What did "America" signify to Europe in ? What did "Europe" signify to Native Americans and enslaved Africans? First Arrivals » Reading Guide -. Spanish: Columbus's first settlement in the New World, English: The first months of the Jamestown colony, English: The first year of the Plymouth colony, Artifacts: Isabella Jamestown Plymouth.
Hardships » Reading Guide -. Spanish: Hunger and rebellion on Hispaniola, ca. English: "Starving time" in Jamestown, French : Jesuit index of a year in New France, English: Servitude and hunger in Jamestown, English: Lean years in Massachusetts Bay, English: Reasons to plant a colony in New England, ca. French: Advice and replies for emigrants to New France, Dutch: Dialogue on the advantages of New Netherland, Instructions for Leaders » Reading Guide -.
Spanish: Monarchs' instructions for Hispaniola, English: Investors' instructions for Jamestown, ca. English: Founder's instructions for Maryland, Missions to the Indians » Reading Guide -. Spanish: Franciscan report on the New Mexico missions, French: Jesuit reports on the New France missions, Enslaved Peoples » Reading Guide -. Bigger, faster ships and the invention of navigational devices such as the astrolabe and sextant made extended voyages possible.
A nautical map representing Marco Polo with a caravan on the way to Cathay. But the most powerful inducement to exploration was trade. The Orient became a magnet to traders, and exotic products and wealth flowed into Europe. Those who benefited most were merchants who sat astride the great overland trade routes, especially the merchants of the Italian city-states of Genoa, Venice and Florence.
The newly unified states of the Atlantic—France, Spain, England and Portugal—and their ambitious monarchs were envious of the merchants and princes who dominated the land routes to the East. The desire to supplant the trade moguls, especially the Italians, and fear of the Ottoman Empire forced the Atlantic nations to search for a new route to the East. Portugal led the others into exploration. Encouraged by Prince Henry the Navigator, Portuguese seamen sailed southward along the African coast, seeking a water route to the East.
They were also looking for a legendary king named Prester John who had supposedly built a Christian stronghold somewhere in northwestern Africa. Henry hoped to form an alliance with Prester John to fight the Muslims. His school developed the quadrant, the cross-staff and the compass, made advances in cartography and designed and built highly maneuverable little ships known as caravels.
Dias sailed around the tip of Africa and into the Indian Ocean before his frightened crew forced him to give up the quest. A year later, Vasco da Gama succeeded in reaching India and returned to Portugal laden with jewels and spices. Born in Genoa, Italy, around , Columbus learned the art of navigation on voyages in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Columbus, hoping to make such a voyage, spent years seeking a sponsor and finally found one in Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain after they defeated the Moors and could turn their attention to other projects.
After ten weeks he sighted an island in the Bahamas, which he named San Salvador. Thinking he had found islands near Japan, he sailed on until he reached Cuba which he thought was mainland China and later Haiti. But the territorial disputes between Portugal and Spain were not resolved until when they signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, which drew a line leagues west of the Azores as the demarcation between the two empires. Despite the treaty, controversy continued over what Columbus had found.
He made three more voyages to America between and , during which he explored Puerto Rico , the Virgin Islands, Jamaica, and Trinidad. Each time he returned more certain that he had reached the East. More Spanish expeditions followed. In and , Pedro de Mendoza went as far as present-day Buenos Aires in Argentina, where he founded a colony.
As European powers conquered the territories of the New World, they justified wars against Native Americans and the destruction of their cultures as a fulfillment of the European secular and religious vision of the New World.
That idea had two parts: one paradisiacal and utopian, the other savage and dangerous. Ancient tales described distant civilizations, usually to the west, where European-like peoples lived simple, virtuous lives without war, famine, disease or poverty. Such utopian visions were reinforced by religious notions. Early Christian Europeans had inherited from the Jews a powerful prophetic tradition that drew upon apocalyptic biblical texts in the books of Daniel, Isaiah and Revelations.
They connected the Christianization of the world with the second coming of Christ. If secular and religious traditions evoked utopian visions of the New World, they also induced nightmares. The ancients described wonderful civilizations, but barbaric, evil ones as well. Moreover, late medieval Christianity inherited a rich tradition of hatred for non-Christians derived in part from the Crusaders' struggle to free the Holy Land and from warfare against the Moors.
European encounters with the New World were viewed in light of these preconceived notions. To plunder the New World of its treasures was acceptable because it was populated by pagans. In , Giovanni da Verrazzano was commissioned to locate a northwest passage around North America to India. He was followed in by Jacques Cartier , who explored the St. Lawrence River as far as present-day Montreal. In , Jean Ribault headed an expedition that explored the St.
Johns River area in Florida. But the Spanish soon pushed the French out of Florida, and thereafter, the French directed their efforts north and west. Instead, the French traded with inland tribes for furs and fished off the coast of Newfoundland. New France was sparsely populated by trappers and missionaries and dotted with military forts and trading posts. Although the French sought to colonize the area, the growth of settlements was stifled by inconsistent policies.
Initially, France encouraged colonization by granting charters to fur-trading companies. Then, under Cardinal Richelieu, control of the empire was put in the hands of the government-sponsored Company of New France. The company, however, was not successful, and in the king took direct control of New France. Although more prosperous under this administration, the French empire failed to match the wealth of New Spain or the growth of neighboring British colonies.
The Dutch were also engaged in the exploration of America. Formerly a Protestant province of Spain, the Netherlands was determined to become a commercial power and saw exploration as a means to that end.
In the newly formed New Netherland Company obtained a grant from the Dutch government for the territory between New France and Virginia. About ten years later another trading company, the West India Company, settled groups of colonists on Manhattan Island and at Fort Orange.
The Dutch also planted trading colonies in the West Indies. By the mid-sixteenth century, however, England had recognized the advantages of trade with the East, and in English merchants enlisted Martin Frobisher to search for a northwest passage to India.
Between and Frobisher as well as John Davis explored along the Atlantic coast.
0コメント