Portuguese Colonization

By the end of the sixteenth century, Portuguese hegemony that was in the Indian Ocean was growing weak (359). Portugal was a small country with an even smaller population. With its size, Portugal was not able to keep up with the demand that came with a large seaborne trading empire. In the late sixteenth century, investors from other areas began to put expeditions together so that trips could be made to Asian markets. Some of the most prominent followers of the Portuguese were the English and Dutch mariners (359). The English and the Dutch became two very powerful joint-stock companies (359). There were private companies that funded these expeditions and supplied them with ships and crews along with enough money and commodities (359). Even though these expeditions were funded the English and Dutch stayed independent.
With the Columbian Exchange, food, crops, animals, and new plants took over in areas after Christopher Columbus and other European mariners traveled across the globe. (364). Population growth and rapid urbanization helped spur a round of remarkable economic development (382). Capitalism became prominent once the economy began to expand. From the Spanish perspective, America's biggest attraction was the metal that was adored from a Spanish point of view (400). One thing that caused conflict was the fur trade and the tension it created with Native groups. Like any new trend, religion is pushed onto new and naive people. The French and English missionaries did not have the best luck when trying to convert people to Christianity