History Of North America

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, New Spain and New France came to the New world for two different reasons. New France came to the new world in search of a new west passage and Spain came in search of gold and religious freedom. They both wanted to spread their religious beliefs through missionaries. The Spanish were the first to establish large settlements. The Spanish had over 200 cities by 1570. The French didn’t start colonizing until 1604. The first French colony was Acadia and Quebec which came years later in 1608. The Spanish had a huge head start on colonization over New France but they both thrived in their own ways by using Natural Resources and slaves.

British empire was in control of Canada, “a deep and complex transformation.” (Calloway, 112) British empire envision North America with field of action while the French spent the next two decade revenging on their loss with the Seven Years’ War and Treaty of Paris. Even though the French did not succeed in North America, eventually they migrated towards large swaths of Canada, The Great Lakes, and Mississippi Valley using their social systems and culture to survive. “The Interior French”, (Calloway, 123) were French-Canadian who lived beyond the Great Lakes country. They had formed an alliance within the Indians and having a good reputation with dealing goods. Louisiana went to Spain eventually, a few French migrated to Louisiana as a Peace of Paris. More settlers were French in Louisiana during the Spanish era instead of the French. Louisiana changes hand in Paris a couple times in 1763.

Despite popular belief, the contact between Native Americans and Europeans did not just pertain to a casual encounter of the two groups but a more in depth experience. James Axtell in chapter 4 of his book titled Beyond 1492: Encounters in Colonial North America states that the purpose of his essay was to reveal the numerous ways Natives reacted and responded to the newcomers of Europe of the Columbus era. The reactions of the Natives consist of inviting the Europeans in to their lives and customs, learning the ways of the settlers, war and conflict towards them, beating them at their own game and purely avoiding them as a whole.

After receiving his PhD from Harvard in 1953, American historian, author, and academic specialist, Bernard Bailyn, continues to transform ideas of early American history with his award winning books. As we know, the foundation of today’s American Society leads back to the transfer of people from the Britain to the New World, in the early 1600s. In his book, Bernard Bailyn, author of The Peopling of British North America, An Introduction, gathers demographic, social, and economic history research to form four propositions relating to the migration. While identifying central themes of our history, he attempts to present an overview for American knowledge relating to the causes of migration to the new world and consequences of society created

After the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492, the powerful Old World scrambled to colonize it. The three major nations involved in this were Spain, France, and England. Spain took more to the south in the Central American and Mexico areas while France went north in the Canada region. The English came to America and settled in both the New England and Chesapeake area. Although the people in these regions originated from the same area, the regions as a whole evolved into different societies because of the settlers’ purpose for coming to America and the obstacles faced in both nature and with the natives.

As a result of the American Revolution and subsequent, independence from England, the United State between 1775-1800 underwent fundamental changes politically, socially, and economically in regards to the 2nd continental congress, republican motherhood, and applied taxes post revolution. These three occurrences marked an important role in the American revolution and their respective categories.

The French and Spanish had both expanded their voyages to America around the 16th and 17th centuries. They came with intentions of initially benefiting themselves and their own European countries. While the French and Spanish both had self-serving imperial goals when they began their settlements in the Americas, they used vastly different tactics toward strengthening their economies. These differences can be seen through the control of their colonies to their relationship with the natives. When the French first arrived in America they had settled in parts of Canada including Quebec in 1608 and Montreal in 1642.

1.) The idea and establishment of freedom arrived from the social and political experience in American history. Historical movements such as the civil war and cold war, provoke freedom and self-determination in the mind set of beings. Political freedom in the nineteenth century triggered many to obtain their goal to vote, to gain their own rights. According to Foner, “the evolution of civil liberties, or rights that individuals can assert against authority” is what ignited the idea and practice of political freedom. Overall there are many vague and complex definitions of freedom, however the use of it has been dependent on conflicts in American history and revolution.

Over the years, North America has developed in many different ways. However, one particular time period in which change was significant was the 1600’s, a time of trade, labor, and territorial settlements. As many people began to settle in different areas of North America, such as the Native Americans, Pilgrims, and more, there came along the fur trade, colony building, and more foreigners looking to live in North America. With these different people coming to North America, they have created ways in which cohabitation is possible, but unlikeable. As more Europeans and Spaniards arrived, the more likely spread was to happen, thus creating an unexpected competition between the developing colonies.

- In the geological aspect, the Native Americans that tended to the land did not aggressively control the land leaving rich soil for the incoming Europeans to later on control. But they also burnt down many trees to create living spaces for the tribes. Geographically it was good for the Europeans because it was by the water and all the rocks underneath the top layer of soil were rich for farming.

Before the French and Indian war, the line that divided the French and British were not perfectly defined. The British colonies controlled the entire east coast, Spain had power of modern day Florida and Mexico, and France claimed the Middle West which was called Louisiana at the time and modern day Quebec. France expanded into the Ohio River valley agitating Britain causing many battles before the French and Indian War which is also known as Seven Year’s War. France paired up with the Iroquois Confederacy in hopes of winning and expanding their territory. Britain made alliances with the Spanish and their strong forces resulted in the future’s British winning.

North America is a region in the North Hemisphere, and is also deemed a subcontinent. One thing that shaped North America current physical geography was glaciers. Glaciers are what influence majority of the current landscape of North America today. North America also has a wide range of natural hazards that affects the region more than any other continent, due to the proximity of water and the latitude. The region also has a long history of the influences of the European settlers and help shaped the human geography.

The time period between the 1600s and 1700s was a time of a major change in the land of the New World. The colonization of Europeans into the North America had considerable impacts on the Native American lives. European empire at the time, such as the French, England and Spanish empires, often fought against each other for power and control. After the European tried to colonized, the Native American suddenly found themselves dealing with European power politics. The arrival of Europeans into the New World meant new political relationships for both the European and the Native Americans. Each side had thing to gain and loss in this kind of relationship, especially military alliances and new trade goods. European power politics and rivalries were a major factor in the development of European and Native American relations because they created relationships of mutually beneficial relationships of trade and alliances.

The colonisation of North America by the Europeans became one of the most crucial points for the native North Americans. The differing experiences of contact between both cultures had overwhelmingly disastrous impacts on the normal way of life. From such contact arose the issue of land disputes, in turn resulting in massacres and frontier wars which could have otherwise been unnecessary. The factors stated above provide a suitable stimulus for a discussion in regards to the varying encounters of the Indigenous North Americans.

Between 1492-1776, although many people moved to the “New World”, North America lost population due to the amount of Indians dying from war and diseases and the inability of colonists to replace them. John Murrin states, “losers far outnumbered winners” in “ a tragedy of such huge proportions that no one’s imagination can easily encompass it all.” This thought of a decreasing population broadens one’s perspective of history from that of an excluded American tale full of positivity to that of a more unbiased, all-encompassing analysis. The Indians and slaves have recently been noted as a more crucial part of history than previously accredited with.