Native Americans and European Settlement

Transcription

1 Native Americans and European Settlement The settlement of North America involved various European powers all vying for territory at different times. The Spanish, French, Dutch, and English all had claims in present day America. European Exploration and Settlement Spanish In 1513, Ponce de León and his expedition became the first known Europeans to visit the land they named "la Florida." They claimed the land for Spain, paving the way for numerous Spanish expeditions over the next 40 years. In 1565, Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded the town of St. Augustine, which is the oldest city in the United States. Centuries later, the Spanish

2 remained in Florida where they interacted with the dominant Native American nation, the Seminole. Florida was eventually ceded to the United States in The Spanish managed to gain land in Mexico before moving north into the Southwest. Major Spanish expeditions of the 1500s were designed to establish new lands for Spain and to spread the Christian faith. In 1598, Juan de Onate's expedition traveled north of the Rio Grande and gave the name New Mexico to the territory north of New Spain. New Spain included territory in the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Mexico, and parts of the Southwest United States. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Spanish priests built missions to spread the Christian faith to the native people, particularly the Pueblo. In 1680, a Pueblo uprising succeeded in expelling the Spanish from New Mexico. The Pueblos burned Spanish churches, killed priests, and nearly destroyed the Spanish colony in New Mexico. Although the Spanish returned 12 years later, the Pueblo were able to retain some rights under the new Spanish government. The Spanish recognized Pueblo land rights and permitted the practice of their native religion. Thanks in part to the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the Pueblo of present day New Mexico continue to retain their tribal governance, languages, religion, ceremonies, and art. French Seeking the Northwest Passage, a northern route through North America to the Pacific Ocean, French explorer Giovanni da Verrazano traveled to North America's coastline in the early part of the sixteenth century but was unsuccessful in finding the passage. Several years later, Jacques Cartier was sent to North America, where he discovered and mapped the St. Lawrence River. New France was founded as part of the hope to build a profitable fur trade with Native Americans in Samuel de Champlain founded the trading post of Quebec, which became the capital of New France. This settlement grew slowly, as many French preferred to live among the Native Americans. They created mutually beneficial relationships, often paying respects to chiefs by funneling gifts and tributes to them. The French realized their dependence on Native Americans for the fur trade, which formed the foundation of French colonial expansion in North America. By the 1670s, French exploration began expanding into the present day United States. A fur trader named Louis Joliet and a Jesuit priest named Jacques Marquette traveled to the Mississippi River and explored the northern portion. In 1682, Rene Robert Cavalier traveled the Mississippi all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, and he claimed the land for France naming it Louisiana in honor of Louis XIV. English In 1606, King James I of England granted the Virginia Company a charter to establish colonies in Virginia for economic purposes. In May 1607, colonists founded the first permanent English settlement, which they named Jamestown in honor of their king. Jamestown was certainly not without its problems, as disease and starvation took the lives of well over half of the settlers. Those who survived were spared by the help of Chief Powhatan, who helped by trading

3 goods and teaching them how to grow crops such as corn. Eventually, the colony became greatly successful with the introduction of tobacco crops. Perhaps one of the most famous stories of survival involves the daughter of Chief Powhatan, Pocahontas. Although the details are debated by historians, it is believed that Pocahontas repeatedly brought food and supplies to the starving Jamestown colonists and may have saved John Smith on several occasions. She eventually married John Rolfe and traveled to England, becoming a symbol of Native American assimilation into English society. In 1620, a group of Separatists boarded the Mayflower and headed to America. The majority of colonists on the Mayflower were Puritan Separatists known as Pilgrims. Because of their desire to separate from the Church of England, they experienced religious persecution in England. Although they first built a successful Puritan congregation in the Netherlands, they believed that the New World offered a chance to build a better and more pure English community. It also offered the chance to spread Christianity to remote parts of the world. Lacking a charter from the king, the Pilgrims created their own government in the Plymouth Colony. Less than ten years later, another group of Puritans settled in the colonies also escaping religious persecution. This group, known as the Puritans, did not intend on separating completely from the Church of England as the Pilgrims of Plymouth had, but rather intended on finding ways to "purify" it. John Winthrop and several other wealthy Englishmen were stockholders in the Massachusetts Bay Company.Convinced that Puritans would no longer be accepted in England, John Winthrop changed what was originally a business investment into a refuge for Puritans in America. In March 1630, Winthrop and 900 others, which included entire families, boarded 11 ships. Winthrop described to the others that their new colony would be "a city upon a hill" and that "the eyes of all people are on us." Dutch In 1609, Henry Hudson explored the Hudson River for the Dutch. The region was claimed for the Dutch, who called it New Netherland and established their main settlement at New Amsterdam. These early expeditions led to the establishment of trading posts and settlements in and around present day New York. New York had been occupied by the Iroquois Confederacy, and they fought with the Dutch and other European powers for territorial supremacy. In the 1630s, the English and Dutch were competing for control of the fur trade in the Connecticut River Valley, while the Pequot competed with rival tribes the Mohegan and the Narragansett for control of land and trade with the Europeans. The English allied with the Mohegan and Narragansett and nearly wiped out the Pequot in what became known as the Pequot War of 1637.Although drastically reduced in number, the Pequot remain today on federally recognized land in Connecticut.

4 Life in the Thirteen Colonies Tensions between Native Americans and colonists were present from the start of European settlement. In 1675, as more poor, aspiring tenants attempted to gain cheap land out west, they insisted that the Native Americans on that land be expelled or exterminated. Defying orders from Governor Berkeley of Virginia, Virginia militiamen surrounded an Indian village and killed four chiefs. The Native Americans retaliated by raiding the farmers' plantations and killing eighty people. When Berkeley refused to participate in war, Nathaniel Bacon, a wealthy land owner, emerged as the leader of the dissident whites. Bacon's men began their rebellion by attacking some of the peaceful Doeg people, which triggered a political upheaval. Fittingly, religion played a key role in the lives of the colonists. Some colonies established a state religion, such as the Puritans of Massachusetts, while others allowed for the freedom to practice whichever religion one would like. Regardless, most colonies refused to allow women to participate in religious teachings. This idea was seen in the banishment of Anne Hutchinson who had been forced from Massachusetts because she led sermons and held prayer meetings in her home. Quakers, however, saw women in a different light. While both Puritans and Quakers believed both men and women could be "saved," Quakers actually allowed women to participate in the governance of church and state. The First Great Awakening was a religious revival movement that swept through the colonies between The Great Awakening was characterized by evangelical "camp" meetings with dynamic preachers. Preachers like John Wesley challenged traditional notions of Calvinism by offering everyone a chance for salvation. But some preachers, such as Jonathan Edwards of Massachusetts, attacked the new doctrines of "salvation for all" and preached more traditional Puritan ideas of predestination and salvation by God's grace alone. The Great Awakening led to a division between new and old traditionalists. Despite difficulties in accessing education, colonists placed a high value on education from the beginning. Education was more easily obtained in the northern colonies, and many northern families taught their children to read and write at home. In 1647, Massachusetts law required every town to support a public school, and in some areas, Quakers and other sects operated church schools. By the time of the American Revolution, the literacy rate was higher in the colonies than in Europe. Many of the first settlers of the colonies relied on the labor of indentured servants. Under this system, young men would travel to America at the cost of a wealthier man. The young man would then pay his passage off by working as a servant for a certain number of years. At this point, he would have learned a new skill and could become an independent land owner, although, this did not happen for all people. By the late 17th century, indentured and formerly indentured servants had become one of the largest populations in the southern colonies. Many former indentured servants were landless, penniless, and without families. They traveled the countryside looking for employment and often contributed to social unrest, as seen in Bacon's Rebellion. This population threatened rich landowners, who soon shifted away from the system

5 of indentured servitude and focused on African slavery as a key labor source for the southern agricultural economy.