Chapter One: A New World The most detailed American historical records begin after European colonization (2). Countless amounts of people recorded the history America captivated until the present times. Answers to many of the questions some people have about America hides in the past, but a good amount of documents provide the public important evidence for some. Explaining how Europeans settled in the New World with various ways of doing so, and why Indians and Europeans live differently will take some detailed information to breakdown. In the first place, olonization in the New World consisted of a variety of ways to settle.
Conquerors primarily focused on settling because the outcomes their former settlements experienced did not benefit the life around them. Christopher Columbus changed the world after he discovered the West Indian islands in 1492 (2). In 1493, Columbus sent over 1,000 men to secure a Spanish settlement in Hispaniola; “Columbus’s settlement on the island of Hispaniola, which he named La Isabella, failed” (17). The discovery of America became widely known to a great number of conquerors as a new destination. Nicolas de Ovando “arrived with 2,500 men and established a permanent base” (17).
Columbus thought that he found a way to reach Asia, but never knew he made an incorrect claim; America could have different characteristics today if he realized the mistake he made back then. On the negative side of settling, many consequences resulted from the colonization in America. The Indians “suffered devastating epidemics” because European settlers carried diseases they had built an immunity to (2). Sickness killed a staggering percentage of Indians, even though Europeans had ewer cases of becoming sick off of the diseases they brought to America. Of course, Indian and European societies lived way different lives.
Native Americans traveled to America by traveling across the Bering Strait “15,000 and 60,000 years ago” (3). North and South America held civilizations of inhabitants long before European colonists arrived. “No society north of Mexico had achieved literacy” (5). Some Europeans had the fortunate skill of connecting what they read to situations in life. To set them apart in another way, the Indians “openly ngaged in premarital sexual relations and could even choose to divorce their husbands” (10). “Under English law, a married man controlled the family’s property” (10).
In Indian gender relation, the women take charge; on the other hand, the English men make the rules. Comparatively, Indians and Europeans had developed similar societies. “The residents of the Americas were no more a single group than Europeans or Africans (3). They shared some of the same culture methods needed for survival. America had “cities, roads, irrigation systems, extensive trade etworks, and large structures” (3). In 1210, Cahokia “stood as the largest settled com-munity in” North America; “between 10,000 and 30,000 inhabitants” lived in Cahokia at the time (6).
In the view of freedom, Indians appeared to Europeans to have no concept of what freedom meant. The Indian’s “notion of freedom” involved the idea that “individuals were expected to think for themselves” (11). Different cultures and slave organization might have contributed to unequal concepts of freedom between the two. Additionally, the Europeans and Indians used religion in a similar way. Both had “farming and hunting” rituals that they practiced (7). After colonization, the Europeans claimed that the Native Americans should have “Christian faith” (9).
Even though they shared similar religious ways, the Europeans implied that Christianity be the one to worship. Altogether, European conquerors settled in America with adaptive ways, and Indian societies operated differently than the European’s. Christopher Columbus thought he found Asia, instead he landed in the West Indian islands. Unfortunately, Diseases brought by European settlers killed a large amount of Indians. Indian women took control of the men, but English men controlled the women. Even though Indians and Europeans had similar religious meanings, the English spread Christianity in America.
Historical information can be traced back long ago, but Columbus started a whole new chapter. Chapter Two: Beginnings of English America “On April 26, 1607, three small ships carrying colonists from England sailed into the mouth of Chesapeake Bay” (39). The expansion of European colonization led the English to sail their way of life to North America. Records in history can give people n understanding of the Chesapeake and New England colonies, as well as the different viewpoints of freedom in the seventeenth century. By all means, English colonists emigrated to the New World for a plethora of reason.
Richard Hakluyt listed twenty-three rea-sons that Queen Elizabeth I should support the establishment of colonies” (41). Some of the reasons include, “national glory, profit, and religious mission” (41). The English felt that these motives “could be achieved through colonization” (42). To explain their economies, England’s “Social Crisis” had a damaging effect on their economic growth” (42). Trading wool helped the English, so “landlords sought profits by raising sheep” (42). Finding ways to make a living back then did not come easily to the English.
In 1629, John Winthrop exclaimed that England “grows weary of her inhabitants” (42). Winthrop basically means that England’s economy can hardly support civilians anymore. Ultimately, English men had more rights than the women, but “authorities saw wandering or unemployed ‘masterless men’ as a danger to society” (43). The New World promised “a unique place of opportunity” where land could be acquired (43). After landing “in Virginia in 1607”, John Smith noted that “every man may be the master and owner of his own labor and land” (43).
America had a great amount of opportunities for male colonists to purchase land in the New World. At this point, the demographics of “English emigrants” had become “unstable and dangerous” (43). The diverse group of emigrants in North America had to live together. The Spanish, French, and English held a “population of between 4 million and 5 million” (43). “New England attracted 21,000 emigrants” that came here “before 1640” (44). North America consisted of goal setters, and “Protestants and Catholics could live in a harmony” (52).
Without the doubt, the English and the Indians had many disagreements after contacting each other. ““English settlers presented the native inhabitants of eastern North America with the greatest crisis in their history” (45). The Indians viewed the English as unethical because of the forceful changes that occurred. In reality, the English chose to stay “separate from their Indian neighbors” (45). When the English landed in America, they would attempt to dominate the Indians in order to establish rules. For one thing, the Jamestown Colony’s pattern of settlement represented more American development after the seventeenth century.
John Smith imposed a regime of forced labor on company lands” (47). “Also in 1619, the first twenty blacks arrived in Virginia” (48). Many outcomes pertaining to the settlement in the Jamestown Colony resulted in the growth of America. To better understand the viewpoints of freedom in seventeenth century North America, accounts of slavery can provide useful information. “The liberties men- tioned in the Magna Carta included protection against arbitrary imprison- ent and the seizure of one’s property without due process of law” (67).
Eventually, this became know as “English freedom” (67). Likewise, women’s view of freedom was set by men in authority. “Meanwhile, a number of followers of Anne Hutchinson became Quakers” (69). Some Indian’s did not have much of a choice to decide how they lived. “The native population of New England numbered perhaps 100,000 when the Puritans arrived” (61). The Puritans escaped religious debate from their homelands. Having fled “religious controversies”, Puritans viewed freedom in a religious standpoint (61).
Conversely, the differences among these different versions of freedom depended on what happened in history across isolated societies in the world. However, a similarity involves the wealth gained from slavery. To conclude, the Chesapeake and New England colonies consisted of English emigrants escaping poverty, and there happened to be different viewpoints of freedom in the seventeenth century. America appeared to have more opportunities to purchase land. Viewpoints of freedom were influenced by religion, wealth, and slavery. English settlement impacted America then and continues to stay recognizable today.
