Significance of Jamestown
What is the significance of Jamestown? “Jamestown introduced slavery into English speaking North America; it became the first of England’s colonies to adopt a representative government; and it was the site of the first clashes between whites and Indians over territorial expansion. Jamestown began the tenuous, often violent, mingling of different peoples that came to embody the American experience.” Dr. James Horn A Land As God Made It.
In the 1400’s Europe had very little land for agriculture and settlement. The Europeans desired riches such as gold, luxury food items, land, and timber. None of these products could be produced in Europe so they had to find these resources elsewhere. This led to a lot of importing and trading with distant lands such as Asia. Trading with distant lands required dependable, faster ships, and led to the desire to discover shorter more efficient routes. Christopher Columbus believed he could sail west to reach Asia faster and Spain endorsed his adventure. What he found instead was the America’s. Spain claimed the entire new world as its own except for Brazil which was determined to belong to Portugal. Spain’s intentions on settling the new world was to obtain wealth. Spain acquired gold and silver from Mexico. By 1565 the first European settlement was established in Florida.
Spain had developed its own empire in America. Although Spain’s main endeavor had been to find riches such as gold by the end of the 15th century they had decided it would be more profitable to steal land and crops and use Indians for labor than to continue to search for rumored cities of gold. The Pueblo Indians retaliated but the battle ended with many losses for the Indians. “By the early 1700’s the Spanish monarch ruled three times more Indian subjects than Spaniards.” Carnes, Mark C and John Garraty The American Nation.. The biggest problem for the Spanish empire was that the Indian population was dying rapidly. Europeans killed more natives
In the 1400’s Europe had very little land for agriculture and settlement. The Europeans desired riches such as gold, luxury food items, land, and timber. None of these products could be produced in Europe so they had to find these resources elsewhere. This led to a lot of importing and trading with distant lands such as Asia. Trading with distant lands required dependable, faster ships, and led to the desire to discover shorter more efficient routes. Christopher Columbus believed he could sail west to reach Asia faster and Spain endorsed his adventure. What he found instead was the America’s. Spain claimed the entire new world as its own except for Brazil which was determined to belong to Portugal. Spain’s intentions on settling the new world was to obtain wealth. Spain acquired gold and silver from Mexico. By 1565 the first European settlement was established in Florida.
Spain had developed its own empire in America. Although Spain’s main endeavor had been to find riches such as gold by the end of the 15th century they had decided it would be more profitable to steal land and crops and use Indians for labor than to continue to search for rumored cities of gold. The Pueblo Indians retaliated but the battle ended with many losses for the Indians. “By the early 1700’s the Spanish monarch ruled three times more Indian subjects than Spaniards.” Carnes, Mark C and John Garraty The American Nation.. The biggest problem for the Spanish empire was that the Indian population was dying rapidly. Europeans killed more natives
Bibliography: Page Mark C. Carnes and John A. Garraty The American Nation. 13th Edition Pearson Longman 2008 Dr. James Horn A Land As God Made It. Perseus Books 2005 William M. Kelso, Jamestown, The Buried Truth (University of Virginia Press, 2006) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown,_Virginia#1619:_First_African-Americans> <http://hcc.elearnportal.com/library/description> Highland Community College Online