Exploration and Colonization of the New World

Important Ideas to Understand ● Discovery of New World ● Exploration Era: mainly Spain, France, and Great Britain ○ Spain: Latin America, South America regions ■ Purpose: gold and silver mining ■ Mainly solo males traveled due to the mining purposes ○ France: West of what would later become the U.S. region ■ Purpose: fur trade, alliance with Natives ■ Mainly solo males traveled ○ Great Britain: East side of what would later be U.S. territory ■ Purpose: agricultural colonies ■ Whole families migrated over ● Social/Cultural Effects ○ Social Structure ■ Fluid in Spain and France due to intermarriage → solo males! ● Creoles, mulattoes, etc. ■ Rigid in Great Britain: families migrated over, so rare intermarrige to indigenous people ■ Native Americans and African Americans quickly placed at the bottom 2 ○ Cultural Blending: ■ Natives: voodoo religion (their religion mixed with Christianity), mixed languages ○ Conflicts with Natives ■ Result of land encroachment ● Separate Colonies ○ Different economies → Different life norms North (New England Colonies, Bread- South (Chesapeake Region, Southern Basket Colonies) Colonies) ● Farms grew grain crops ● Farms grew tobacco, indigo, rice ○ Not as labor intensive ○ Labor intensive crops ○ Did not need slaves to farm ○ Used slaves ● Close-knit towns due to smaller farms ● Large farms with aristocratic societies ○ Isolated farms → people not as close-knit ***Note: These differences pave the way for the conflict and tensions in Period 5!! 3 Notable Events ***These are often asked about in DBQs; know their cause and effects! ● New World Discovery ○ Columbian Exchange: transfer of animals, plants, slaves across Atlantic region ● Jamestown: first English settlement in Americas ○ Purpose: gold ○ Starvation: rich, spoiled solo males migrated to mine gold, no women to fulfill domestic tasks ○ Captain John Smith: fostered relations with Natives ■ Natives taught them how to plant crops, saved them from starvation ● Plymouth: Settlement started by Puritans ○ Puritans: believed in Calvinist predestination; wanted to purify the Anglican church ○ Massachusetts Bay Colony ○ Religion and state tied together ■ Leaders of Puritan communities were often religiously devoted; laws governing their communities were religion-based ● Bacon’s Rebellion (1676): named after its leader, Nathaniel Bacon ○ Rebellion due to large amount of unsatisfied, newly freed indentured servants (see Important Terms below) ○ The colonies were limited to a certain amount of land east of the Mississippi River. Indentured servants were allowed to find their own land and farm, once they were freed from their masters. Soon enough, there wasn’t enough land to go around, and indentured servants were left with no land and starving. ○ Result: indentured servants were no longer trusted as a good source of labor ● Stono Rebellion (1739): led by escaped slaves ○ Slaves rose up and killed their masters, tried to escape to Spain’s Florida territory but were caught and executed ○ Result: tightened and stricter slave codes ● First Great Awakening: ○ Inspired by Europe’s Enlightenment 4 ○ Burst of protestant denominations ○ Negative sentiment towards “elect clergy” ■ Especially in Puritan communties when citizens were unhappy with corrupt political religious leaders ○ Big Idea: All people, no matter their status, can be saved ■ Contrasted the Puritan ideology of Calvinist predestination (in which God decides who will be saved before any person is born, so those at the top of the social structure go to heaven because of who they are. Those at the bottom will not be saved no matter what they do throughout their life because they are predestined to be condemned by God) ● Native Americans: constant conflict due to land encroachment, broken treaties ● Expansion of Slavery: cause/effect chart → Cause Bacon’s Rebellion Effect ● Farmers need a new form of labor that they can trust ● Indentured servants often avoided jobs in the South, going to Northern areas ● Southern tobacco farming started investing in slaves more often ● Slaves brought Westward and Southern farmers expanded their land Stono Rebellion ● Further strengthened restrictions on the lives of free and enslaved African Americans, enforcing the idea of their sub-human existence Birth of Chattel Slavery ● Much cheaper than slave trade/purchase; became much more popular ● See Important Terms