As a boy, I was always fascinated to see ships leave on their voyages at the local harbor in town. So much, that I would run the 3 miles everyday from our small Lisbon home to the docks to see what was happening on that specific afternoon. A simple fishing ship would be quite satisfying for my young self, but seeing the Santa Maria with my own eyes was a day I will never forget. Now that I am older, and a magazine writer, I would like to use this article to write about one of my childhood passions.
Lets discuss the settlements in the Americas.
The main European settlers that I will talk about are the English, the Spanish, the Dutch, and the French. I must mention, that the reformation had a major impact on the age of exploration because a large number of Christians followed Columbus to the Americas to escape the war with the protestants, and to escape prosecution. In addition, how developed a country was in the fields of science, determined whether or not they would be successful at sailing to the new world. This was because recent inventions such as the What are the main difficulties that these countries face whilst settling in the Americas? Without a question, the foremost problem that any European settlers face is to do with food, and the lack of it. It is hard compare countries because they were all affected by drought and were all lacking food.
Spanish: In 1499 on the island of Hispaniola, life turned into hell for the settlers as attacks from the Indians and hunger swept the island. Not getting enough provisions from Spain also hindered the settlements progress on this island.
English: The winter in Jamestown between 1609-10 was especially hard for the English settlers. They had settled in Jamestown in 1607,with the first governor being John Smith. He was also the main person held accountable for this “starving time” in the winter of 1609. His strict orders that forced Settlers to work, which eventually got him sent back to England, where he tried to defend himself and his actions ("Settlement").
French: The arctic weather in Newfoundland caused some obvious problems to the initial french settlers, along with the outbreak of “scurvy” or “land disease”.
What about the Instructions that leaders were given?
The spanish brought 2500 settlers over to build towns and forts in 1502, thanks to Nicolas de Ovando, and the settlers were told to treat the Indians as equals, whilst using them for labor. The English settlers brought with them a number of investors, such as the Virginia Company of London, that tried to create a Virginia colony. Both the Spanish and the English realized that they would need to start building in the Americas, because adding robust structures to their settlements could help them last longer and give them control of a larger area. The Spanish focused more on having a great population in the Americas, and the English had investors behind their settlements.
Finally, let's consider how the jesuits missions of converting the Indians differed between settlers. Franciscan priests remained after Juan de Oñate's colony failed, to build churches in villages and establish missions in New Mexico. This proved successful and the Indians managed to synthesize the religion with their day to day lives. All went well until the Pueblo revolt in which 21 missionaries and some other 400 were massacred. (Mooney,J). When the French returned to New France in the 1620s, they realized that to efficiently convert the Indians meant studying them, learning their language, and building small missions near their seasonal villages. Again, as aforementioned, the French settlers fought against multiple diseases, especially between 1637 and 1653. Both countries reached short term success here, however suffered more on the long term.
As a magazine writer, I am generally asked to give my opinion on just about everything, however currently I think that it is undoubtable that there is no clear cut winner of this race. All settlements have areas in which they prosper, as well as downsides where they suffer. Using what I have written about here, all I can say is that the settlers in New France are the ones who are having the most trouble settling in the New World.
6
The Race to the Americas!
Who's Winning?
Cheap proselytization!
Don't let the devil have your soul! Visit your local church for more details and some of the best offers. Do you want to go to hell? Can any amount of money even begin to be compared to your life? Of course not! Sessions every Sunday at sunrise.