1. Period 2: The Dutch and French in the New World

2.  Background  The Netherlands was under Spanish control until the late 1500s  After their independence the Dutch engaged heavily in exploration  Early on the focus would be on trade with the east  Why?  Portugal was losing control of the Indian Ocean trade by the 1600s  Highly successful because the Muslims traders preferred the Dutch because they were not trying to convert them to Christianity Does not mean they were not willing to use violence

3.  Dutch Joint Stock Companies  Dutch East India Company  Controlled most of Dutch trade in the Pacific and Indian Oceans during the early 1600s  By the late 1600s the DEIC would shift focus to the trans-Atlantic African Slave trade  Sent Henry Hudson to the New World in 1609 to find a Northwest Passage to Asia  Claimed the New York Harbor area for the Dutch  Dutch West India Company  1624 the DWIC secures all Dutch trade in the New World  Establish New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island

6.  Dutch Motivation for Expansion  Extend trade networks  Little interest in conquest  Dutch Relations with Natives  Dutch sympathy for Natives?  Both had been oppressed by the Spanish  Practical approach to trade with the Natives  Did not desire to conquer or convert them to Christianity  Dutch Views on Spreading Christianity  Not a goal  Protestant Work Ethic  Religious idea that encouraged individuals to gain wealth

7.  Characteristics of Dutch Settlement  Not a democracy  Distributed land to Patroons  Shareholders who brought tenants in for agriculture  Tenants paid 10% of their annual income  Controlled all law enforcement  No elected assemblies  Higher religious freedoms than other areas of North America  This attracted a diverse group of settlers  E.g. Africans, Belgians, English, Scandinavians, French, etc.  In 1630 around 18 languages were spoken in New Amsterdam

8.  Characteristics of Dutch Settlement  Slaves  Some were given land  Worked on small family farms, in households, or craft labor  No Plantation agriculture  Women  Some independence  Allowed to own land, go to court, and borrow money  But…  By the mid 1600s the population was only around 9,000  So?  Vulnerable to British attack.

9.  Entered the colonial race in the New World quite late  Concentrated their efforts early on in present day Canada  Port Royal colony in 1604  Quebec colony in 1608  Montreal post in 1642  Later the French explorers established forts along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers

11.  Motivations for colonization  The Fur Trade  European sources of fur began to diminish (over trapping)  Established fur traps along New World waterways  Engaged in trade with Natives for furs  French traded guns, textiles, and alcohol  Led to overhunting  Natives with guns, a problem in the future for Europeans?

14.  Religious Conversion  Similarly to the Spanish and Portuguese, the French wanted to spread Catholicism  The Society of Jesus  Jesuit priest dedicated to finding new converts  Encouraged natives to live close to French settlements and adopt European styles of farming  Unsuccessful, resorted to traveling to remote villages and living among the natives  Eventually they would have some success  Spread Christianity and literacy

15.  Fur trade would flourish, but…  French colonies grew slowly  Cold weather discourage new settlers  Protestant Huguenots not allowed to settle  Mobile lifestyle of fur traders was not conducive to family life

16.  On the sheet I am handing out, research and plot the expeditions of the French explorers listed.