Question

1. How did European exploration and colonization affect Native Americans? How did Europeans view Native Americans?

2. What were the motivations for European exploration and colonization? Explain mercantilism. What was the greatest consequence of colonization, do you think?
3. How did settlement differ between the New England area, Barbados, and Virginia? How were labor questions answered differently by region?
4. How did settlement and religious perspective differ between Puritans and Pilgrims?
5. Why did New England Puritans fear that their "city on a hill" was failing in the period from 1650 to 1700? Describe the appropriate events that gave them doubts. How did their try to stop this decline?
6. Why do historians call the French and Indian War, "the war that made America"? Discuss the causes, consequences, and significance of the French and Indian War (1754- 1761). 7. What were the causes of the American Revolution? Who fought the war? Why? Why did the French and Spanish help the colonies win independence? What was agreed to in the Treat of Paris (1783)?

Answer 1

1)

We can separate the consequences of European exploration into two points:

• The human loss must include not only the death of several Native Americans during the first century of colonization (from the very first settlement to the Indian Wars in the 19th century) but also the cultural and material aspects that all these people maintained before the arrival of the Europeans.

• The natural destruction is related to the hunt of many species, and the felling of trees to the built of cities, villages and to open roads. The deviation of rivers and the interference on the environment are some examples.

The Eurocentrism of the conquistadores promoted the concept that those populations were inferior. Because of that, and to the religious beliefs of spreading Christianity through the world, Europeans saw the Native Americans as barbarians.

2)

• Economic: the looking for new lands represents the search for products for the European market. Not only products but the possibility to find gold in these lands were the greatest motivation.

• Political: between the 15th and 19th centuries (a long period, indeed), European kingdoms were always looking to create an empire. Portugal and Spain were the first ones to do so. Anyway, as many colonies you possess, more political power you gain.
• Religious: this point is more related to the Iberian countries who had a huge catholic influence in their monarchies. The main idea was to spread Christianity to the conquested populations. These efforts increased after the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century.

Mercantilism was the main economic theory of that time. It's one of the prototypes of capitalism in the Western world.

Mercantilism is based on four points:

1 - Metalism: is the search for gold and silver. No matter what happens, this is the first attempt of a country when it obtains a colony.

2 - Control of the economy: this point is related to the State. The Monarch had entire control of the economical deeds. He should know what get in and get out of the colony.

3 - Balance of trade: the idea it was export more, import less. What does it mean? Well, the State should influence production and look for new markets.

4 - Commercial monopoly: in a nutshell, it's the practice to not allow the colony to export or promote trade with any other country beyond his metropolis.

3)

NEW ENGLAND

New England's society was structured into a religious moral brought from England. This means that the members that were part of this society were puritans. A Profoundly homogenous society, formed mainly by white people.

VIRGINIA

A biracial society, where slavery was common. The social division and labor relations were based on wealth.

BARBADOS

The sugar cane was the main production and society was based on the slavery system. Just like in the South American colonies, Barbados followed the same process using engenhos and farms.

4)

Despite they had close religious precepts, they differ in the following point: the Pilgrims were separatists. Which means that they broke with the English church. The Puritans, on the other hand, maintained their loyalty. These differences reflected on how they created their settlements in the New World.

- The Pilgrims settled, for the most part, on the northern colonies, creating a rigid and stratified society, based on the religious precepts, maintaining the social order.

- The Puritans settled in the Middle colonies, but for the most part, in the Southern colonies, formed by workers and merchants. An unequal society, by the way, where slavery became strong in the 1700s.

5)

This utopian conception proved itself failed when the society begins to increase in population, and the industrial development surpassed the religious ideas, especially in Boston, one of the most preeminent colonies. Day by day, wealth accumulation was more important than the traditional values.

6)

This conflit was part of the Seven Years War, but due to the specificities of this battle, many historians claim this as the war that made America. The reason is that with the England victory and the signature of the Treaty of Paris, the British government reinforced its rule under the Colony. The taxes and the loss of liberty were one of the reasons for the American Revolution years later.

7)

When England won the Seven Years War, the casualties and loss of money were enormous, demanding England to create new taxes or increasing the existent ones for the Thirteen Colonies. The bureaucracy and the gradually lost of liberty demanded a counter-attack by the Colonies. The english colonies in North America, and the British army. France had a strong motif. The French defeat in the Seven Years War led them to confront England helping the colonies in their revolutionary war. The treaty formalized American independence.

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