Essay On American Colonization

During the imperialistic colonial era, the mainland America welcomed the vast majority of European settlements coming from different parts of the continent. The major colonies include the Spanish, French, Dutch, and English. The colonization of the New World by the Europeans from the late Fifteenth century through the Seventeenth century transformed the face of the world. During the colonial period, the Spanish mostly settled in the present day Southwestern United States. While the French colonies claimed the large part of Canada thorough the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi river, the Dutch made the New Netherlands (New York Later) as their hub. As a latecomer, the English people secured their place in the New England area (P. 36). Even though each respective colony chose to settle in a location based on their ambitions, their motivations towards coming to the America often overlaps and differs. For the Europeans, the economic concerns for the colonization outweighed the religious concerns that arose. From the beginning, one thing was clear to the Europeans about the New World- they wanted to exploit the abundant natural resources and extract as much wealth as they can. After the Columbus’ voyage, the Spanish enjoyed a great deal of resource monopoly (gold and silver). This
They knew the America has the abundant amount of natural resources to satisfy their hunger for wealth and it did. While some prioritize in mining, some practiced farming and trading. Among all the colonists, only the English were insecure about their religion and fled to the New World. But, there were many others problems grinding England during that time other than the religious upheaval that eventually prompted the English settlement in