Civilisation des Etats Unis
Cours : Civilisation des Etats Unis. Recherche parmi 300 000+ dissertationsPar Auré Ngano • 13 Mars 2019 • Cours • 4 956 Mots (20 Pages) • 585 Vues
CIVILISATION AMERICAINE
- Building the new world 1607-1775
- Key dates and facts on the first settlers
USA= not a term you should use when you refer to early American history or to its colonial history. The term you should use: The New World, America. The first Americans were the Native Americans who probably migrated from Asia. The beginning of the history of America starts in 17th century in England.
1492 🡪 Christopher Columbus
-plans an expedition to reach India to buy spices.
-a Spanish expedition.
-he lands on what is known today as the Bahamas.
Spain and Portugal, waited for a very long time before setting mostly in Central and South America. They were not interested in North America, but they were interested in Central and South America for metals.
1497 🡪 John Cabot first documented contact between the English and the New World, he reached Maine and Canada.
1524 🡪 Verrazano the French conquer the New World. He lands in what is today the New World bay. Jacques Cartier reaches Terre-Neuve (Canada).
End of the 16th century several English expeditions aiming at setting colonies.
Why did the English decide that they had to conquer the world?
What were their motivations?
-Economic changes: the English had to move from fields for crops to pasture for sheep
The New World: promise of being able to get land easily. The solution was to find land. The New World started to be interesting for them to get more lands for them.
-Expansion= colonies= potentially a maritime base against Spain. At the time Spain was an enemy for England.
-Religious motives= religious disputes (conflicts).
1529 🡪 King Henry VIII broke England’s ties (liens) with the Pope. A new church was found in England, this one was a different form of religion. But for some (called Puritans) the Church of England wasn’t reformed enough so the New World was considered as a refuge. They were considered as extremists (Puritans). The most radical Puritans decided the conquer of the New World.
-Mercantilism: the idea that a nation’s economic health depended on selling as much as possible to other nations and buying as little as possible from them.
1607 🡪 The first permanent English colony: Jamestown, in Virginia, 104 people settled there. Jamestown was named as a tribute. The first English colony was on the East Coast. After a very long voyage, they arrived. The motivation was getting profits. Many colonists did not survive: cold, starvation and diseases decimated the colony.
January 1608 🡪 only 38 had survived. The living conditions were terrible especially on winter (famine, they have nothing to eat, they had to feed on cats, dogs…).
1609-1610 winter 🡪 particularly difficult: the “starving time”.
10 years after the first arrival, about 80% of the English immigrants had perished. Lots of People use tobacco in Europe, and then they sell it to Europe. Cultivation of tobacco was a huge economic point.
1619 🡪
-a Dutch ship brought in about 20 servants from Africa: the first step forwards the enslavement of Africans. Seen as “indentured” (temporary) servants. This is a date that marks the starts of enslavement in America. We can talk about immigration because they were forced to leave their own country.
-the first elected legislature (assembly) is set up.
1620 🡪 other colonies known as New England are established (later integrated into another state: Massachusetts).
-religious motivations: Puritans Separatists set sail (mettre le voile) for the New World and established the first settlement in New England. They were very tented to go to the New World,
-pilgrims,
-the Mayflower (the name of the ship),
-they reached a place in Cape Cod (Massachusetts),Plymouth,
-the local Indians provided the settlers with furs (fourrures) and showed them how to cultivate corn,
-After the first autumn, the colonists invited the Indians to thank them for helping them survive: the first Thanksgiving, so they celebrate God on the Thanksgiving Day,
-More Puritan merchants migrated to the New World.
1629 🡪 The New Hampshire and Maine colonies were established.
1630 🡪 1000 people sailed to New England, the largest migration in the 17th century.
In the 1630’s:
-several settlements were then established: Boston, Charlestown, Concord, Newtown (later renamed Cambridge) …
-Connecticut colonies are established, one of them being a “Bible-based government” whose rules were extremely strict.
1660 🡪 The Massachusetts colony reaches 20.000 people.
1664 🡪 English vessels (boat) arrive at New Amsterdam, (a Dutch colony). This colony was in the actual Manhattan so New York.
-The English conquered the territory and renamed it New York.
-Many different nationalities were settled there: Dutch and English, Germans, French, Africans (slaves brought by the Dutch).
1681-1682 🡪 Pennsylvania was founded by a Quaker named William Penn.
-Quakers: those who quake before the name of God, those who feared God, even more radical than Puritans.
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