CHAPTER 1

ALIEN ENCOUNTERS:
EUROPE IN THE
AMERICAS
 VIKINGS
Skilfulsailors from Norway & Sweden
Discovered & settled in Iceland &
Greenland
1000 C.E. – Leif Ericsson found North
American continent
Named it Vinland / Wineland (grapes
grew in abundance)
Most probably Newfoundland
Problem – no written records
Portugal’s navigation achievement
Prince Henry the navigator
• Prince Henry the navigator:-
 transformed European navigation
 Improve & codify navigational knowledge
 Searching for a new route to Asia
 Sailing westward & then south along the coast
of Africa
Bartholomew Diaz
• Bartholomew Diaz :
 reached Cape of Hope – 1488
VASCO DA GAMA
• Vasco Da Gama :
 reached Cape of Hope – 1497
 reached India - 1498
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
• Christopher Columbus:-
 Born in Genoa, Italy in 1451
 Intelligent & skillful mariner
 Read account of Marco Polo’s adventure to
China (during Kublai Khan rule : 1279-1369)
 Dream of reaching China by sailing westward
from Europe
• Columbus expedition :-
• King John II (Portugal) refused to finance him
• Queen Isabella (Spain) - financed expedition
• The conditions:-
Isabella granted him the title Admiral of the Ocean
Sea
Columbus controlled politically - lands discovered
Columbus received 10% of profits of trade from
his expedition
• Columbus first expedition :-
 August 1492 – sailed from Port Palos, Spain
 Sailed with three old ships – Santa Maria,
Pinta & Nina
 October 1492 – reached an island in West
Indies
 Named it – San Salvador (meaning Holy
Savior) - a tiny island in the Bahama Island
 Discovered Cuba & Hispaniola (Haiti)
 Believed he reached India
 called the natives Indians
• Columbus took another three voyages
• 1493 - 2nd expedition – discovered Puerto
Rico
• 1498 – 3rd expedition – reached mainland of
South America
• 1502 – 4th expedition – explored central
America
• Failed to find any treasure
• Returned empty-handed to Spain
• convinced he had reached Asia
• Did not know that he had found a new world
• Columbus died in 1506
CARIBBEAN ISLANDS
• Ming dynasty - Emperor Yung Lo (1402-1424) :
 Excellent achievement in maritime
 Sent voyages under Admiral Zheng He (Cheng
Ho; 1371-1435)
 Zheng He led seven voyages between 1405
and 1433
 Size of armada - 62 ships with 28,000 sailors
 Spain’s American Empire

• 1493 – Treaty of Tordesillas

• Signed between Spain & Portugal
• Divided non-Christian world between Spain &
Portugal
• Portugal concentrate on Africa
• Spain concentrate on the New World (except
Brazil – controlled by Portugal)
• After Columbus’s expedition - Spanish
explorers expanded Spain’s empire in new
world
• 1513 – Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovered
Pacific Ocean
• 1519 – Hernan Cortez conquered Aztec
Empire in Mexico
• 1519 – Ferdinand Magellan discovered Straits
Of Magellan (southern tip of Southern
America)
• 1530s – Francisco Pizzaro conquered Inca
Empire in Peru.
• Since 1513, Spanish explorers began to
explore North America
• The Spanish:-
monopolized gold & silver mines
cultivated crops
engaged in slavery

• By early 1700, the Spanish had controlled

much of South America and Central America,
and some area of North America.
 Indian Population
• Indian population declined rapidly
• Died in millions
• Causes:
 Diseases – chicken pox, measles, bubonic
plague, diphtheria, influenza, malaria, yellow
fever & typhoid
 Malnutrition
European plants & animals disrupted Indian
ecosystem
Decreasing crops cultivation
 Spain’s European Rivals

• England - John Cabot explored Newfoundland

& northeastern coast of North America (1497-
8)
• Mid 16th century – French explorers explored
New World
• But England & France did not make any permanent
settlement. Reasons:-
Political instability in England & France – torn by
serious religious & political conflicts
Difficult to challenge the mighty Spanish
Political stability in Spain
Treasure from New World enriched Spain
Spain emerged as the dominant power in Old World &
New World
 English beginnings in America

• Queen Elizabeth 1 (1558-1603) – encouraged

British expedition to the new world
• Captain Francis Drake – claimed California for
England
• Sir Humphrey Gilbert – landed in
Newfoundland
• Sir Walter Raleigh:
landed in Virginia
named Virginia in honor of Queen Elizabeth 1 (the
Virgin Queen)
1585 - a hundred men settled on Roanoke Island
1586 - this group returned to England
1587 –another group settled on Roanoke Island
(including women & children)
This group disappeared –fate unknown
 Virginia Colony
• 1607 – English settlers founded Jamestown
• Jamestown –first permanent English colony
• Named Jamestown in honor of King James 1
(1603-1625)
• Many settlers died – why ?
Starvation – inexperience in farming
Disease
Indian attack
• This colony was saved by Captain John Smith
• Famous story - rescued from death at the
hands of the Indians by Princess Pocahontas
• Smith demanded:
settlers build houses & raise food
merchant companies to send more farmers,
fishermen, carpenters & masons
• This colony was saved by tobacco
• tobacco – good sale in England – high profits
• Settles - cultivated tobacco
• settlers - saved by Indian aid
• Lust for land caused clashes between settlers
& Indians
• 1624 – Virginia became a royal colony
 Plymouth Colony
• Radical Protestants wanted to purify Anglican
Church
• They are known as Puritans
• Puritans - Anglican Church looked like Catholic
Church
• Queen Elizabeth 1 & King James 1 didn’t do
much to reform Anglican Church
• Puritans broke away from Anglican Church
• Some migrated to the New World to practice
their religious faith openly
• 1620 – about 100 Puritans sailed from
Plymouth, England
• On a ship called Mayflower
• The Puritans:-
landed in Massachusetts
called the place Plymouth
drew up Mayflower Compact (rules)
formed a government
chose William Bradford as governor
• Mayflower Compact -
• “We whose names are underwritten do by
these Presents, solemnly and mutually in the
presence of God and one another covenant
and combine ourselves under into a civil Body
Politic . . . and by Virtue hereof do enact . . .
such just and equal laws . . . as shall be
thought most meet and convenient for the
general Good of the Colony.”
• Puritans - time in Plymouth
• half of them died
• survivors saved by an Indian - Tisquantum
(Squanto)
• Squanto could speak English
• Squanto showed them the best place to fish,
& what to plant & how to cultivate it
• The colony grew
• Had good harvest in 1621
• Had first Thanksgiving feast with Indians
 Massachusetts Bay Colony
• Charles 1 became the King in 1625
• Charles 1 took harsh actions against Puritans –
persecuting & imprisoned them
• 1630 – about 1000 Puritans sailed from
England to the new world
• founded Massachusetts Bay Colony
• Elected John Winthrop as governor
• Created elected legislatures
• 1640 – about 10,000 Puritans settled here
 Rhode Island
• Roger Williams :-
extreme separatist
arrived in Massachusetts in 1631
became a minister in 1635
believed – separation of government & church
believed - a sin to possess land without buying it
from Indians
ordered to leave the colony
• Williams:
obtained a charter from England Parliament
(1644)
Established the colony of Rhode Island
Formed a democratic government
government & church were rigidly separated
All religions were tolerated
 Other New England Colonies

• 1629 – colonists opened Maine

• 1629 – colonists opened New Hampshire
• 1680 - New Hampshire became a royal colony
• 1662 – Connecticut obtained a royal charter
 Maryland

• George Calvert asked charter from Charles I to

open a colony in New World
• Reason:-
for financial gain
a heaven for co-religionists
• Calvert was a Catholic
• he died before getting approval
• Charles I approved charter to his son, Cecilius
• charter gave the proprietor wide authority
• 1634 – settlers arrived & opened Maryland
• Economy based on tobacco
• Cecilius wise steps:-
Gave settlers considerable say in local affairs
Toleration Act 1649 – guaranteed freedom of
religion to anyone “professing to believe in Jesus
Christ”
 Carolinas

• proprietors received charter from King Charles

II
• settlers arrived in 1670
• Founded Charles Town in 1680
• 1712 – divided into North Carolina & South
Carolina
 Georgia
• 1733 – James Oglethorpe founded Georgia
• made a few regulations:-
Land grants limited to fifty acres
Ban rum
Regulate trading with Indians – for fair dealing
• settlers violated these regulations
• 1752 – philanthropists abandoned Georgia
• Georgia became a royal Colony
 New York
• Conflicts between England & Dutch
• Caused by rivalry in trade
• Charles II granted his brother James (Duke of
York) the area between Connecticut &
Maryland.
• 1664 – English force captured New
Amsterdam from the Dutch
• Renamed it New York
 New Jersey
• 1664 - Duke of York gave New Jersey to John,
Lord Berkeley & George Carteret
• To attract settlers these proprietors :-
Offered land on easy terms
Religion freedom
Formed a democratic government
 Pennsylvania
• founded by William Penn
• Penn was a Quaker (fanatic Christians – they
do not need rituals or middle man to
communicate with God)
• King Charles II owed William Penn’s father (a
wealthy English admiral) 16,000
• Charles II reluctant to pay the debt
• 1681 - Charles II paid off the debt by giving
Penn the region of Pennsylvania
• Penn treated the Indians fairly :-
Buying Indians lands
Protecting Indians in their dealings with settlers &
traders

• Penn :-
Practised freedom of worship
Protect individual rights
•
 French and Dutch Settlements

• France occupied Quebec

• Dutch occupied New Amsterdam
 The Indians War - King Philip’s
War
• New England colonists exploited Indian tribes
disunity to strengthen their positions
• They turned one group against another
• They faced two major Indians uprising:-
Pequot War
King Philip’s War
• The colonists won because they were assisted
by Indian allies
• Pequot War - colonists was aided by
Narragansett & Mohegan tribes, traditional
enemies of the Pequot tribes
• King Philip’s War - colonists aided by Mohawk
tribes, traditional enemies of the Wampanoag
tribes