Colonizing the 16th and 17th Centuries

Colonizing Experiences in North America during the 16th and 17th centuries

Nationality | Economic Goals and Funding | Cultural/Religious Goals (Did they have rel. goals? what were they?) | Interactions with Natives/Organization and Strength of Natives | Methods of Land Distribution (did they have small settlements or large land grants to individuals? | How the Land and Climate Affected Economics (Did they trade b/c they couldn’t farm or go big on farming?) |

Spanish |  Looking to strike fields of gold. Funded by the state to bring land to Spanish empire and wealth to monarch. |  Intent on converting “infidel” natives to Catholicism. (Probably a direct result of the Spanish Reconquista and subsequent Inquisition)Missions to convert | Faced significant resistance in FL and NM from small and mid-sized tribesDeveloped a mil. and missionary strategyEnslaved Indian labor, Encomienda systemForced Sp. customs on Natives, caste systemPopé’s Rebellion/Pueblo RevoltColumbian Exchange |  Conquered and claimed massive plots of land in Southwest and Latin America. Claimed Florida. | Arid SW undermined agric. prospectsIsolated trading posts were unable to turn into sources of eco. return |

French |  Looking to trade (especially fur) with Indians to bring back to Europe. Not really after gold. Barter and Exchange. Self funded. |  Sent missionaries to the Hinterland, but outside of that, there was really nothing. They were just there to make money (aside from settling Quebec). | Great Lakes Natives: Iroquois, Huron, and Algonquian, were constantly at war with each other, fighting over fur trade with FrenchIntroduced diseaseCoureurs de bois, lived with Natives and learned cultureConverted manyIntroduced disease  | Occupied small settlements amid vast areas that they claimed   |  Because mainly occupied territory in harsh, cold, northern climate, they traded as a means of survival and, later, profit. |

Dutch | Estab. trading relations with Nativescontrol a sphere...