Colonization Of America example essay topic

When the Europeans had discovered America, the possibilities for them were endless. Although mistakenly discovered, it greatly aroused the curiosity of many European explorers. There were new opportunities for them to expand, and in more than just one way. Chances to spread religion, boost their economy, and help themselves politically. As soon as Columbus returned, the pope issued a decree saying the world itself was an inheritance of Christianity. Spain and Portugal, the two main Christian powers at the time, set out to spread Christianity all across the world following the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494.

What better place to start then with the new found land of the Americas. As soon as the Europeans figured out a reason, they began their religious crusade. Spain argued that the Native Americans possessed souls that only Christian baptism could save. Years later in 1520, an excommunicated monk named Martin Luther and his follows calling themselves Protestants, created a rift in Western Christianity and broke it into competing faiths. This movement was known as the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation was able to spread oversees to the Americas, and led to many conflicts in the new world.

Spain and France battled for religious dominance in Florida while England, which consisted of a Protestant monarchy, claimed Ireland. Eventually England too, would plan to occupy land in North America. Such feuds over religion would continue for centuries to come in the colonization of America. The Political causes of the navigation and colonization was based on many different things. The knowledge gained from explorations gave many Europeans new ideas and brought many stories of diverse cultures to them. This, along with the new places and people to discover, changed the way Europeans viewed their own lives.

They were intrigued by all these new things from America, and realized they really had just inherited the wisdom and authority in which they lived by. This stimulated a European Renaissance, and gave them a chance to explore further more and establish colonies along the way. The English had expanded their coastal colonies and maintained steady control along the way. Spain was able to establish control through the Gulf of Mexico, conquering tribes such as the Aztecs, and gained much prestige and wealth along the way.

France, the third of the three large European nations colonizing America, attempted to make themselves allies with Native Americas for support in helping them expand. King Louis XIV of France was able to centralize the monarchy's power like never before, and strengthened everything in preparation for further colonization in America. Eventually the three would bump heads, and when King William took the throne in 1689, supplied the Iroquois with weapons to fight the French, widespread war broke out. When King Carlos II of Spain fell ill, Louis XIV saw it as a good opportunity to press against the Spanish. With constant change in the political scene for the colonizing nations, disagreements and daring attempts to expand arose and warfare became inevitable.

Economic causes were pretty obvious to the Europeans at the time to further navigate and expand their colonies into America. When word came back from the explorations of the new world, excitement and curiosity broke out all across European ports. Novelties and valuable information from the voyages proved useful and created a large amount of profits. Several profitable staple crops, tobacco being one, were eventually introduced into the slowly growing economy. Ship owners became rich, and were offered to begin to shipping animals, foods, and weapons back and forth to introduce to the early colonies and the Native Americans. This created a large amount of wealth, and more and more markets and ports began to appear across America.

A supply had been created and demand followed, creating economic success. Merchants and their ships increased and carried materials such as cloth and wool between European and American ports, and an economic boom with a steady population increase to show for it. This pushed exploration further in all directions, and they now had plenty of reasons to continue expansion. From the initial dominance of Christianity to the Protestant Reformation, religious cause for navigating toward America suited both sides. The political causes were justified in the monarchies interest in the new land, creating a way to expand their control, but eventually leading to war among one another. Economically, the Europeans benefited extremely well, and for that reason alone gave them a strong incentive for colonization in America.

The three causes all relate with one another, and one cause relies heavily on another. The Europeans exploration had not expected to encounter such an opportunity, but with it came the success that eventually laid out the plans of America to be something beyond what they thought possible.