using Van Sertima’s outlined proposition on the history of this idea, as well as comparing with outside research

From 1607 to 1754, people’s views on governing themselves changed greatly. It began in 1607, with the settlement of Jamestown. They were a corporate colony, working for the Virginia Company, they were whole-heartedly British. The Great Awakening, the Enlightenment, and the Tradition of Neglect all introduced new ways for the American colonies to think of themselves as more independent. Although they still considered themselves part of the British Empire, by the end of this era they had discovered that they could make their own laws and constitutions that fit the way that their world worked as opposed to Great Britain.

A convoluted history between the Iberians and Indigenous people has raged on ever since Columbus discovered the Caribbean islands in 1492. When the Spaniards taught the natives how to write the Spanish language, the Indigenous people learned to represent themselves by writing letters to the King. Letters to the crown were superficially formulaic—its messages produced a tone of reverence at face value. However, the strategic techniques used by writers from both sides unveiled the letters’ exaggeration of reality and propagandistic essence. Cortes used quotes from significant people while appealing to tradition, whereas the natives were purposefully ambivalent and seeked out pity.

“Christopher Columbus discovered the ‘New World’ and Europeans conquered the native lands with little resistance due to their superior weaponry.” These stories have been at the heart of the American education system for as long as American history existed. But this type of Eurocentric view does not provide the entire narrative for the events that occurred during the colonial era in the Greater Caribbean. Between Britain’s esteemed navy, France’s leadership, and Spain’s army, who would’ve guessed that mosquitoes could’ve tipped the scale of power and changed history forever? J.R. Mcneill addresses the key significance of mosquitoes in the colonial Greater Caribbean by utilizing existing information and presenting them in the format of a

(a) Name two groups of Amerindians who lived in the Caribbean before the arrival of the Europeans in 1492.