Compare and contrast the early English settlements in Virginia with those of
the Spanish in other parts of the New World. Address the following points:
· The characteristics of the settlers
· The colonists' relationship with, and the characteristics of, local Native
American tribes
· The characteristics of the colonies' economies
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The early English settlements in Virginia and the Spanish in other parts of the New World experienced both great triumphs and great hardships with the health of their settlers, the relationship with the local Native American tribes, and the colonies’ economy.
ReplyDeletePeople in the Virginia settlement of Jamestown suffered from malaria and dysentery because of the swampy area where Jamestown was settled. Due to an unstable relationship with the Powhatan Indians, the people of Jamestown were attacked. In the beginning, the Powhatan Indians were friendly to the settlers, but after the tobacco industry began to flourish and more people began to push the Powhatan from their land, the Indians began to lose their patience which was why they attacked Jamestown. At first, the economy of Jamestown was horrid. Almost everyone was an explorer, and with the lack of farmers, many people starved. The creation of the tobacco industry made the Jamestown economy prosper. However, a series of bad decisions caused Jamestown to fall into debt, and it soon came under the direct control of King James I.
Unlike the people of Jamestown, the Spanish were relatively healthy; however, their Native American slaves had no immunity to the European diseases which were quickly killing their people. In the Spanish settlement of New Mexico, the harsh attempts to Christianize the Native Americans caused the Pueblo Indians to revolt. The economy in Spain was far better than that of Jamestown, for the conquistadors sent ships with gold and silver back to Spain, thus, making Spain the most powerful and wealthy empire in Europe at the time.
The early settlements in Virginia and the Spanish in the New World are similar because of the diseases that killed some of the people of Jamestown and the slaves in Spain. The unstable relationship with the near-by Indians is also eerily similar in both Jamestown and in the Spaniard settlements. The Spanish colonies were similar to an English royal colony, for they were controlled by their royal government, so the over-all economies of both Jamestown and the Spanish settlements were similar.
When the Spanish and the English settlers traveled to the New World, the colonies had to adjust to a new way of living. Upon entering America, the settlers used their own methods of claiming land which portrays who the people were and how they acted as a group. The land they claimed, however, was already occupied by tribes of Native Americans making the Spanish and English's goal to establish new colonies a little more challenging. Once settled in, the colonies began to take shape building their own economical system.
ReplyDeleteThe Spanish nor the English were peaceful people when it came to taking over land. The Spanish, or conquistadores', methods involved warfare, enslavement, and disease to the Native Americans. Spain turned most of what they had conquered into highly organized empires, but because few families settled there, explorers intermarried with the Natives. After seizing the wealth of the Indian Empires, the Spanish established an ecomienda system where the king grants land and Native Americans to individual Spaniards. However, when the Native American population decreased from disease, the Spanish turned to the asiento system. This required them to pay a tax on each slave they imported from West Africa to the Americas.
The English were no different from the Spanish when it involved Native Americans. In the beginning of their relationship, the English and the Natives traded, shared ideas, and taught each other useful skills. Unfortunately, the peace had ended and conflict arose. The English soon showed no respect for Native American cultures and viewed them as "savages". The Natives began to fell threatened as the English took more land for their increasing population. The rising population was the effect from the many people in England who were attracted to the economical opportunities in America. The North Atlantic coast were also able to lure many English settlers by the joint-stock companies. This system gathered the savings of people of moderate means and supported trading ventures that seemed profitable.
English and Spanish settlers colonized the New World in order to take advantage of economic opportunities and spread Christianity to the Natives; however, both groups failed to take into account the resistance they would face from Native Americans and the detrimental effect the resistance and other factors of the New World would have on their colonial economies. While both the English and Spanish came to the New World for economical and religious reasons, the ways they hoped to accomplish these goals differed drastically. English settlers initially tried to coexist with Native Americans, but the relationship eventually turned into one similar to the one the Spanish had with Native Americans—a relationship built on the belief that Europeans are superior which led to Indian resistance to colonial expansion. Both economies that the settlers created were directly influenced by their surroundings; for instance, the Spanish colonies’ economy was most influenced by the resistance they face from Indians, whereas the English colonies’ economy was most influenced by the agricultural complications they faced.
ReplyDeleteBoth the Spanish and English came to the New World to explore economical opportunities like the Spanish mining the land for gold and silver or the English establishing a tobacco industry and to take advantage of the religious freedom Spanish settlers had to spread Christianity and English settlers had to peacefully study a Puritan or Separatist view of Christianity. The Spanish focused on wealth and personal gain when colonizing areas of the New World; this materialistic focus was shown through the conquest of the Aztecs by Hernan Cortes and the Incas by Francisco Pizzaro when the conquistadors plundered the conquered areas for gold and silver to send back to Spain. The English, on the other hand, went about gaining their wealth in Jamestown by establishing a tobacco industry; the new variety of tobacco that John Rolfe and Pocahontas developed became increasingly popular in Europe and made Jamestown prosperous. Settlers from both Spain and England were devoted to their religious beliefs. The faith and devotion that settlers felt was demonstrated by the English Puritans and Separatists that traveled to America in 1620 on the Mayflower in order to seek a safe haven to practice religious freedom. The Spanish colonist Father Junipero Serra demonstrated the faith of the Spanish when he and other members of the Franciscan order founded a series of missions along the California coast from 1769 to 1784.
English and Spanish settlers viewed Native Americans as inferiors and that were just another obstacle in the way of them achieving the settlers’ financial goals; however, the Spanish conquistadors, conquerors, used hostile methods to enforce Indian slavery, whereas the English tried to have a peaceful relationship with the Indians before conflict arose from the disdain and disrespect that the English had for the Natives. The Spanish chose to conquer rather than coexist with the Native Americans which led to great resistance from Native Americans in the present-day Florida, New Mexico, and Texas area. Though the Spanish had tried to set a precedent of control by conquering the Incas and Aztecs, Native Americans, especially the Pueblo in the southwest, put up strong resistance to establishments like Santa Fe in 1680 and the multiple failed attempts to create St. Augustine before its completion in 1565. The English approach to a relationship began more successfully than the Spanish did by coexisting and relating the English settlers to the Native Americans through a shared interest in hunting and agriculture. However, the English settlers did not respect the “primitive” Native American culture, so settlers began colonizing Indian land which started conflict and warfare between the two groups. The two methods that the Spanish and English used when beginning relations with the Native Americans resulted in the same affect: Native Americans feeling that their way of life was threatened.
The Spanish and the English faced many challenges when colonizing the New World, but the biggest influence over the Spanish economy was the enslavement of the Indians, and the biggest influence over the English economy was the unwise choices made about agriculture and the tobacco industry. The Spanish economy was influenced most by the Native Americans that were under their control. The Spanish relied on an encomienda system where grants of land and Indians were given by the Spanish King, but the brutal way that settlers treated their enslaved Indians combined with the diseases settlers’ brought to the Americas resulted in the mass death of Indians. The Indian population decreased to the point where the Spanish had to change their economic system to the asiento system where they paid a tax to the Spanish king to import West African slaves to replace the deceased Indians. The English in Jamestown, on the other hand, developed a new form of tobacco to bring prosperity to the colony. Though the English had made large profits from the innovative tobacco industry they had developed, unwise decisions led to their charter being revoked in 1624 and becoming a royal colony, colony under the control of the king. Both the English and Spanish colonies faced major challenges on the road to finding a successful economic system and neither were able to create a successful economy and society with the original plans that each had for their colony.
ReplyDeleteThe early English settlements in Virginia shared many qualities with the Spanish settlements in the New World, but the two were also very different. What set them apart the most were the characteristics of the settlers, their relationships with Native American tribes, and each settlement's unique economy. From the tobacco farms of Jamestown to the conquistadors of Mexico, each group of settlers had a unique New World experience.
ReplyDeleteThe characteristics of the settlers from Spain and England varied greatly. Spain was one of the first countries to send sailors to explore the New World, if even by accident, as was the case for Christopher Columbus, who set out in 1492 in search of a westward route to Asia and all its riches. In later years, Spain would owe its New World domination to conquistadors, such as Francisco Pizzaro and Hernan Cortés. These conquistadors would send ships back to Spain loaded with gold and silver, making their mother country one of the richest and most powerful in the world. On the other hand, English settlement began when John Cabot was sent to explore the New World and landed in Newfoundland in 1497. Settlers began to pour into the New World for a number of reasons, including economic gain and religious toleration. Most came in search of a new life but faced problems early on.
While the Spanish settlers were rather capable of defending themselves against the Native Americans, the English settlers often struggled. Both, however, were faced with new things from the Indians whether they were good or bad, such as survival skills, foreign diseases, and frequent attacks. The Spanish conquistadors showed no mercy to the Aztecs in Mexico and the Incas in Peru. The conquistadors defeated these tribes and took their gold and silver treasures, which is how Spain gained so much wealth and power in the New World. The English settlers were not so lucky. They faced several Native American attacks, which would sometimes kill hundreds of settlers at once. The Indians introduced both groups of settlers, though, to several new types of plants and foods, such as beans, corn, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and tobacco (later to become the main cash crop of Virginia). The Indians also introduced the European immune system to syphilis for the first time. The Europeans brought sugarcane, pigs, and horses, which all adjusted well to the new environment. They also imported new germs and diseases that the Indians had never before experienced, such as smallpox and measles, which wiped out entire tribes and killed millions of Indians. Despite all the exchanges, whether they were positive or negative, the Indians would frequently appear in history, angry that the Europeans intruded on the precious land and treated them unfairly.
The economies of the New World settlements also had some similarities and differences. The Spanish economy in the New World involved mass amounts of gold and silver, while the English economy was mostly dependent on the export of cash crops such as tobacco, which thrived in the American climate. The two were alike, however, because both depended on their mother countries for financial support. Neither was completely independent until much later in history, after each had a revolution. The settlements were prosperous, though, and settlers came in by the thousands each year.
The early Spanish and English settlements of the New World had many similarities and differences. Each had its own way of adjusting to the new environment and becoming prosperous. Later in history, the two would become independent of their mother countries and dependent on one another.
As Europeans began to settle in the New World they were faced with an unecpected challenge: the Natives who already inhabited the land. The Spaniards, who settled South America, and the Englishmen, who settled in North America, were both met with this challenge, but each had different results. Their results are attributed to the both the Natives they encountered and how each chose to deal with them. How they dealt with Natives stemmed heavily from the settlers backgrounds. And their backgrounds helped to shape the economies they created in the New World.
ReplyDeleteThe Spaniards were mainly colonized in Central and South America where the Aztect, Maya, and Inca civilations lived. These civilizations were advanced for their time because of the scientific observations that dominated their culture, however the Spaniards cared nothing for their sciences. The Spaniards lusted only for the gold and silver that the Natives had in abundancy. The Spanish Conquistadors Hernan Cortez and Francisco Pizarro decimated the Natives they encountered, and those who weren't killed were married off. The English settlers of Virginia also encountered hostile Indians which caused them to move to Plymouth. In Plymouth the Natives were much more amiable and were willing to help the settlers adjust to life in the wilderness. Yet this still wasn't enough for the settlers to see past their predjudices of 'the savages', and with disease and unavoidable warfare the English also killed off most of their surrounding Natives.
The two main reasons Europeans considered the Natives to be inferior is because 1)Europeans felt they had the better political system and 2)They had monotheistic religion that was better than that of the polytheistic savages. Both the Spaniards and the English had a monarchy that was usually responsible for sending the settlers to the New World for the main purpose of expanding his/her empire. Because the Natives didn't have a acutely structured government, they were seen as inferior and the settlers took no guilt when taking their land, and in the Spanish conquistador's case, annihilating entire cities. Religion was also a major part of the settlers background and had a role in how they saw the Natives. One way of expanding the empire was to spread religion. The settlers of Virginia tried to teach their Natives about the one God, but their efforts were met with resentment and ultimately led to war with the Natives. The were more aggressive in their religous endavors and Roman Catholicism soon became the religion for most Natives left in South America.
Spreading religion was not all the Spaniards used the Natives for. They used them mainly as a workforce in the fields of Spanish landowners or in the mines. Spanish economy was dependent on labor, so when the Natives numbers grew smaller, they were replaced by African slaves. Because Spain was the first to truly colonize in the New World the labor of Native and African slaves made them the richest and most powerful nation in Europe for a time. English settlers in Virginia had no use for Native slaves as they mainly worked their tobacco farms with the help of their families and, if wealthy enough, an indentured servant. As tobacco plantations began to grow so too did the need for more help in the form of African slave labor. England was beginning to rise with enough power to rival Spain for supremacy in the Americas.
There is no better example of how different responses evoke different results than that of early settlements in North America. The English settlements definitely started out a lot easier-- excusing the first harsh winter-- than the Spanish settlements mainly because of their treatment of the Natives. The Spanish were so determined to "Christianize the Native Americans" that their methods took a harsher turn, causing revolts that repeatedly drove the Spanish away. When the Spanish found out that the Natives weren't interested in the Spanish religion, the Spanish decided that the Natives' only uses were to use for "economic, political, and religious gain."
ReplyDeleteThe English, however, welcomed any help that they could possibly receive in this new and foreign land. The location of Jamestown was a disease haven, so anyone who wasn't sick was expected to work. Unfortunately, the majority of the settlers, gentlemen, had no idea how to work, and the others were "gold-seeking adventurers" who were determined not to work for food. As such the food was scarce. A Native by the name of Pocahontas worked with her husband, an Englishman, I might add, establish a tobacco industry which pulled the colony out of the economic landslide. In Plymouth's case, the Natives told the newcomers how to farm and hunt, so they wouldn't all starve to death in their new home. They used this knowledge to create an economy maintained by fish, furs, and lumber.
The first settlements really depended more on the treatment of the Natives and motive than anything else. When Columbus set off for the New World, the pilgrims' motives were to set a place aside for themselves to practice their own religion. The Spanish motive was more along the lines of finding more gold to add to the treasury or expanding their borders and methods of trade. They eventually used the Natives as slaves for their labor. These slaves eventually became the beginning of a larger slave trade involving Africans.
Early in the 17th century, the English settlers had erected civilizations in modern day Virginia. The English colony resembled and differed in the characteristics of settlers and the relationship the settlers had with the North American natives from the colonies the Spanish had established years before. The Virginian colonies tricked the natives into giving them valuable things in exchange for worthless English products.
ReplyDeleteThe characteristics of the English settlers and the Spanish settlers differed from each other. The English settlers came the Americas to leave there past lives in which they had no future. When they came to the Americas, they got a second chance at life. All the skeletons they had in there closet were left in England. The Spanish, however; came for different reasons. They were greedy and only came to take gold and jewels from the Indian nations and take them back with them to get rich in their home country. They made no attempt to establish a civilization until the late 1700s.
English and Spanish policies regarding the Native Americans were different, but only by a small margin. Both groups of people were harsh to the natives and didn’t treat them fairly. The difference between the two is that the English completely displaced the Natives Americans and didn’t give them anything for their land. The Spanish also conquered the Native Americans; however the Spanish allowed the natives to live among them under Spanish rule, and also intermarry between the two groups. The final difference is how the groups viewed the Native Americans. The Spanish viewed them not as equals, but not as slaves. They were almost what would be considered second class citizens. The Englishmen saw the natives as savages and had zero respect for them as people. They acquired all the skills that the Indians taught them and then drove them out of the land or killed them off. The Englishman viewed the natives as animals more than people.
Although the English treated the natives with no respect most of the time, initially they had agreements and helped each other. It seemed like the two parties were cooperating and giving each other helpful tips. The Indians were teaching the English how to plant crops and harvest them, and the English introduced the natives to guns and swords. But in reality, the English were ripping the natives off. They traded them useless pieces of junk for rare native artifacts using deceit. The English knew that the natives had no idea what the worth of certain items were so they lied to gain more for themselves.
Initially, early English and Spanish settlements differed mostly in their levels of hostility toward the Native inhabitants of the New World; however, the two nationalities became increasingly similar as time waned on. The most evident topics of comparison between the English and Spanish settlements are their economies and their treatment of Native Americans.
ReplyDeleteAt first, English and Spanish settlers wanted pretty different things when they ventured forth to the New World. The typical English settler was either a separatist, seeking separation from the monarchy and the Church of England, or a prospective entrepreneur, seeking financial gain in the Americas. The Spanish settlers were either missionaries, seeking to Christianize the Native Americans, or conquistadores, fueled by the wealth that came with the conquest of Native American civilizations. The character of the Spaniards can be summed up with that one word, ‘conquest,’ whereas the Englishmen wanting to inhabit to these newly discovered lands simply sought business or a place free from a monarchy. Either way, both wanted money in some form or another.
The two economies of these differing settlements relied on both forced & free labor at the dawn of American settlement. At that time, the Spanish had conquered the once great Native American civilizations of central and southern America, gaining a large labor force in the form of Native Americans. Under the encomienda system, the Spanish crown could endow both land and laborers to individual Spaniards, kick-starting slavery in the New World. Another wave of laborers hit Spanish settlements under the asiento system that brought slaves from West Africa to the Americas. The English relied on establishing a viable center of trade in the new world by employing a system of joint-stock companies in which settlers pooled savings to fund potentially profitable trade ventures. The settlements grew more profitable through the development of a new variety of tobacco in England’s flagship colony of Jamestown (founded 1607) and the employment of indentured servants. The implementation of slavery came a few years after the founding of Jamestown, only a bit later in comparison to the Spanish.
The one resounding source of comparison between these two nationalities is found in the treatment of Native Americans. The Spanish, as stated earlier, were enthralled by the idea of conquest and the fortune that came with it. They saw the Natives as nothing more than savages with gold and did everything they could to take their riches. The Spanish also sought to Christianize these “savages,” giving rise to settlements such as the missions of the Franciscan order in modern day California. Initially, he English maintained rather peaceful relations with the Native Americans by trading furs and European goods, sharing new ideas such as hunting methods, and simply “coexisting” with their Native American brethren. However, the English majority soon had no interest in the Native cultures, and only saw them as primitive people in the way of their financial success. English settlers grew increasingly hostile towards Native Americans and soon drove them from their lands with disease and warfare. Both the English and the Spanish turned on the Natives of this New World, but the Spanish did so with harsh and subjugating conquest.
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ReplyDeleteThese two settlements come from different cultures. The two cultures are different, but similar at the same time. They come from the same continent, and have similar details about their ethnicity. They may have come from the same continent, and may have had some similarities, but they had different outcomes in the new world.
ReplyDeleteThey Spanish developed more slowly than the English did in North America, and the Spanish faced more opposition than the English did. The English had a lot of courage and bravery because of their victorious battles against competing nations. The English devised a plan of how they were going to work out the food and shelter. They had also partnered with some Native Americans, but the Spanish were rejected by the Native Americans. The English had a couple of failures along the way, but the Spanish had more.
Although the early English and Spanish settlements in the New World were very different, both went through hard times to gain success.
ReplyDeleteThe first settlers of Jamestown, which was the first permanent English colony in America, suffered greatly from Indian attacks, famine, disease, and bad decisions. There were many fatal outbreaks of dysentery and malaria due to the settlement’s location in a swampy area along the James River. Because the men were not used to hard manual labor and others refused to hunt or farm, food supplies became scarce which led to starvation. Spanish settlements grew much slower due to limited mineral resources and strong opposition.
Europeans tended to view Native Americans as inferior. The English would take over occupied land forcing the tribes to leave. The French saw them as economic and military allies because they would buy furs and trade with the Native Americans. The Spanish took a different approach. The conquistadors’ methods of warfare and efforts at enslavement led to the death of millions of Native Americans.
The early English settlement, Jamestown, survived through financial prosperity brought by the establishment of a tobacco industry by John Rolfe. Rolfe and his Indian wife, Pocahontas, developed a new variety of tobacco which became popular in Europe. Although tobacco sales brought in profit, the Virginia Company mad unwise decisions causing it to fall into debt. Due to bankruptcy, the colony came under direct control King James I, making Virginia England’s first royal colony. Spanish prosperity was due more to feats by the conquistadors. They sent ships loaded with gold and silver back to Spain from the New World which increased the gold supply by 500%. That made Spain the richest and most powerful nation in Europe.
When the early English settlements happened the men suffered from attacks, famine , and diseases. This is mainly because of the swampy location, and this resulted in outbreaks of malaria and dysentery. English settlers was mainily going to Virginia for mainly seeking for gold at first.Because of this, they didnt have enough food supply from lack of hunting and farming.
ReplyDeleteThe Spanish were considered as conquistadores. They mainly had methods of warefare efforts and enslavement. Just like the English, the spanish had no respect for native americans cultures. Spanish wanted to conquer ,rule, and intermarry with the tribes. The English just occupied the land and forced the small tribes to move away. The English also thought of them to be "inferiors". They use them for economic, political, and religious gain. The English also traded items with them and the indians taught them to grow corn and hunt. Both took the land of the native americans and showed little respect of them.
Amsco Ch. 1
ReplyDeleteLeah Fontaine
The colonies of the England and the Spain has some similarities but were largly different. For example the Spanish were there to conqure and rule the native american people while England just wanted them to move out of the land they needed. The Spanish enslaved many navtives and and although the masters were to care for the native slaves they rarely did. Disease became a large problem for the natives because their immune system was no match for things such as smallpox and measles. The morality rate increased to over 90 percent whipping out most of the native tribes that came into contact with settlers. The English also brought these diseases and were attacked by the natives. TheEenglish were taking the land of the tribes, and the tribes were not happy about it. The English did get some help from the Natives but most of their comunication was hostile.
Spains success in the New World was due to their explorers and conquistadores such as, Hernen Cortes and Francisco Pizzaro. They conqured the Aztecs and the Incas securing Spains spot in the the New World. Spain gained great riches from the gold and silver the conquistadors sent back to their home land. The nation prospered under the new riches.
England's settlement of Jamestown fluquated between a success and a failure. In the begining many English perished due to disease and starvation. The marshy area proved to fester malaria and dysentery. Many of the settlers were also good gentlemen who were not accustom to hard labor and the ones who were accustom to it refused to work because they were in the search of gold and riches. In the middle the colony became prosperous through the growth of new types of tobacco. At the end though, the colony feel into bankrupcy because of bad desicions and came under the control of King James I.
When Columbus discovered the New World, many European countries jumped at the opportunity to lay claims to land. Spain and Portugal were the first, settling in South America, and Spain later expanded north. After over one hundred years, England finally founded its first colony, Jamestown, in North America. Both Spain’s and England’s colonies continued to expand, making two very different communities. Spain and England were fairly similar countries in Europe, but their respective colonies were vastly different. This difference was due to their locations in the New World, and what changes the environment around them forced them to make. The reasons the two countries’ colonies were so different were their economic systems, their relationships with the Native American tribes around them, and the characteristics of the settlers themselves.
ReplyDeleteSpain’s explorers were Conquistadors, and were sent to conquer. Through defeating Native American Tribes, conquistadors acquired several shiploads of gold and silver treasure to send back to Spain. After receiving such wealth, Spain adopted an ecomienda system to better manage the distribution of wealth to the colonies. Under the ecomienda system, the king of Spain granted land and Native Americans to individuals and, later, African slaves for a tax under the asiento system. England, however, found a more practical and less violent solution. England created joint-stock companies to sponsor and finance the colonies. The joint-stock companies pooled savings of potential colonists and supported profitable trading ventures for extra money. In short, Spain funded its colonies through conquest, and England funded its colonies though stock and trade.
Another important factor was each country’s relationship with Native Americans. English colonies attempted to peacefully deal with the Native Americans. The two traded and shared farming secrets. However, Englishmen viewed the Native Americans as savage, and Native Americans felt that their land and way of life was threatened. War soon broke out between the Natives and English. The Spanish conquistadors killed thousands of Native Americans, from enslavement, warfare, or diseases. The Spanish treated them as people of a lower class. As more Spaniards settled in the area, more and more instances of mixed ethnicity occurred. The Spanish set up a class system that gave more rights to those with less Native American blood, signifying the extent of their contempt for the Native Americans.
The most prominent difference between Spanish and English Settlements was the characteristics of the settlers themselves. Most English settlers were not skilled for survival. Many of the food shortages that Jamestown initially faced were due to the fact that many of the English settlers were gentlemen who didn’t know how to farm. English colonies had to rely on Native Americans to get the skills to survive. The Spanish, however, were conquerors. By defeating Native American tribes, they had the money to have plenty of food in their colonies, and were not in danger of starving. The Spanish also set up Missions to force Christianity onto the Native Americans. Their hostile nature founded great colonies like St. Augustine, but was the doom of colonies like Santa Fe.
-Brennan Ballard
Early English settlements both compared and differed in various ways from those of the Spanish.
ReplyDeleteA difference between these two countries is when they explored the Americas. Spain first claimed land in America, along with Portugal, in 1493, because of a papal line dividing the land. The Spanish also had numerous conquistadors explore and conquer areas and people like the Isthmus of Panama, the Aztecs in Mexico, and the Incas in Peru. These victories encouraged Spain to continue its exploration. John Cabot’s exploration of Newfoundland in 1497 under contract to King Henry VII is England’s earliest claim to territory in America. Unlike the Spanish, however, over a century would pass before more explorations or permanent settlements came.
Both the English and the Spanish settlers had obstacles in their new colonies. The English in Jamestown suffered Native American attacks, food shortages, and disease. Being so close to a swampy area on the James River caused outbreaks of dysentery and malaria, resulting in numerous casualties. The gentlemen and gold-seekers were unaccustomed to doing or refused to do physical work, hunt, or farm. The Spanish, because of their earlier establishment, mostly had to worry about local Native Americans resisting or revolting against them.
The struggle soon lightened for both the English and the Spanish but worsened for most of the Native Americans. John Rolfe and his Native American wife, Pocahontas, developed a new kind of tobacco, bringing much needed financial gain to the colony. At first, the English and Natives got along well: the Natives taught the settlers to hunt and farm, the English traded manufactured goods for furs. But the English soon began to see the Native way of life as primitive and held no respect for it, causing the Native Americans to feel threatened and angered at the loss of land. The Spanish relied on the Native Americans’ wealth, the encomienda system—the king of Spain gives grants of land and Natives to individual Spaniards, and later the asiento system—the Spanish brought West Africans over to work as slaves and paid a tax to the king for each one, as methods of gaining wealth. Many Native Americans died due to conquistador warfare, enslavement, and lack of immunity to European diseases. In order to keep the settlements alive, the Spanish married the Native Americans and Africans; the pure-blooded Spanish dominated the rigid class system that developed.
During the era of exploration, there were noticeable similarities and differences between the early English colonies of Virginia and the various Spanish colonies of New Spain. While seemingly different, these two cultures had to adapt similarly to survive in this inhospitable new world that is rife with hostile tribes, disease, and harsh climates.
ReplyDeleteThere were many similarities in the life-styles and socio-economic conditions between the Spanish and English, one of the most notable being the reinforcement of both of their economies on an oppressed labor force. Due to some of the settlers’ avarice, they refused to do any long-term work that didn’t offer instantaneous rewards, such as farming, hunting, and crafting and instead searched for quick fortune. Subsequently, there were many famines that created destitute living conditions for the new colonies. Realizing that most of their current populations would most likely continue their search for riches in the new world, leaving the few that did farm overworked, the colonies chose to back their economy with hard labor. The Spanish, differing slightly from the English, enslaved several Native American tribes that they had conquered and vanquished over the years. The English, on the other hand, cunningly offered the abysmally poor in England free passage to the new world, under the condition that the poor would be forced to work under someone in the new world without pay for several years, but their caretaker would provide them with all the basic necessities. Now, both the Spanish and English colonies had backed their economies on unpaid labor: the Spanish with their forced and enslaved labor and the English with their indentured servants and free labor. Eventually, both the English and Spanish colonies would turn to slave labor from West Africa, but for slightly different reasons. The Spanish turned to West African slaves after most of their Native American slaves died off due to their lack of immunity to European diseases, while the English turned to the West African slaves because now most of their indentured servants were actually surviving the length of their contract, meaning that the now free indentured servants could in-turn begin farming the land and subsequently required more indentured servants to help work the land, so the way the English alleviated this problem was to ship slaves over from West Africa to England without giving them any contract and forcing them to work for free white land-owners.
There were also a number of differences between the English settlers and the Spanish settlers. One key difference was the exports of both types of colonies; the Spanish colonies ran on mines of gold and silver, which they brought back to Europe to make Spain one of the richest nations during this time period, while the English pioneered the tobacco industry with tobacco farms in Jamestown. Another difference would be treatment of the Native peoples of America, with the Spanish conquering and enslaving them and the English befriending them (though let it be known that the Native Americans around Virginia actually planned to assimilate the Settlers into their tribes through gracious donations of food to the starving settlers, and that Captain John Smith of Jamestown wanted to take the same route as the Spanish did with the Natives and drive conquer them). The Spanish settlers also had somewhat different reasons for coming to America, though both had the similar mindset of beginning life anew in the new world and the search for fortune. The Spanish mainly came to America looking for new lands and riches, while some of the English settlers actually came to America to practice their religion in peace, as most of them were separatists that were persecuted on the other side of the Atlantic. Overall, there were many similarities and differences between the Spanish colonies and the English colonies.
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ReplyDeleteSpain was the first European country to settle the Americas; however, it was not the only country. England also bared a strong presence in the New World, and although the colonies of these two great nations bared their similarities, there were also clear differences in the characteristics of the settlers, their relations with native tribes, and the characteristics of the colonies' economies.
ReplyDeleteThe characteristics of the settlers of these countries varied based on the land on which they had settled; however, they all experienced hardships. The English settlements consist of Jamestown and the Puritan colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay. Jamestown took place a century after the exploration of the land due to the defeat of the Spanish Armada. There was relentless opposition from the native tribes of the area as well as famine due to the swampy land on which they settled. The settlement of the Puritan colonies, Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, was driven by religious motivation. The settlers of Plymouth were those that completed rejected the reformation of the Church of England, and, therefore, they set out to create a separate church. After a first winter, they lost half their number. As for Massachusetts Bay, the settlers, seeking religious freedom, gained a royal charter to colonize the Massachusetts Bay Company. The Spanish settlements of North America consisted of Florida, New Mexico, Texas, and California. They all developed slowly due to strong Native American opposition and limited mineral resources. Florida was settled after numerous failed attempts and conflicts with the natives. The settlers of New Mexico were driven from the area for 20 years due to a revolt following harsh efforts to Christianize the natives. The settlers from New Mexico then established settlements in Texas, which grew as the Spanish attempted to resist French efforts to explore Mississippi. Lastly, the permanent settlements at San Diego and San Francisco in California were in response to Russian exploration from Alaska.
The various nations that colonized the Americas, England and Spain included, practiced numerous policies of controlling the Native Americans. Many Native Americans died as a result of Spain's methods of warfare, enslavement, and, unintentionally, European diseases. The conquered peoples were incorporated into a highly organized empire, through which the Mestizo and Creole classes emerged. At the top of this empire were the "pure-blooded" Spanish. Initially, the English lived alongside the natives, wherein they traded and shared ideas; however, these peaceful relations soon gave way to conflict and open warfare. Moreover, the English treated the natives with absolutely no respect and viewed them as savage.
The economies of the colonies varied, like the hardships of the settlers, depending on the geography of the land. Jamestown prospered on the creation of the tobacco industry by John Rofle and his wife, Pocahontas. The English had also devised a practical method for financing the colonies. They used joint-stock companies, which pooled the savings of people and supported trading ventures. Plymouth's economy consisted of the fish, furs, and lumber industries. As for the Spanish, they with the Indians for gold and later resorted to slavery. The "pure-blooded" profited from the work of the lower class Mestizos and Creoles.
The English settlements of Virginia were far more different from the settlements of the Spanish than most people would assume. Every person who came to America for the first time came for a different reason than others. Some came seeking religious freedom and a church separate from royal rule; a few came hoping to strike gold and immense wealth, and others merely came for the great opportunity that the New World held. Most everyone found what they came looking for in the New World, but the English and the Spanish had varying methods of how they achieved their goals; both faced many hardships along the way.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest goal for most English and Spanish settlers was wealth. Both groups hoped that they would find gold in America but, the general characteristics of the English and Spanish were quite different. Gold-seekers made up a lot of the population of colonists. Almost every Spaniard came looking for wealth and many of the Jamestown settlers were gold-seeking adventurers. Since most of the settlers sought after riches and wealth, there were a few colonies that didn’t prosper or almost died because the adventurers usually refused to hunt or farm. A big characteristic that the Spanish had after they moved to the New World that differs from the English is intermarriage. Since the Spaniards didn’t bring many families with them, they began to intermarry with Native Americans and Africans. This intermarriage led to a rigid class system that was dominated by the Spaniards that had a pure bloodline.
The economies of the English and Spanish were opposites. While the economy of English colonies flourished, the Spanish colonies were slow going. Jamestown started out slow at first because the settlers either refused to hunt and farm or were unaccustomed to it, but Captain John Smith led the colony well and John Rolfe and his wife, Pocahontas, helped the colony financially. John Rolfe and Pocahontas started a tobacco industry that became very popular in England. Its popularity helped to support the colony. If they hadn’t developed a new tobacco that became popular in England, Jamestown most likely wouldn’t have prospered financially and could have failed. The Spanish settlements developed slowly because of resources and Native American opposition. The Spanish had very limited resources and much resistance from local Native America tribes. It took multiple attempts and failures to finally settle at St. Augustine and they were driven from Santa Fe for a while when the Pueblos revolted. The Spanish eventually settled many areas and established a series of missions.
Neither the Spanish nor the English treated the local Native American tribes well. The English started by having a good relationship with the Native American tribes, but it soon gave way to conflict because the English didn’t respect their culture and saw it as primitive. They would occupy the tribe’s land and force them to move inland away from the coast. If the English would have shown more respect towards the Native American cultures, they could have gotten more help settling the land. The Spaniard’s method was to conquer, rule, and intermarry with the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayas. They used an encomienda system which allowed the king of Spain to grant individual Spaniards grants of land and Native Americans. Many Native Americans died because of the conquistadors’ methods of enslavement, warfare, and European diseases they had no immunity for. If the Spanish had come up with a different method, then the harsh class system dominated by pure-blooded Spaniards wouldn’t have taken place and there would have been less deaths.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus opened the door to a new territory that various kingdoms would hastily make claims to. Two kingdoms in particular, English and Spanish shared a similar perseverance in the idea of developing a successful "new world", but expressed it in two completely different ways.
ReplyDeleteThe Spanish were first to make claims to the new land and became a dominant figure here in the Americas because of their wealth and power. This wealth and power came from their notable conquistadors. For instance, Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztecs in Mexico. Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigated the world. The Spanish also found loads of silver and gold. The dominating kingdom felt obligated to the land. After snatching the wealth of Indian empires, the Spanish used the Encomienda system. It was based on the king giving grants of land and Indians to Spaniards, who worked for them and in return were cared for. They also adopted the asiento system where the Spanish were required to pay a tax to their king on each slave imported to America.
In the early 1600's England was able to make claims to the land as well. King James I chartered the Virginia Co. and established the first permanent English colony in America. People were attracted to the land because of the depressed economy and religious intoleration of England. They wanted to escape-in actuality they didn't until later. Under a royal colony, the colonies were still under the control of a king or queen. Struggling to survive was another issue. The land was different, but with the help of Native Americans, they adapted. The Plymouth colony flourished from fish, furs, and lumber ,and Jamestown's tobacco industry brought them prosperity. "Pocahontas, developed a new variety of tobacco, which became very popular in Europe and brought financial prosperity to the colony."(pg.7AMSCO) .Slaves and indentured servants, people who in exchange for transportation worked a plantation, also contributed to the success of the colonies.
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ReplyDeleteThe early English settlements in Virginia were very similiar and different in many ways from the Spanish settlements in other parts of the New World. These early settlers had several unique characteristics which were sometimes a disadvantage to their survival in this New World. Each colony's economy was just a litlle different from the other. While learning that they were not the only humans on the New World, colonist had to build relationships with the Native Americans who also had their unique characteristics. All in all the founding of the New World had both positive and negative effects with challenges, but these early settlers always found new ways to overcome these obsticles.
The early English settlements in Virginia had some things in common with the early Spanish settlements as well as some differences. For a start, both of the first established colonies had great hardships from Native American attacks. "The first English settlers of Jamestown suffered great hardships from Indian attacks, famine, and disease- and their own mistakes" (7). "After a number of failed attemps and against strong resistance of the Native Americans, the Spannish in 1565 established a permanent settlement at St. Augustine(11). In contrast, the Early Spanish settlers seemed to have had trouble keeping their established colonies while the English settlers prospered with a booming tobacco industry. Another difference is that all of the English settlements were on the east coast while the spanish had settlements in the South, Southeast, and Southwest. Yes, the Spanish and English settlements had some differences and a few similarities, but survival will always be the one thing these two groups hoped to acheive.
While both kingdoms built their own distinct territories, they shared a few of the same characteristics. Both suffered from Indian attacks and benefited from an enslavement system. Neither Spanish nor English had respect for Native Americans. "The Spanish approach was to conquer, rule, and intermarry with Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas." "In general, Europeans of all nationalities viewed Native Americans as inferiors who could be exploited for economic, political, and religious gain."(pg.11AMSCO). The Spanish and English exemplified courage and determination in attempt to create a successful kingdom of their own. Ultimately, both found success and prospered in their new land-- for the time being.
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ReplyDeleteThe characteristics of these settlers were very unique in different ways. For example, many of these settlers were gentlemen unaccustomed to physical work. However, others were gold-seeking adventurers who refused to hunt or farm. These characteristics resulted in a food shortage. "Thus, food supplies dwindled to almost nothing, and the colonists nearly starved" (7). Eventually, the settlers developed the proper characteristics to survive which were enforced by the Native Americans.
Coming to this New World with little experience was very challenging for the colonist. This is why it was very important for the colonist to establish some type of trustworthy relationship with the Native Americans. "Most of the Native Americans lived in semipermanet settlements, each with a small population seldom exceeding 300. The men spent their time making tools and hunting for game while the women grew crops such as corn, beans, and tobacco. Some tribes were more nomadic than others" (1). These Native Americans taught the settlers how to grow crops such as corn, and taught them how to hunt in the forest. Various furs from the Native Americans were traded with the English for iron tools and weapons. Unfortunatly, this peaceful relationship gave way to conflict and war. "The English had no respect for Native Amercian cultures, which they viewed as primitive or savage" (12). Native Americans started to feel more threatened as the English took more land to support thie gorwing population.
In addition to the characteristics of the settlers, there is also the characteristics of their colony's economies. Each colonys' economy was different from the other in one way or another. For example, the Jamestown and Plymouth colony each have their own mainystay. The Jamestown colony relied heavily on Tobacco, developed by John Rolfe and Pocahontas. "Rolfe and his Indian wife, Pocahontas, developed a new vaariety of tobacco, which became very popular in Europe and brought financial prosperity to the colony" (7). The evidence listed in the quote shows what and how tobacco became a financial prosperity which helped Jamestown's economy greatly. While Jamestown had tobacco, The Plymouth colony had fish, furs, and lumber. "Fish, furs, and lumber became the mainstays for Plymouth's economy" (9). This quote specifically states the products that kept the Plymouth colony's economy running. In conclusion, each colony had different characteristics that made them all unique in their own way.
Early English settlements in Virginia and the Spanish in other parts of the world had three main things in common. They both developed ideas to better their economies. In the early English settlements in Virginia, the economy prospered due to the establishment of the tobacco industry. The Spanish in other parts of the New World turned to an encomienda system. The encomienda system was where the king of Spain would give grants of land and Native Americans to individual Spaniards.
ReplyDeleteBoth of those economies lead to the next comparison, slavery. Growing tobacco on Jamestown's plantations required a labor force. Due to the need for labor, the Virginia Company decided to send indentured servants to the colony. In the Spanish parts of the New World, the encomienda system is a type of slavery too. The Native Americans/Indians had to work in the mines, and their findings went to their masters. The Spanish also bought slaves using the asiento system.
Using the Native Americans as slaves leads to the final comparison, the relationship the settlers had with the Native Americans. Both settlements had bad reps with the Native American tribes. Europeans of all backgrounds viewed Native Americans as subordinates who could be misused for economic, political, and religious gain. In the early English settlements, the Native Americans and the English had good relations. The English started losing respect for the Native American cultures, viewing them as barbaric. In Spanish territories, many Native Americans died as a result of the conquistadores’ methods of warfare, efforts at enslavement, and European illnesses.
Although the early English settlements in Virginia and the Spanish settlements had many things in common, they also possesed differences. Initially, the early English settlers were helped by the Native Americans. Native Americans taught the settlers how to grow new crops, hunt in forests, and trade furs to recieve manyfactured goods. On the other hand, the Native Americans had a strong opposition towards the Spanish settlers. Slavery was the foundation of the Native Americans’ opposition.
The next difference deals with the different methods the Europeans used for controlling the Native Americans. The English occupied the land and forced the small tribes they met to move away from the coast to inland territories; however, the Spanish method was to defeat, rule, and intermarry with the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas.
The final difference is the wealth of the settlements. Spain was the richest and most powerful nation in Europe. The conquistadores sent ships full of silver and gold back to Spain from the New World. Their bringing silver and gold back made Spain the wealthiest and most powerful nation in Europe. The English attempted to explore and seize the Spanish shipping of silver and gold but the attempt failed.
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ReplyDeleteFollowing an outburst of creativity and curiosity, an age of exploration arose fueled by economic motives, religious suffusion, and a quest for territory. A prominent result of these explorations was the discovery of the North American continent. The Spanish and the English were two of the initial European empires to take a stake of the newly discovered American nation. Though these two nations shared similar goals of colonizing this territory, their methods for executing the colonization of their territory varied. One way in which they differed was the colonists’ loyalty to their respective rulers. Additionally, the two countries differed in their goals and purposes in the new colonies. Also, their approach towards the Native Americans varied quite drastically. They also differed in the success they obtained from the colonies economically, but just how different were these two nations only miles apart on a map.
Monarchial rule was a prominent entity of European culture during the age of exploration. However, some of the explorers and settlers who sailed to America were more loyal to their homelands than others. The Spanish, for instance, were extremely loyal to the king because of their backing of the explorers in means of monetary and political gain. In return, the Spanish explorers sought to bring glory and wealth back to their homeland. On the other hand, the English explorers mostly flocked to America in search of religious freedom and escape from persecution for their rejection of the Church of England. Although the Spanish and English differed in their attitude and loyalty to the crown, the role of monarchial rule in the colonization ultimately made both of their endeavors possible.
A quest for gold, the spread of Catholicism, a need for power, and freedom were only a few of the motives for European exploration of the Americas. In the case of the English, many of the settlers in the New World came to escape the tyrannical nature of the English church by either organizing a new church, in the case of the Separatists, or gaining more religious freedom, in the case of the non-Separatist puritans. Also, many English people migrated to the Americas in order to escape poverty and destitute. The idea of a new chapter in their lives was all that was necessary to coax these low-class citizens into leaving the overpopulated English nation. In contrast, the Spanish settlers, along with bringing glory and wealth to Spain through conquest, sought to spread Roman Catholicism to non-Christian Native Americans as an act of God; therefore, early Spanish settlements were full of both soldiers and priests. Whether acting as missionaries of God or hoping to start a new life in a new land, the Americas proved to hold a plethora of new opportunity and freedom.
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ReplyDeleteThe Aztecs, the Mayans, the Mississippians, the Sioux, the Iroquois, and the Incas are just a few of the ancient Native American civilizations who called America home long before the age of exploration. Unwillingly, they played a major role in the colonization of America through their interaction with the settlers. For instance, the interaction between the natives and the Spanish explorers included transmission of disease and death from war and slavery; however, the Spanish set themselves apart from other countries due to their intermarriage with the Native Americans which ultimately caused a pyramidal chain of hierarchy. On the other hand, the English had a different policy with their subjugation of the Natives in which they coexisted and shared ideas which created a peaceful setting; however, power and disrespect got the best of the English who began to take more land from their former allies and disrespect them for their primitive ways. Though the relations may not have always been great between Europeans and Native Americans, there is no mistaking the importance of Native Americans in the development of the Americas.
Gold, tobacco, silver, and other various resources found in the Americas were key in boosting the European economies, for instance, the gold found by the Spanish increased its gold supply by over 500 percent, making it the richest and most powerful European nation. However, these resources were also key in the economies of the newly founded colonies. In the English colony of Jamestown, for instance, lack of working experience led the colony on a road to famine; however, the work of John Rolfe and Pocahontas with their tobacco crops along the leadership of John Smith eventually turned the colony around until the bankruptcy of the Virginia Company which forced it to become a royal colony. On the other hand, the Spanish benefitted from their conquering nature by obtaining control of many powerful and wealthy Indian empires, such as the Incas and Aztecs. This caused a transfer to the encomienda system which gave Spaniards grants of land and workers from the King, but following disease and hardships, this system was changed to an asiento system where the Spaniards bought their own slaves. Overall, the risky venture of exploring an unknown territory proved to be highly beneficial to the partaking countries who reaped many rewards and glories.
Both the early English settlers in Virginia and the Spanish in parts of the New World suffered from disease and famine. The settlers had no idea how to hunt or fish. Most of the men were gentlemen and were unaccustomed to work. The Spanish wanted to conquer and rule the Native Americans while the English forced them to move. The Native Americans were viewed as inferiors who could be used for personal gain. They all had poor and weak economies.
ReplyDeleteWhenever the New World was settled, the English and Spanish were nearly opposite in the treatment of Native Americans and land. The way the settlers behaved, the relationships with fellow natives, and the economies of the colonies settled all separate the English and the Spanish.
ReplyDeleteThere were many incentives luring people to come to the New World; land and economic opportunity were two. While the English focused more on economics, they had trouble settling in America. Most of the settlers were men who were not familar with manual labor, so there were already issues before any settling was tried. The Spanish seeked the Americas mostly for its gold and silver. Both the Spanish and English yearned for gold and silver, but the Spanish were more driven by this.
Relations with Indians was one thing that was hard for both the English and Spanish. At first the English coexisted with the Indians and traded with them. Eventually, however, the English began to be driven by greed for more land. The Spanish were used to divisions of class, so whenever they met the Indians, they put the Indians at the very bottom of the social laddder. The Spanish brought many diseases with them, and in some cases killed whole tribes. The Spanish forced Native Americans into slave labor. Needless to say, relations with Native Americans were not healthy with either the English or Spanish.
The economies of the colonies were not prosperous for either group. Although the English were successful for sometime with their tobacco crops, but the lack of physical labor resulted in the colony failing independently. The Spanish economy was not well-developed. The economies of the colonies later profitted with the help of labor, England, and Spain.
When Spain and England began to settle in the Americas, they started with different goals in mind to explore and live the New World. Spain came to the New World with the mindset to conquer, rule, and gain wealth. They conquered Native Americans like the Aztecs and Incas, turned them into slaves, and even tool all their treasures for themselves. The English, on the other hand, had a gentle approach to the Native Americans. The English interacted, traded, and shared ideas with the Native Americans. The Native Americans showed the settlers how to grow certain crops and even taught the English to hunt. Native Americans trade furs for English tools and weapons. The relationship between the settlers and the Native Americans grew tense. The English did not agree with Native American cultures, and the settlers’ population was increasing, so the English started pushing the Native Americans out of their land on the coast and onto central land.
ReplyDeleteThe Spanish were not ever gentle with the Native Americans. The Spaniards conquered, ruled and intermarried with the Native Americans. The Spaniards also brought diseases, enslavement, and methods of warfare which then killed millions of Native Americans. They eventually created an empire that had a class system with the pure Spaniards at the top.
The English economy was poor but the population was sprouting rapidly which made it the perfect time to colonize the New World. The first English colony was Jamestown. Jamestown was not very successful at first. Because the settlers were not accustomed to work and most of them were gold-seekers, there was a scarce amount of food, so they nearly starved. After Captain John Smith took leadership and john Rolfe and his wife established a tobacco industry, the colony’s economy grew. The Plymouth colony was founded by Pilgrims. Their first winter there diminished half of the population, but friendly Native Americans helped them survive. The colony grew and fish, furs, and lumber supported the economy. The Massachusetts Bay colony, supported by a royal charter, was established by Puritans that sought religious freedom. About 15,000 more settlers came when England had a civil war in the 1630’s.
Spain became the wealthiest nation and most powerful nation in Europe, so its economy was huge. The Spanish goal was not to settle in the New World but to gain wealth. They had a hard time creating a permanent settlement because of resistance from the Native Americans. Their first permanent settlement was Florida. They also formed New Mexico, Texas, and California. The Spanish started out very wealthy in their settlements’ economies but later created a class-system so the wealth was really on the top.
There were many similarities and differences between the English settlements and the Spanish settlements including the settlers, the relationship with the Native American tribes, and the colonies' economies. For the most part, at first the English and the Native Americans coexisted and actually shared ideas. On the other side the Spanish had a bit more trouble coping with the Natives. Millions of Native Americans died as a result of the conquistadores, Spain incorporated the conquered people of Central and South America into the empire while the English had traded manufactured goods with the Natives for furs.
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There were many similarities and differences between the English colonies in Virginia and the Spanish colonies spread throughout the world such as the characteristics of the settlers, the way they interacted with the native peoples, and the way their economies functioned.
Characteristics of the Settlers
The colonists from England were quite different from those of Spain is the way that the English colonists were, as a majority, noblemen or those in search of gold. This led to very hard times in the colonies because the noblemen had no idea how to farm or work the land because they had never participated in any sort of manual labor such as farming or building. The men who came in search of gold were of no help to the colonists because they were so enthralled with finding riches they refused to help farm the land or create buildings. The Spanish settlers on the other hand were explorers and hard workers, but their colonies also fell on bad times because the Spanish were consumed with conquering and intermarrying the native people groups they came in contact with in Central and South America.
Colonists Relationship With and Characteristics of Local Native American Tribes
Europeans in general treated the Native Americans as an inferior race of savage peoples who could be used and exploited to reach the European’s goals. English settlers in particular were not interested in wiping out the Native Americans, but when it came down to it, the English would use harmful tactics to push the Natives from their coastal land inward so that the English colonies could take over the Native’s tribal lands. The Spanish took a different route when dealing with the Natives they encountered, instead of pushing them off of their lands, they simply came and conquered them and forced them into Spanish society. Many Spanish colonists intermarried with the Natives because not as many Spaniards came to colonize and they needed more people for labor.
Characteristics of the Colonies’ Economy
The English colony at Jamestown originally suffered greatly because of colonist mistakes and Native American attacks, but that changed when John Rolfe and his Native wife developed a new variety of tobacco which was extremely popular in Europe and brought much prosperity to the colony. Another English colony formed known as the Pilgrims who settled at Plymouth also experienced hard times but through friendly relations with the Natives were able to survive and began to trade and export goods such as, lumber, fish, and furs. The economies of Spanish colonies were ruled by the few pureblooded Spaniards who came to the Americas, they were not so much focused on farming so much as gold. Over the span of many years the Spaniards conquered and took over many Native tribes in their search for gold eventually settling in what is now Florida, New Mexico, and California.
The settlements of the early English colonies in Virginia and the Spanish have many similarities and differences.
ReplyDeleteBoth the Virginian settlers and the Spanish settlers were scorned by the Native Americans. The Spanish settlers would conquer, rule, and even intermarry the Native Americans. The Virginians however would occupy the Native American land, then drive out the small, scattered tribes they found. While they treated the Indians differently, both settlements tried to convert the Native Americans over to their religion. The Spanish brought to the diseases to America that killed about ninety percent of the Native American population, and because of this, received strong opposition from the Indians.
Both the Spanish and the Virginian settlers came to America for the same reason. The Spanish came to America for their King. They sought after gold and riches that the Aztecs and Mayans had. While they had good fortune in finding the gold, the Virginian settlers weren't so lucky for they found nothing.
Because many of the people who came to America to Virginia were explorers looking for gold, the Virginians were devastated by famine and diseases. The Virginian settlements were full of adventure seekers and gentlemen who either didn't know how to farm and hunt or wouldn't.
The Virginian settlements and the Spanish settlements had similar economies. In the beginning of colonial life in Virginia, their economy was very negligible, however, after learning how to farm tobacco, its economy prospered. However, the farming of tobacco was tiresome and arduous, so indentured servitude and later slavery was institutionalized. The economy of the Spanish settlements was based on the exploitation of both the land and the Native Americans. The Native Americans were paid little to perform back-breaking work on plantations and in mines for the Spanish who had instituted the encomienda system.
The settlements of the early English colonies in Virginia and the Spanish have many similarities and differences.
ReplyDeleteBoth the Virginian settlers and the Spanish settlers were scorned by the Native Americans. The Spanish settlers would conquer, rule, and even intermarry the Native Americans. The Virginians however would occupy the Native American land, then drive out the small, scattered tribes they found. While they treated the Indians differently, both settlements tried to convert the Native Americans over to their religion. The Spanish brought to the diseases to America that killed about ninety percent of the Native American population, and because of this, received strong opposition from the Indians.
Both the Spanish and the Virginian settlers came to America for the same reason. The Spanish came to America for their King. They sought after gold and riches that the Aztecs and Mayans had. While they had good fortune in finding the gold, the Virginian settlers weren't so lucky for they found nothing.
Because many of the people who came to America to Virginia were explorers looking for gold, the Virginians were devastated by famine and diseases. The Virginian settlements were full of adventure seekers and gentlemen who either didn't know how to farm and hunt or wouldn't.
The Virginian settlements and the Spanish settlements had similar economies. In the beginning of colonial life in Virginia, their economy was very negligible, however, after learning how to farm tobacco, its economy prospered. However, the farming of tobacco was tiresome and arduous, so indentured servitude and later slavery was institutionalized. The economy of the Spanish settlements was based on the exploitation of both the land and the Native Americans. The Native Americans were paid little to perform back-breaking work on plantations and in mines for the Spanish who had instituted the encomienda system.