1. Spanish, French and English
European Exploration
Spanish, French and English

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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 s
Where?
Eastern US
India, Australia, Canada, Africa, British Guyana, Hong Kong

7. 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

8. 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