APUSH AMSCO Topic 2.2 Study NotesAPUSH AMSCO Topic 2.2 Study Notes

A P U S H I S T O R Y · UNIT2

European Colonization in North America

AMSCO Topic 2.2

Learning Objective: Explain how and why various European colonies developed and expanded from 1607 to 1754. Study notes built from the AMSCO text only. No outside sources are added.

Big Picture

Spain, France, the Netherlands, and England all settled North America in the 1600s for three main reasons: wealth, spreading Christianity, and escaping persecution. Their different goals, settlers, and relationships with American Indians produced very different colonies.

Spanish Colonies

Spanish settlements grew slowly because of limited mineral resources and strong American Indian opposition. Missionary zeal mattered: Catholic Spain was working to counter the Reformation and Protestantism. Colonies were mostly men, and gradually included Native Americans and Africans.

Florida: Ponce de Leon claimed it for Spain in 1513. St. Augustine (1565) was founded more than 50 years before Jamestown and is the oldest European-founded city on the U.S. mainland. Few settlements grew: little silver or gold, a declining native population, and hurricanes.

New Mexico and Arizona: Spanish colonists arrived in 1598 in land American Indians had settled for about 700 years. Santa Fe became the capital of New Mexico in 1610.

Texas: Settlements between Florida and New Mexico grew in the early 1700s as Spain resisted French exploration of the lower Mississippi.

California: San Diego was founded in 1769 (Russians were exploring from Alaska). By 1784 the Franciscans and Father Junipero Serra had missions along the coast.

French Colonies

Like the Spanish, the French were mainly men, but there were few of them. Some were missionaries; most worked in the fur trade, buying furs from American Indians across the interior. Many traders married American Indian women, who served as guides, translators, and negotiators. Trade made rivers especially important. Quebec (1608): first French settlement, on the St. Lawrence River, founded by Samuel de Champlain, the "Father of New France."

1673: Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette explored the upper Mississippi. Robert de La Salle explored the Mississippi basin and named it Louisiana (for Louis XIV).

New Orleans (1718): permanent settlement where the Mississippi meets the Gulf of Mexico; became a prosperous trade center.

Dutch Colonies

The Netherlands sponsored exploration and hired English sailor Henry Hudson, who sailed up the Hudson River in 1609 while searching for a northwest passage. This gave the Dutch a claim to the area: New Amsterdam (later New York).

The Dutch government gave the Dutch West India Company, a private company, the right to control the region for economic gain.

Like the French: small numbers of traders with strong trade networks among American Indians. Unlike the French: more likely to settle in coastal or river trading posts and less likely to intermarry with American Indians.

British Colonies

England was ready to colonize land explored a century earlier by John Cabot. Its population was growing faster than its economy, so poor and landless families increased and were drawn to opportunity in the Americas. Joint-stock companies financed the risky enterprise of colonization.

Compared with other Europeans, English colonists included more families and single women and were more interested in farming. So they were more likely to claim American Indian land and less likely to intermarry. The English colonies attracted the most diverse group of European settlers, most seeking better lives or religious freedom.

Comparing the Four Empires

Spain France Netherlands England

Main motives Wealth; spread Catholicism Fur trade; missionaries Trade and profit

(Dutch West India

Co.)

Land and farming;

better life; religious

freedom

Settlers Mostly men Few; mostly men Small numbers of

traders

More families and

single women; most

diverse

Relations with

American

Indians

Missions; gradually included

Native Americans and Africans in

society

Fur-trade partners; traders

often married Indian

women

Trade networks;

less intermarriage

Claimed Indian land;

less intermarriage

Where Florida, Southwest, Texas,

California

St. Lawrence and

Mississippi rivers; New

Orleans

Hudson River; New

Amsterdam

Atlantic coast

Key Terms and Actors

Term / Actor What it is and why it matters

St. Augustine Spanish settlement in Florida (1565); oldest European-founded city on the U.S. mainland. Santa Fe Capital of Spanish New Mexico, established 1610.

Junipero Serra Franciscan priest who helped found missions along the California coast. Samuel de Champlain Founded Quebec (1608); the "Father of New France."

La Salle Explored the Mississippi basin and named it Louisiana for Louis XIV.

Henry Hudson English sailor hired by the Dutch; sailed up the Hudson River in 1609. Dutch West India Company Private company given the right to control Dutch North America for economic gain. John Cabot Early English explorer whose voyage supported England's later claims.

Joint-stock company Business owned by investors who pool money to share the risk and profit of colonizing. Making This Essay-Ready

Comparison: The strongest comparison point is who came and why. Spanish, French, and Dutch colonies were small, male, trade or mission driven. English colonies had many families and farmers, which meant more demand for land and more conflict over it.

Causation: Motives (wealth, religion, escape from persecution) plus geography (rivers for the French, coastal posts for the Dutch, farmland for the English) explain why each empire's colonies looked different. AMSCO Topic 2.2 · Student-written study notes summarizing AMSCO