Civilisation des Etats Unis

CIVILISATION AMERICAINE

1. Building the new world 1607-1775

1. 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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