Spanish, French and English European Exploration Spanish, French and English

Background/ Reasons for Exploration Explorations took off in the late 1400s The Asians and Italians controlled most of the trade (spices, tea, silk, gems) Other countries didn’t like that the Italians were making large profits by being the “middle men” and wanted to trade directly with Asia Bubonic Plague (Black Death) killed about 1/3 of Europeans so they were looking for a new place to live Wealth Religious Freedoms/ Spread Christianity

Spanish Who? King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella financed most of the explorations Many explorers became “Conquistadors” Hernando Cortes, Fransisco Pizzaro A conquistador is a conqueror – they led expeditions and conquered the lands for Spain Where? Mexico, Central America, Caribbean Islands, most of South America (exception of British and French Guyana and Brazil) Southwestern US, present day Florida When? 1492 Columbus “Discovered” the “New World” Most of the 1500s and part of the 1600s Spain was the most powerful Kingdom in the 1500s

Spanish Why? Results? God Glory Gold Catholics felt it was their moral duty to convert Native Americans to Christianity Glory To become famous by discovering new lands Gold To become wealthy and send wealth back to Spain Results? Many Native Americans died from diseases Many Native Americans were forced to convert to Christianity Many Native Americans were enslaved or died while being conquered

French Who? When? Where? Why? Results? Jean Ribault led a group of Hugenots (French protestants) When? mid1500s Where? Southeast and Middle US (Louisiana Territory) Also colonized Haiti, French Guyana, French Canada and parts of Africa Why? Competition with the Spanish French protestants wanted religious freedom from the Catholics Results? Native Americans died from diseases Competition among countries

English Who? When? Where? Began with Queen Elizabeth Henry Cabot Lodge (Canada) Captain John Smith (Jamestown) Sir Walter Raleigh (North Carolina) When? Began in mid 1500s but didn’t become powerful until the 1600 -1700s Where? Eastern US India, Australia, Canada, Africa, British Guyana, Hong Kong

English Why? Results? Wanted to be the most powerful country Mercantilism Wanted to establish colonies so they could extract resources from the colonies and send the resources back to England to produce finished goods which were then shipped back to the colonies for the colonists to purchase Religious Freedom Puritans in New England Results? Competition Permanent settlements Natives loose land and die

Overall Results Many Natives die from either disease or being conquered, they also loose their land Competition among the 3 dominant countries – will eventually lead to major wars New colonies are created which bring a source of wealth to the mother countries African slave trade begins as people are needed to work the new lands