9.6 – Reading #4: Putting It All Together

READING TEXT
Module 9: European Colonization of North America

Across history, nations take over new land. Sometimes they forcibly enter into other countries, to expand (or grow). Other times, nations may establish control over the resources of an area. These are examples of colonization. Colonization means expansion into the territory (land, water and airspace) that another country controls. During the 1400s, countries like Great Britain, France, and Spain wanted to expand to find new resources and ways to trade. These countries either defeated them in a war, or negotiated agreements with people for their land. In these agreements, the Indigenous peoples who already lived on the land did not get many benefits.

Millions of Indigenous peoples have lived in the Americas for many thousands of years. They are diverse groups, speaking more than 500 different languages. These original inhabitants of the Americas lived and thrived for thousands of years before European people came. Indigenous peoples created political, social, and economic systems that were often different from the systems of the Europeans. For example, while the European colonizers thought that land can be owned by individuals, many Native Americans believe that land is shared by all people, plants and animals.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus led a group of ships to the Americas from Spain. People sometimes say that Columbus “discovered” the Americas, but many people were already living and governing themselves in this region. The Europeans also took Native people, sent them to Spain, and sold them into forced labor as slaves. This action was the beginning of the slave trade across the Atlantic Ocean, which continued for hundreds of years.

After Columbus, more ships with hundreds of settlers, many from Great Britain, arrived in places on the East Coast of North America. Settlers came to the Americas for economic, political, or religious reasons. The first English colony was founded in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. Another group, the Pilgrims, who wanted to separate from the Church of England, settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620.

The first winter was challenging for the Jamestown and Plymouth settlers, who did not have the skills to survive in this new land. The Indigenous Powhatan people helped the Jamestown settlers by sharing their knowledge of hunting and agriculture. Similarly, the Native people from the Wampanoag Nation taught farming and fishing methods that helped the Pilgrims survive the winter. However, this was not a friendly relationship, because the colonists were trying to take over their land.

Throughout the 17th century (1600-1699), the British colonists took over more and more lands from Indigenous peoples and built cities up and down the East Coast. During this time, Indigenous peoples fought back and often lost their lands in wars. In the North, the British established larger cities, like New York. In the South, they developed large farms, called plantations, to grow rice and tobacco. The plantations were farmed by enslaved men, women, and children. European colonists brought these enslaved people to the Americas from Africa to work for them with no pay and no freedom.

The Indigenous people of the Americas have felt great pain and loss since their first contact with Columbus and other colonizers. In the 150 years after the arrival of Columbus, historians estimate that ninety percent of the Native population across the Americas died. Many were killed by European diseases such as smallpox while others were killed in wars against the European colonizers or in conflicts with other Indigenous groups.

NEXT: Think about and apply what you learned from the module text!