World Studies 20.3 Notes English Colonial Expansion

I.The Beginnings of the British Empire A. Explorers and sea dogs 1. King Henry VII, hired John Cabot who explored the coasts of New Foundland, Nova Scotia, and New England. 2. Cabot’s voyages gave England its 1 st claim in North America. 3. During Queen Elizabeth I’s reign an adventurous group of English sea captains called sea dogs appeared. a. Sir John Hawkins b. Sir Francis Drake c. Sir Walter Raleigh 4. The sea dogs were best known for plundering foreign ships. Their repeated raids of Spanish ships from Africa greatly angered King Phillip II of Spain.

5. Philip protested to Queen Elizabeth, who claimed she was helpless to stop the raids. Secretly, she supported the sea dogs and shared the profit from selling the slaves. B. The British in India 1. Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to a trading group that came to be known as the British East India Company.

II. The British in America ** Henry Hudson was one of the first to search for the Northwest Passage. A. British settlements. 1. As they searched for the NW passage, the British began settling along the eastern coast of North America. Private companies founded the first of these colonial settlements. a. Plymouth and Jamestown 2. Many settlers did not come voluntarily. As in other colonial empires, the English brought slaves to their colonies. 3. Most European colonies were ruled from the home country. Self-gov’t set England’s empire apart. Most English colonies had some form of representative assembly. Official control remained firmly w/ England.

B. Mercantilism and the British Colonies 1. The British gov’t tried to make colonies more profitable. Its policy of mercantilism held that the colonies existed for the economic benefit of the home country. Mercantilists believed that for a nation to become wealthy, it must export more than it imports. a. Raw materials and markets for home country. 2. One law required colonists to sell products only to England--- even if better prices were available in another country. 3. Colonists resented the English trade regulations, and found ways to evade the laws. 4. Until the mid- 1700s, the British gov’t did not try very hard to enforce its colonial trade restrictions.

Define Mercantilism: Effects of Mercantilism

Great Britain GOLD SILVER RAW MATERIALS MANUFACTURED GOODS