Age Of Exploration And Exchange

The Age of Exploration and Exchange in 1450 - 1750 CE, was a catalyst for the colonization of North America. Before this period in history, the Americas were an unknown place to the west of the rest of the developing world. The explorers and travelers ran into North America unintentionally. However, what happened after this was no accident. Once more first discovered, many nations sent out more traders and explorers to North America. Although there were already natives on the land, several European nations jumped at the opportunity to establish their hold on this new territory. In no time, North America was transformed from an underdeveloped land to one filled with influences, technology, and culture from all over the world (Super). The natives
A man by the name of Samuel de Champlain and a few dozen other colonists started France’s first colony in North America. France’s territory in North America was appropriately named New France. New France expanded to include the Midwestern states of North America and into eastern Canada. Their empire was immense in size, yet the population was not concentrated all in one place. The settlers’ motive was not to try to form communities, but rather to proselytize the Natives of the land to Christianity. The French also established a fur trade. The activeness of this fur trade provided the base for their economy. Although not their sole purpose, they were more interested in making money off the land than gaining territory in North America. The fur trade created a peaceful connection between the French and the Native Americas. This is because both peoples benefitted from the commerce, making their relationship cooperative, as opposed to the violent relationship between the Native Americans and the British (Wilsman). Along with Samuel de Champlain, Jacques Cartier was another leader for France in their part of the colonization of North America. Jacques Cartier led important voyages to America. He traveled to North America because he thought that it would contain a water passage that would take him to Asia. Although Jacques Cartier did not find Asia, he stayed in the Americas,
The Dutch were one of the main contributors to the colonization in North America during The Age of Exploration and Exchange. Henry Hudson was the leader of the Dutch colonization of North America. He worked for the Dutch East India Company and sailed west to discover the new world in the summer of 1609. He created trading fort near modern day Albany called Fort Orange (Nelson 62). The land that the Dutch controlled started with land around the current day Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, and the Hudson River; these bodies of water got their name from the famous Dutch explorer, Henry Hudson. The Dutch’s motives were primarily about trade, not necessarily about religion or gaining control over vast territories. They created trading posts along the waterways of North America. The Dutch, like the French, also created a strong fur trade with the Native Americas. They were making an abundance of profit off the fur trade but were not attracting, as may Dutch colonists, as they would have liked. This caused them to open the trade to anyone who desired to be in it, not just the Dutch (Wilsman). This resulted in a variety of different people settling in the Dutch’s settlement in North America: New Netherland. Eventually, the English who renamed it New York (“What Was New Netherland”) drove the Dutch out of their colony New