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Immigration on territorial expansion in the 1800s
The consequences of the territorial expansion
Immigration on territorial expansion in the 1800s
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In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, European powers began sending explorers, merchants, missionaries, and brave settlers to America. The English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese all began to stake their territorial claims in the New World. Patricia Seed discusses how each European state used a distinct ceremony or ritual action to take possession of the territory. However, of all the European states, England was very unique in how it colonized its territory. Each European State had a distinct colonizing method that usually included some form of ritual, however, the English used a very distinct way of taking possession that voided rituals through their initial ideology on colonization and how they interacted with the native populace. …show more content…
The English contrasted distinctively from other European states due to their outlook on the New World.
They placed their major focus on the land, deterring from any ritualistic ownership. Rather, the English used clear acts of ownership, they had a preconceived notion of possession. Medieval English law gave permanent ownership of land to those who improved it with a house or crops. To the English, this constituted a perfectly transparent mode of possession of New World territories, England was marginal to Europe, they entered the colonization process nearly a century behind their chief rival Spain putting them behind the power curve. Hence, the English viewed possession as the highest form of ownership and this implies that a universal symbolism, centering on metaphors from English folklore greatly affected the English colonization process prior to any Englishman setting foot on American soil. In contrast, other European powers used symbols rather than physical ownership. The Spanish would read a declaration of ownership, the Spanish crown believed these statements extremely important for their official ownership of the territory, differing from the English since they mainly focused on settling land rather than making legal documentation in the form or decrees. It is evident that the English performed clear acts of ownership, this came from their preconceived ideas on the definition of possession, rather than manifesting symbolic rituals, they focused on …show more content…
agriculture and building settlements. The English needed to catch up to their rivals and this they did through their unique colonization process. The English also differed from other European states in regards to their interactions with natives.
The French, Spanish, and Portuguese all firmly believed in evangelizing the native population. The Conquistadores read the Requirement, a document which forced the natives to receive Spanish missionaries peacefully and convert to Christianity or be enslaved. In contrast, the English believed religion legitimized their claim to the land, they had no intentions to convert the native populace and did not see conversion as a title to the area. The English viewed the massive depopulation of natives as a divine intervention from God, a message that the land was meant for the Queen. The Spanish on the contrary viewed the depopulation as God’s dislike for the native’s way of life. France would contrast both Spain and England by including the Natives in many of their ritualistic ceremonies, their strategies of political alliance based on native consent were polar opposite to those of England’s. The Portuguese focused mainly on exploration and developing super accurate maps, not placing a focus on the native population at all. They believed that the essence of discovery gave them the rights to colonize and set up trading posts. Likewise, the Dutch had a similar mindsight, they developed detailed maps and chart and used the same finders keepers mentality of the Portuguese. Both the Dutch and Portuguese cared very little for the Natives and were more focused on discovery. It is evident
that England did have vastly different principles in dealing with the native population, they were focused on land rather than the natives. They had no intention of converting the natives, instead they focused on building houses, fences, and symmetrical farm plots. Each European State had a distinct colonizing method that usually included some form of ritual, however, the English used a very distinct way of taking possession that voided rituals through their initial ideology on colonization and how they interacted with the native populace. England was qualitatively different from other European powers. Their focus was on possession through construction, the English would build houses and farms to solidify ownership, a tradition that had deep roots in English law.
When the colonists set sail for the New World, they knew that they would not only have to find a way to survive in the wild new habitat, but would also have to deal with rival nations that were claiming their own share of the new land. There had been long rivalry between France, England, and the Dutch. They had read the stories of Columbus and his voyages, and heard rumors of the wild and strange native people who were considered primitive. The Spanish had two different experiences with the Indigenous
The Europeans came to the Americas with an imperialistic attitude. They wanted to take over the land and they thought their goods and beliefs were better than those of the Natives. Document 7 shows that the Mother Country sent over many goods of their own for trade from the colonies. The goods from the Mother Country overpowered and took the place of the Native’s goods.
It was the age of discovery that first provoked intrigue and curiosity of new lands, particularly the Americas, and how the Europeans could expand to fit their society within the borders of this unknown and unexplored land. By the 1580s, more had been learned about the Americas, but any colonization until this point had not even been attempted. And so it was the English, under Queen Elizabeth I's rule, that were issued to establish a colony along the east coast of North America. However, when this great accomplishment was finally made in 1587, it was not long founded until its ultimate fate ended in the disappearance of the colony three years later, instantly creating one of the greatest American mysteries that will ever be.
The Europeans changed the land of the home of the Indians, which they renamed New England. In Changes in the Land, Cronon explains all the different aspects in how the Europeans changed the land. Changing by the culture and organization of the Indians lives, the land itself, including the region’s plants and animals. Cronon states, “The shift from Indian to European dominance in New England entailed important changes well known to historians in the ways these peoples organized their lives, but it also involved fundamental reorganizations less well known to historians in the region’s plant and animal communities,” (Cronon, xv). New England went through human development, environmental and ecological change from the Europeans.
There were a myriad of differences between Great Britain and her American colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but these differences can be divided into three basic categories: economic, social, and political. The original American settlers came to the colonies for varied reasons, but a common trait among these settlers was that they still considered themselves British subjects. However, as time passed, the colonists grew disenfranchised from England. Separated from the king by three thousand miles and living in a primitive environment where obtaining simple necessities was a struggle, pragmatism became the common thread throughout all daily life in the colonies. It was this pragmatism that led the colonists to create their own society with a unique culture and system of economics and politics.
This chapter, “Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492 – 1600,” covers the social, political and economic events that occurred in the worlds that made up America between 1492 and 1600. This chapter explores the history of the small societies that became the United States in broad contest of European exploration and exploitation. There existed conflicts between European kingdoms and this led to interest in colonies that strengthened the emerging nations. The curiosity of Europeans helped introduce them to African and American societies that had evolved over the centuries. The social and cultural collisions of these worlds changed and profoundly influenced Western history.
The European exploration and colonization resulted in commercial expansion of trade in agricultural products between Europe and America. In some time, colonization resulted in religious tolerance and representative government that have for several years encouraged similar developments in other countries. In addition, early European exploration led to redistribution of human populations as magnitude of people from Europe and Africa moved to America. Before the colonization and exploration period, the Native Americans had established a number of forms of social organization.
Throughout the colonial period, both economic and religious concerns contributed to the settling of British North America. The statement that the "economic concerns had more to do with the settling of British North America than did religious concerns" is valid. These economic concerns, as a cause for the colonization of British North America, outweighed the notable religious concerns that arose, and dominated colonial life during and up until the very end of the British colonial era in North America.
Since Americans believed that they had the supreme right over all lands, they took extreme measures to have possession of such. The fact that God had ‘blessed’ the europeans with the exploration of the new world granted them the right to claim it as theirs. along with this, they were “granted” the right and obligation to spread christianity and white supremacist
After the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus, European Nations competed in a race against one another to claim pieces of the new land. Before Columbus found this land, the sea separating the New World from Europe seemed endless, and mundane. The Europeans were only interested in the land to the East. But with the New World as a new hat thrown into the ring, the Europeans tossed aside their old toy to go play with a new one. This time period of conquest over the New World was known as the Age of Exploration, and by the 1700s, they kept their pickings. A New World meant more land to build homes and plant crops, and more money to be earned by buying out new houses and selling new crops grown in foreign soil. Spain claimed Mexico, and the Southwest portions of what would be known as America. France got their hands on most of present-day Canada, as well as Louisiana. The Dutch set foot on land they called New Amsterdam, however, The English, who had settled their first colony in Jamestown, Virginia, drove the Dutch out and claimed New Amsterdam for themselves, later renaming it New York. The English claimed more land as time passed, and eventually they had formed 13 different colonies in the Eastern part of America. The English Colonies were separated into 3 different regions. The New England Colonies (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire), the Middle Colonies (New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware), and the Southern Colonies (Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia). The New England Colonies were the earliest of the 3 regions, founded by English Settlers seeking religious freedom. The Middle Colonies were also founded by settlers seeking religious freedom. The Southern Colonies,...
The Spaniards arrived at the Americas prior to the English. The Spanish mainly wanted to explore in the first place because after the Black Death, the population increased, and thus, so did the frequency of commerce. There was a sudden new interest in new products and the new strong monarchs who sponsored the journeys wanted to be more affluent. Therefore, explorers such as Christopher Columbus attempted to go west to target Asia. However, he ended up on Cuba and called the natives Indians. The Spanish soon started to consider the Americas less of a blockage and could now see it as a source of resources. In 1518, Cortes arrived into Mexico with his group of conquistadors, or conquerors, which is a proper name because the men after gold exterminated native areas using their military skills, brutality and greed to turn the Southern America into a vast Spanish empire. The smallpox the Spanish unknowingly carried also helped wipe many people out. When they saw the religious ceremonies of the Aztecs that produced many skulls, they thought of these people as savages and not entirely human. This of coarse was quite hypocritical because the Spanish have killed before during the Inquisition for their faith. It was this contempt that made them think it was all right to slaughter the natives. Spanish colonies were established when conquistadors had gotten a license to finance the expedition from the crown to fixture encomiendas. These encomiendas were basically Indian villages that became a source of labor. The Spanish dreamed of becoming wealthier from South America, but they also wanted a profitable agricultural economy and to spread their Catholic religion (the Pueblo Indians converted to Christianity), which became very important in the 1540s.
When the first American settlement on Roanoke Island was established in 1585 it’s primary force, Sir Walter Raleigh, had no idea that this “New World” would evolve into one of the most powerful voices in the modern world. But before it developed it would have to shaped by it’s founders from the Western world. Two of the largest voices in America’s early development are John Smith, who with a group of English merchants, hoped to get rich in this new land, and William Bradford, a puritan farmer who was one of the most influential men involved with the Mayflower compact. In their two pieces they both convey America as a place to escape but fail to reach many other similar conclusions on what America was like at this time.
In the document “Acts of Possession”, the Spanish, French, and English profess their reasoning and methods to the uptake of Native American lands. Each had similar ideologies on why they believed they could take the land, and that was by the use of religion. It was prevalent in the document that religion was the main motivation for their justification, yet, the Spanish, French, and English each had a slightly different interpretation on why they were capable to take the Natives land. Whether it was threats, teaching, or a compromise, each European power had their version of religion to help them take over the land.
The first conquests were made by the Spanish and Portuguese. They had desires to spread their religion into the newly discovered by Columbus “New world”. After the expedition Columbus headed, in which he landed in the Americas and first colonized the islands of Cuba, puerto rico, and Hispaniola, colonization rapidly expanded. Conquistadors primarily poor nobles, descended on America with hopes of bringing Catholicism to the new lands while extracting great riches in forms of gold and art. Religion and self-interest combined to be such desirable possibilities that hundreds of thousands of poor Spaniards took the journey across the ocean with hopes of finding riches.
In England owning large amounts of land represented that one had wealth, however, when they arrived in the new world no one seemed to own land as they did in England. The Virginia company released a policy in 1618 stating that they would award fifty acers to the colonists who paid for another’s passage to the new world along with their own. Hence taking land from the native Americans without making a trade of sorts defying the respect the Native’s had for the land. Since the Native Americans practiced paganism the land was very sacred to them, thus when the English came and started tearing up their land it caused some disagreements among the