The Spanish Struggles In The New World

Star²ng with Christopher Columbus in 1492 (who was incidentally Italian), the Spanish were the dominant group of se±lers in the New World for over a century. Abundant natural resources, like silver, and Na²ve American labor provided Spain with immense wealth. With the excep²on of Brazil, the Spanish expanded throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America and even into the southern and western parts of today’s United States. However, because the sheer amount of wealth generated from the New World, other European countries eventually developed their own interests in se±lement. The English began some explora²on in the late 1500s, but their ³rst permanent se±lement was not un²l Jamestown in 1607. The English se±lers shared some characteris²cs as the Spanish: economic wealth and religiosity.

However, the English experience was diFerent.

They se±led in the more temperate region of the eastern part of today’s United States. And while their ini²al focus may have been on discovering and exploi²ng natural resources like gold and silver, the English were generally ³nanced by private merchants rather than the Spanish crown. This provided them much more opportunity for autonomy. And, when the search for riches didn’t materialize, it provided the incen²ve other types of wealth in terms of crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo. In addi²on, the English didn’t set out for the New World to necessarily convert the Na²ve Americans. Instead, for many such as the Pilgrims, their goal was religious freedom for themselves. The ´rench also began their own se±lement of the New World around the same ²mes as the

English.