Adam Taylor

                                                                                                                                                Per. 3 AP US History

                                                                                                                                                7-18-04

                                                                                                                                                Ch.1-2 Questions

Chapter 1

1. The Europeans did many things to become leaders in world trade, and to extend their influence across the Atlantic. First off they did exploring and found the route to India by water. Then upon doing more exploration they found the Americas across the Atlantic. Then they started colonizing the new world that they had found.  Upon colonizing the Europeans started making mines, plantations and enslaving the locals and the Africans and bringing them to the new world for cheap labor.  Then to expand their power they wanted more land and so they expanded by destroying and then enjoying the spoils of war from their victories.  So with that they had great increase in sugarcane, gold, silver, tobacco, fish, food, and wool in England.

2. There were many characters that made the Native Americans easy to be conquered by the Europeans. The biggest example that comes to my mind is Cortzes with the Aztecs. The Aztecs believed that Cortzes was one of their gods,  Quetzalcoatl. Now this god was said to have a beard, white skin, and come from the east, hated sacrifices. So the Aztecs were afraid to attack him until it was to late. When they final did started to attack it was way to late, and they were conquered by only a few hundred Spainish. So the belief in polytheism caused the downfall of Native Americas.  Other things that got them were technology. The European ships were very large and powerful compared to the Native American ships.  Also the Europeans weapons were like weapons from the gods to the Native Americans. With all these the Native Americas did not stand a chance against the weapons, and then they had to deal with the diseases that they had no experience with.

3.  The trade for African slaves to the new world was all due to profits for the Europeans. To increase their profits they started mining, and running plantations in the new world. With that they increased their profits greatly and so they got greedy and wanted more. So they wanted a cheap it not free work force because they needed a large work force. With that they found the slaves in Africa very interesting. So they started to trade for them, with the Africans with whatever cheap things that they could get a away with. With that they brought the slaves to the Caribbean in exchange for the raw materials from the slave work force already there. From there the ships returned to Europe to trade that for the rum and trinkets and guns for slaves in Africa. So went the trade back and fourth and never ending.

4. The English got the political and economical resources to establish colonies in North America. The British first started to gaining interest in settling America over religious groups. For example the Pilgrims wanted their religious freedom and getting it by leaving, and William Penn. The monarchy would solve their problems by giving religious groups colonies in the new world so they would not have to deal with it. These is how they did it politically. From the economically aspect, a big group of about 20,000 Puritans left in the Great Migration due to the wool industry falling out. So once again the it was one of the religious groups that were not liked, but it had to do with economy and not politics that time.

Chapter 2 Questions

1. The countries that colonized the Americas and became rivals with one another in the 17^th century were, Holland, and England. The British took New Holland from the Dutch. By doing this they took over Mannathan Island. With this the British expanded their empire a little more. Also during this time the colony of Jamestown went through the King Philip’s War, and with the Wampanoag Indians.

2. The countries were competing for land during the early 17^th century were Britain and Holland. With more land came more power, and so with that they went to war. In the end the British won over the Dutch in New Holland and took the island of Mannathan.  With this the Dutch never again had their own colony, but were only immigrants to the new world.

3. Not all the colonies had the same reasons, for colonizing. The British colonized mainly due to religious groups like the Puritans.   The French did it to get more power so that the Spainish could not to get powerful. Then the Spainish did it to try and tip the balance of power in Europe and for the wealth.

4. The Spainish who came in first came in they colonized and expanded for the wealth, and  power. They also did it because they got silver, gold, sugarcane, and those got them all the most important wealth. The French came in to try and gain power and get some new land. So they settled New France, and ended up with more than just land but also making a lot of money on the fur trade. Then the British came in, for religious reasons. The Puritans, Quakers, Pilgrims are all examples of religious groups from Britain. Then there was the Dutch, they came in for land, and wealth. But they did not hold to long.

5. The first tobacco colony was Jamestown under the British rule. The first colony was located in the area of New England, and they were very differently established colonies then Spain, France, and Holland. The reason that England’s colonies were different was all the colonies came to be due to religious groups wanting their freedom to worship and practice their religion their way and not have someone else’s beliefs forced upon them. So they were not originally sent to colonize for wealth and power but for freedom of religion.

6. The Bacon’s Rebellion changed the lobar system in the early colonial system from indentured servants to Enslaved Africans. With this the colonial life began to change a lot when the African slaves where used to do all the labor. It really changed the way of trade and work force for centuries.