1. The Northern
European
Phase

2. Challenge to Spanish Hegemony
most powers avoided Spain & Portugal’s eastern & western empires, choosing instead to explore the North Atlantic
1496: John Cabot investigated Newfoundland (Canada)-- vast fishing resource
Northwest Passage = northern Europeans looked for a Northwest route to the East (for the lucrative spice trade)

3. The Privateers
new route to India & Asia not found, so direct confrontation with Spain & Portugal necessary
French privateers & Dutch “Sea Beggars”plundered Spanish treasure ships & conducted illegal trade with Spanish colonies
English Sea Dogs (John Hawkins, Francis Drake, etc.) engaged in smuggling & piracy

4. The English as Colonizers
Incentives for American colonization & 1st attempts
incentives: gold (found little), extend Protestantism, expand trade, increase tax revenues, employment, timber, military bases, enhance search for Northwest Passage
first attempts: disastrous! Lost ships, abandoned settlements, lost settlers (ex. Roanoke)
English Colonies
Differences from Spain:
no civilizations to conquer
colonies established by joint-stock companies organized by private entrepreneurs (instead of the king) who were given charters by the crown

5. Virginia: 1st Successful Colony
New England: religious motivations to settle here
Massachusetts Bay Colony (English Puritans)
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine (Puritan dissenters)
“triangular trade”:
Rum from New England (made from molasses)
Manufactured goods from New England
Molasses from Caribbean
Slaves from Africa
(Middle Passage)
Later colonies: Maryland, Carolinas, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania (Quakers), Delaware

6. The Dutch Empire in the 17th Century
The Carrying Trade: carried commodities for northern European powers: fish, tar, pitch, timber, hemp, flax, etc.
ships were larger, slower, more spacious (no cannons), so they could carry more cargo than others
monopoly on Arctic whaling industry
Challenging the Portuguese: Dutch fleets in the East Indies (southern Asia) beginning in 1595
advantages over Portuguese: superior seamanship; better & less expensive trade goods = PROFIT!!!

7. East India Company
1602: all private Dutch trading companies brought into one large organization
unity + organization = drove Portuguese from East Indies by 1629
huge inter-Asian trade in China, Japan, & India with posts & protectorates (became part of their empire in the 1700s)
biggest commodity = coffee

8. Colonies
New Amsterdam: fur trading post on Long Island (New York) found by Henry Hudson turned into a permanent settlement under the direction of governor Peter Minuit
1664: fell to an English fleet
South Africa: most permanent Dutch settlement est. 1652
purpose: provisioning port for ships bound for the Orient (fresh fruit, meat, water, etc.)
settlers established farms in the area
Decline
England & France (both with larger populations, more natural resources, etc.) drove the Dutch out of business with their strong mercantilist systems with their vast colonies

9. French Expansionism
New France
claim to North America established by Jacque Cartier in Quebec & the Great Lakes
only French-speaking Catholics could settle there
Louisiana
Robert Cavalier traveled down the Mississippi River from the Great Lakes in 1682
Relations with the English
intense rivalry, but no hostilities at first
French got along better with the Native Americans (except the Iroquois)
English had more people (1.5 m to France’s 80,000)
1645
1745

10. French-English Rivalry Outside N. America
The West Indies (Caribbean): traded with Spanish & Portuguese (against Spain’s mercantilist system, but all sides benefited, so Spain was OK with it)
India
English possessed Calcutta & Madras on the east coast and Surat & Bombay on the west coast
French held Chandarnagar & Pondichéry in the east
footholds to become dominant political forces in India in the 1700s

11. French & Spanish = rule by the crown Native Americans:
English, French, & Spanish Empires: Comparisons
Government:
English = high degree of self- government; property owners elected lower house of legislature; could pass laws & levy taxes
French & Spanish = rule by the crown
Native Americans:
English = found them to be “in the way”; removal treaties; series of Indian wars
French = saw them as trading partners (except for Iroquois)
Spanish = exploited them &/or intermarried with them