12th Century American Exploration

In late 12th century, Europeans were not satisfied the territory and treasury from their homeland, so they were looking for “the New World” which can set more colonies around world. Desiring the goodness of sailing, more and more voyagers explore the ocean. European colonies have four main motivations for “the New Word”, which are gaining treasury or slaves, expanding the territory, developing the trade, and missionizing the religion. To achieve their goal, some countries like Spain, French, Dutch, and English send voyages to “ the New World”.

Spain was the first country landed in “the New Word”. As the competitions between European countries are more and more fiercely, every nation wanted to be the first country which can sail to india because

of the land blockage of Turkey.

So does Spain. At that time, some people reached the theory of spherical earth, Spanish want to prove that theory in order to find the way to Asia and India. Also, after discovering Marco Polo’s traveling book, the emperor of Spain desired the treasury and send people to explore the ocean. Christopher Columbus, born in Genoa at 1451, is the first European who reached “the New Word” (Goldfield, page 15). In 1492, to explore a new seaway to Asia and India, Columbus and his sailors started their travel from Palos (Goldfield, page 15). After three month’s journey on the sea, on october 12th, they accidentally arrived at America, but he still believed he arrived India (Goldfield, page 15). Spain would become richer by having trade with Asian and spreading Christian if Columbus found Asian (Goldfield, page 16-17). The ruler of Spain found new ways to control the land that had just been conquered (Goldfield, page 18). The aim of conquistadors were acquire treasury and slaves, so they assaulted some villages and killed the citizens (Goldfield, page 18). The Spain had more advanced technology and weapons at 1521, and Spanish

ships had transferred lots of treasure from their colonies over the century (Goldfield, page 19). Sometimes, Spaniards also bought slaves to help local industry (Goldfield, page 19). To get gold, Spain planned to attack North America, but many people died because of the attack of Apalachee Indians in 1528 (Goldfield, page 19). In 1539, Spaniards destroyed the home of people and captured women near Mississippi River (Goldfield, page 19). Because the Spain fail to acquire treasure, they mainly explore labor resources like slave (Goldfield, page 20).
At the beginning, French wanted to spread the Christian to New World which was discovered by Spain in order to enlarge their territory (Goldfield, page 31).

In 1520s, King Francis I was thinking about enhance the new Empire and stop the extension of Spain (Goldfield, page 24). French fishermen want to trade European goods like furs with Indians, which made furs as the major source of income (Goldfield, page 31). This is also the motivation that the French seek and set their colony of New France (Goldfield, page 31). Many Indian people would like to trade and ally with France, two of whom are Montagnais and Hurons (Goldfield, page 32). After 1663, numerous indentured servants went to France to work, which increased the labor force of France (Goldfield, page 33). In some aspect, the expansion of France alarmed the English due to the development of France (Goldfield, page

33).
Dutch, also called Holland, was separated from Spain in 1581, and the intention of seeking colonies was the desire of benefits (Goldfield, page 34). Before 17th century, as the manufacturing was so developed, Dutch became the financial center of Europe (Goldfield, page 34). By monopolizing the trade of North America and Africa, the East India Company, founded in 1621, created the deal of slave (Goldfield, page 34).
English want to expand the empire and gain treasure from colonization. English explored the colony earlier than France, but colonies of English was not as strong as France (Goldfield, page 24). After 1558, by refreshing the state religion, Elizabeth stabilized the country and inspired people to colonize in the New World (Goldfield, page 24). The English colonization was aimed to get treasure, precede the politics than other country, and establish a “Protestant crusade against Catholic domination” (Goldfield, page 24). During 1576-1578, a retired soldier named Sir Humphrey Gilbert was interested in the idea of colonization and suggested Queen Elizabeth to expand the New Word (Goldfield, page 25). Gilbert thought the expanding of New World could not only enhance England’s trade but also solve the problem of employment and living places for English people (Goldfield, page 25). Also, in 1607 at Chesapeake Bay, Jamestown developed the tobacco trade in Virginia (Goldfield, page 35). The fact that people plant tobacco in Virginia makes English businessmen do not want to trade with Virginia, so English merchants decided to trade with America directly, which was a minor motivation of colonization (Goldfield, page 36).
In conclusion, the motivations of European colonization were gaining gold and labor force, increasing the territory and empire, growing the trade, and spreading the religion. Every country’s goal of colonization varies depend on the condition of country.