Founding European Colonies in the New World

Founding European Colonies in the New World

Founding of European Colonies in the New World

The New World was not founded over night. It was, in fact, a very laborious period where several European colonies worked for centuries to secure a new spot in a virgin territory, filled with natural resources the continent of Europe had never seen before. Early struggles and hardships eventually led to successful colonies which, over time, developed into their own autonomous nations.

There were a number of events which led to the early development of European colonies in the context of the New World. Essentially, some of the greatest navy developments in Europe took place during this time period. Countries like Spain and Portugal began building up their navy in an attempt to hold greater competitive advantage over their other European counter parts. There were a number of wars and conflicts during the period, where several European nations were at war with one another, and having a strong and competent navy became a major advantage for many European nations. This allowed these nations to cross the great vast Atlantic Ocean, as Columbus did in 1492. Moreover, there were a number of social events and developments that also helped push towards the need for colonization of the New World.

During the time period right before the spark of colonization hit Europe with a vengeance, Mercantilism was becoming the popular economic driving force within much of European society. Essentially, mercantilism encouraged entrepreneurs and the governments of European alike to push farther and farther into the unknown for new sources of wealth and natural resources that would increase private wealth and political power for certain individuals back in Europe. This facilitated the increased rate of colonization because each nation wanted to get a hold of its own piece of the New World as to have a greater economic advantage over its enemies in Europe. This influenced the formation of colonies that were generated to make money for the colonizing country back in Europe. Such colonies were often meant to be temporary, and residents had a general understanding they were there to make money and would eventually return home. Thus residents were typically single men. Many colonies developed in this fashion, including several of England's first thirteen colonies on the American mainland, were meant for cash crop farming on a large scale, where exports could be finished in mass and sent over back to England. Thus, slavery was often permitted and slaves were imported from Africa to handle the hard work in the large fields. In the case of England again, there were cases of sending convicts and prisoners over to colonies developed for generating revenue, as it was a cheap source of labor while also keeping them thousands of miles away from the rest of English society. Such colonies were typically ruled strictly by a governor appointed by the crown of the European country back in Europe. The governor would appoint his administration which ruled over the non-permanent residents of the colony based on orders from back home. Thus, these colonies were much different than other types of colonies that were seen to have a more permanent base within the context of the New World.

Additionally, religious persecution had been a staple in Europe for centuries. As the Church of England began to persecute other religious denominations in England, like Protestants and Puritans, these individuals began looking for other lands where they could still live under the English crown, but would be out of the way of the extreme religious persecution they were facing. This eventually led to the Puritans landing on Plymouth Rock and kept a steady stream of religious refugees ready to make the arduous trip to the New World to support England's developing colonies. Such colonies were developed with a more permanent idea in mind compared to some of the other colonies generated merely for profit under the system of mercantilism. Thus, such colonies were established with settlers and their families. This increases the female population and diversified the gender ratio within such colonies like Plymouth and the wide variety of English settlements that came after it. These colonies were made for supporting these families, and thus farming on their lands was geared towards individual sustenance, rather than for producing mass crops to generate revenue. Such colonists had to fight hard against nature, especially in the case of English settlers who were forced northwards into hospitable lands with very low fertility. Yet, these colonies were much more autonomous than their neighbors. Essentially, there was the same style government in place, where a governor from the country back in England was present. However, many of these New England colonies had their own systems of governments, where they typically handled their own decisions and laws from within the colony itself, rather than constantly looking towards the crown for guidance.