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them wounded him on the left leg with a large cutlass, which resembles
a scimitar, only being larger. That caused the captain to fall face downward, when immediately they rushed upon him with iron and bamboo
spears and with their cutlasses, until they killed our mirror, our light,
our comfort, and our true guide. When they wounded him, he turned
back many times to see whether we were all in the boats. Thereupon,
beholding him dead, we, wounded, retreated, as best we could, to the
boats, which were already pulling off.
After this encounter, there were no longer enough men to sail three ships, so
one ship was abandoned. The two remaining ships arrived in the Spice Islands in
1521. After loading up with spices, they sailed for home. One ship was captured
by the rival Portuguese, so only one ship returned to Spain. This ship had sailed
west to Africa, south along the coast, west around the Cape of Good Hope, and
northward along the western coast of Africa, reaching Spain in 1522. Despite the
loss of four ships and all but 18 men, the spices that the one remaining ship had
taken on in the Spice Islands made the voyage a profit for its backers.
Arriving home, the survivors of the journey noticed something interesting.
They had kept a careful record of the days they had journeyed, but when they
checked the date with locals, they found that their reckoning of what day it was
differed by one day from the reckoning of those who had stayed at home. The
travelers thought it was Wednesday, but the Europeans who stayed at home said
it was Thursday. What had happened was the ship had sailed one rotation around
Earth, so that their assessment of time was off by 24 hours. This discovery eventually led to the creation of the International Date Line.
England and France
Search for the Northwest Passage
Although Spain and Portugal led the way in exploration, England and France
were not far behind. The English and the French were hopeful that they could
find a “Northwest Passage,” a water route that would lead them through North
America to the Pacific Ocean. Then they could sail to the Spice Islands and grow
wealthy.
An early English explorer was John Cabot. Although he was from Venice,
Cabot was in the service of the English monarch when he sailed west in 1497.
Cabot reached the coast of North America at Newfoundland and possibly sailed
as far south as the Chesapeake Bay. Cabot’s expedition was the first European
expedition to see the North American continent since the Vikings. But Cabot
himself did not know this. Like Columbus, he believed he had reached Asia.
When Cabot returned to England, he did not have any spices and silks to
show for his journey, but was able to describe scooping codfish out of the water
in baskets. Cabot’s second expedition in 1498 disappeared, and while he had not
located the Northwest Passage, England based its later claim to North American
territory on his explorations. When Cabot had first sighted Newfoundland, he
had gone ashore and claimed the land for England.
Frenchman Samuel de Champlain searched for a Northwest Passage several
times. He explored the St. Lawrence River, northern New York (where he discovered the lake that bears his name), and the Great Lakes Huron and Ontario. From
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1603 to 1606, he explored Nova Scotia. In 1608, he founded the settlement of
Quebec, which is the oldest city in Canada. His explorations were the basis for
French claims to the colony of New France, of which Champlain was governor
between 1633 and his death in 1635.
Henry Hudson tried two different routes to Asia. Sailing for the Dutch East
India Company in 1609, he first explored along the lower coast of North America
around what is now New York and came across the mouth of the river that now
bears his name. Thinking this might be the long-sought Northwest Passage, he
sailed north on it to what is now Albany. Finding no passage, he returned downstream. His voyage of exploration became the basis for the Netherlands’ claim to
the area.
In 1610, Hudson, then sailing for his native England, tried a more northerly
route. Sailing north and then west around Newfoundland, he found a strait and
sailed through it into a huge bay. Both the strait and the bay are now named for
him. Once in Hudson Bay, he planned to spend the winter there before going on.
When his ship Discovery froze in the bay and food ran low, his crew mutinied and
put Hudson, his son, and seven others in an open boat with no oars. When spring
came, the bay thawed and the crew sailed the Discovery back to England, but
Hudson, his son, and his loyal crew were never heard from again.
English Colonies in North America
Beginning in the late 1500s, the English attempted to found permanent settlements in North America. However, the first lasting settlement, Jamestown, on
the James River in Virginia, was not established until 1607. The next permanent
settlement was Plymouth in 1620, in what is today Massachusetts. From these
beginnings, the English—partly through independent settlements and partly
through acquisition by force of other kingdoms’ colonies—had established 13
colonies by the early 1700s. Territories claimed by the English reached south to
Florida from what is now the United States–Canadian border and west from the
Atlantic Coast to beyond the Appalachians.
Teaching Idea
Here are additional explorers who
might be of particular interest
depending on your location.
• Giovanni da Verrazano—
Although Italian, he was sailing
under the flag of France in 1524
when he discovered New York
Harbor and Narragansett Bay. The
Verrazano Narrows and the
Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New
York Harbor are named for him.
• Jacques Cartier—
Searching for the Northwest
Passage for his native France,
Cartier explored the Gulf of St.
Lawrence in 1534 and the St.
Lawrence River in 1535 as far as
what would become the cities of
Quebec and Montreal. He claimed
the area for France.
Whereas New France and New Spain were both sparsely settled, by 1760 the
English colonies had a population of some 2 million, about half of whom were
English or of English descent. There were also around 300,000 enslaved Africans
in the colonies. Boston—with a population of 20,000—was the largest city in the
North American colonies, and second in the British Empire only to London.
English colonies were one of three types: joint-stock, proprietary, or royal.
A colony established by a joint-stock company was set up to provide its shareholders with revenue. A joint-stock company was like a modern corporation;
members bought shares in it in order to finance an activity, in this case the
establishment of a colony.
A proprietary colony was one established by and for the financial benefit of
one, two, or a handful of proprietors. The proprietors established the rules for
governance, selected the governor, and received the taxes.
In a royal colony, the monarch appointed the governor and often the governor’s council of advisors, which was different from the colonial legislature.
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Establishment of the Thirteen English Colonies in
North America
Virginia
Teaching Idea
King James did not think much of the
chief export from Jamestown. Students
may enjoy hearing his famous attack
on smoking from his pamphlet, “A
Counterblaste to Tobacco.” The text is
available online.
The first permanent English colony was established in North America in
1607 at Jamestown. A joint-stock company named the Virginia Company received
a charter from King James I and named the colony Virginia in honor of Queen
Elizabeth, the “Virgin Queen.” The first settlers were not farmers, but adventurers, interested mostly in searching out goods that would bring substantial prices
in trade with England. However, tobacco agriculture was soon introduced to the
colony and by 1619, tobacco had become the chief crop. By 1669, Virginia was
exporting 15 million pounds of tobacco a year.
Massachusetts Bay
In 1620, a group of Puritans sailed from Holland intending to set up a colony
near Jamestown. The Puritans were religious dissenters who believed that the
Church of England did not go far enough to remove Roman Catholic practices.
As they crossed the Atlantic, they were caught in a storm and ultimately landed
at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. They named their settlement Plymouth
Colony in honor of the English town from which they had set sail. In 1629, a
group of English Puritans and merchants formed a partnership called the
Massachusetts Bay Company. Its purpose was to establish a colony north of
Plymouth that would be both a business venture and an experiment in living
according to the Bible and Christian principles. The settlement grew to over
10,000 people by the end of the 1630s.
New Hampshire
Teaching Idea
As a round robin activity, ask students
to tell you one fact about each of the 13
English colonies. See how many rounds
the class can go before running out of
information.
New Hampshire was founded in 1623 by Captain John Mason. It came under
control of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1641, but was granted a separate royal
charter in 1679. It included the area of what is today Maine.
Maryland
In 1632, Maryland was established as a colony for Roman Catholics seeking
refuge from persecution in Protestant England. Maryland was established by a
land grant from King Charles I to his friend Lord Baltimore. It was named after
the queen, Henrietta Marie. The colony was settled in 1634. It was the first proprietary colony.
Rhode Island
In 1631, Roger Williams arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony and soon ran
afoul of the colony’s leaders because of his religious beliefs. Williams advocated
religious toleration and fair treatment for Native Americans. In 1635, Williams
was banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony. He established a settlement south
of Massachusetts Bay Colony in present-day Providence with land he purchased
from the Narragansetts.
In 1643, this settlement, along with others in the area, petitioned King
Charles I for a charter. It was granted in 1644, and the colony set up its own government that guaranteed self-government and religious freedom.
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Connecticut
Thomas Hooker and fellow dissenters from Massachusetts Bay Colony established Connecticut. In 1636, Hooker and his followers settled in what is now
Hartford. In 1639, they and members of several other towns in the area drew up
the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the first constitution in the English
colonies. The colony was granted royal charter in 1662 separate from
Massachusetts Bay.
North and South Carolina
The Carolinas were founded by a land grant to a group of eight proprietors
in 1663. The colony was named in honor of King Charles II. Rice was introduced
into the colony in the 1690s, but the land and climate of the northern part of
Carolina were not suitable for rice agriculture. Wealthy men began to buy up land
and establish plantations. Slaves from Africa played a large role in the successful
cultivation of rice. By 1740, for every European colonist in Carolina, there were
two African slaves. Carolina was divided into North and South Carolina in 1729.
New York
The first settlement in the New York area was established by the Dutch in
1609. In 1624, Peter Minuit supposedly purchased Manhattan Island from the
Manhattan people for $24 in trade goods. The Dutch named the city New
Amsterdam. The success of this trading post drew the attention of the English,
who based their claim to the land on John Cabot’s voyage in 1497. They captured
the city in 1664 and renamed the area New York in honor of the English king’s
brother, the Duke of York. New Amsterdam was renamed New York City.
New Jersey
New Jersey was named after the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel. The
area was part of the New Netherland colony seized by the English. It was given
as a proprietary colony to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, two friends of
the Duke of York. The colony was managed as a proprietary colony for the benefit of the two men, but it offered religious toleration and representative government to all who immigrated there.
Pennsylvania
In 1681, William Penn received a land grant from the king to pay off a debt
owed to Penn’s father. Penn was the sole owner of the huge tract of land. Penn
was a member of the Society of Friends, a group familiarly known as the Quakers.
Like Puritans, Pilgrims, and Roman Catholics, Quakers were persecuted in
England for their religious beliefs. Penn wanted to make Pennsylvania a haven for
people of all religions. Because of Quaker belief, slavery was banned, and small
farms rather than plantations developed in the colony.
Delaware
The English had occupied the area known today as Delaware since 1664,
when they seized it from the original Swedish settlers. In 1682, the Duke of York
gave the area to William Penn, who wanted an outlet to the Atlantic for
Pennsylvania. The Lower Counties, as they were called, were represented in the
Pennsylvania Assembly until 1704, when they were granted their own legislature.
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The Lower Counties did not have their own governor, however, and continued to
be ruled from Philadelphia.
Georgia
Georgia was the last of the 13 colonies to be established. In 1732, James
Oglethorpe and a group of London businessmen received a charter from King
George II to set up a colony between South Carolina and Spanish Florida. It was
established as a debtors’ colony to provide an opportunity for rehabilitation.
Attempts at producing silk crops failed and caused economic problems for settlers. In time, plantation-style agriculture, including the use of enslaved Africans,
was introduced.
English Colonies in the West Indies
Although the Spanish had been the first Europeans to see and seize the
islands of the Caribbean, other countries soon followed them into the region.
They took some islands from the native American inhabitants and fought with
Spain and with one another for possession of other islands. These conflicts were
an outgrowth of the struggle for power among European nations.
The English colonized Saint Kitts, Nevis, and Tortola (part of the British
Virgin Islands) and forced Spain out of Jamaica. Today, the British Virgin Islands
are a Crown Colony of the United Kingdom and Jamaica is an independent country within the British Commonwealth. Trinidad and Tobago were British colonies,
but today they are a single independent country.
French Colonies in North America
One outcome of the interest in finding a Northwest Passage was the French
claim to the land that is now Canada and parts of northeastern and upper midwestern sections of the United States. Beginning in 1608, when the settlement of
Quebec was founded, the territory claimed by France steadily grew. By 1682,
Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, had claimed all the lands in the Mississippi River
valley for France. This colony of New France reached all the way down the center
of the continent to the Gulf of Mexico. In 1663, Quebec became its capital.
Despite its size, the European population of New France never reached more
than around 2,300 people. The real locus of the colony was in what is today eastern Canada, where the weather is harsher than in the more southerly and temperate Mississippi basin. The French government was more interested in gaining territory and prestige in Europe than in promoting settlement in its faraway colony.
France’s major concern was protecting New France’s lucrative fur trade. France
lost the colony to Great Britain in 1763 after the French and Indian War.
French Colonies in the West Indies
Today, all that is left of France’s colonies in the West Indies are the islands of
Martinique and Guadeloupe, which are now departments of France, or overseas
provinces, rather than colonies.
Haiti, part of the island of Hispaniola, came under French rule in 1697.
French colonists began importing enslaved Africans to build huge sugar and coffee plantations, which became the basis of a highly prosperous colonial economy.
A slave rebellion in 1791 drove out the French and established an independent
country in 1804. Core Knowledge students will learn about the revolution, led by
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