Anglophone Studies I Week 8
The Discovery of America In search of New trade routes New enterprises and riches New lands to build an empire for the mother country Spreading Christianity among indigenous peoples Natives and newcomers: a fateful encounter
The spread of European settlements 1000 Leif Ericson (Norway) - the first European to visit the New World Newfoundland 1492 Christopher Columbus (set out from Spain) San Salvador (the Bahamas) 1499 Amerigo Vespucci (Italy) The spread of European settlements Spanish, Dutch, English, French
Native American tribes By 15000 – 7 to 10 million people (North American population) millions in Mesoamerica and South America (the Maya, Aztecs and Incas)
1607 British colonists founded the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia on May 14, 1607. King James I of England commercial venture (the Virginia Company) Captain John Smith “Starving time” Tobacco – a profitable export The arrival of English women (1619) The introduction of African labour (1619)
1620 Plymouth (present-day Massachuttes) English religious dissenters (the “Pilgrims” arrived on the Mayflower) “Separatists” The Mayflower Compact the first written document establishing “JUST AND EQUAL” form of government in America New England William Bradford (Plymouth Colony Governor) Of Plymouth Plantation Thanksgiving Day
Slavery takes root in America 1630 Massachutess Bay Colony (Boston) “Puritans” A City on a Hill “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.” (John Winthrop, 1630) Slavery takes root in America The first slave ship arrived in Jamestown in 1619 A clash of empires: France versus England 1756-1763 The French and Indian War The outcome Great Britain – the dominant colonial power in eastern North America