trying to find a water route through
North America to the Pacific Ocean.
People called this unknown route the
Northwest Passage. The first explorer to
find this passage was the Norwegian
Roald Amundsenin 1906.
John Cabot landed in what is now Newfoundland
in 1497. He was one of the first
Europeans to land in North America.
Hudson Bay in Canada and the Hudson
River in the United States were named for
the explorer Henry Hudson.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Americas, Exploration and Settlement of the 103
Settling the Land
The riches of the Americas attracted
many early settlers, or colonists. Some
worked on their own, while others
worked for European trading companies.
Both groups wanted to make money
selling valuable things back to Europe.
Gold and silver were the most valuable
products of South America andMexico.
Further to the north, the furs of animals
were the most valuable products.
As Europeans began settling the land,
they met many Native Americans. Their
relations were often friendly. But Native
Americans grew angry as Europeans
took over more land.Wars between settlers
and Native Americans killed thousands.
Many more Native Americans
died from smallpox and other European
diseases.
Meanwhile, European settlers began to
grow the crops that Native Americans
grew, including corn, potatoes, pumpkins,
squash, peanuts, and tobacco.
Europeans also brought plants like sugarcane
and coffee to the Americas and
found that they grew well there. Some
Europeans set up large farms and sold
their crops back to Europe.
Some of the first European farmers captured
Native Americans and forced them
to work as slaves. African slaves eventually
replaced them. The Portuguese
brought in Africans to work as slaves
starting in 1502. The English were
active slave traders also. The slave trade
did not end until the 1800s.
Spanish Colonies
The earliest Spanish settlements were in
theWest Indies. The Spanish set up
Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola
in 1496. It was the first capital
of Spains colonial empire, called New
Spain.
In 1513 Vasco de Balboa traveled across
Central America. He became the first
European to view the Pacific Ocean
from the Americas. Six years later
Hernan Cortes made his first attack on
the Aztec Empire in Mexico. In 1533
Francisco Pizarro took Peru away from
the Inca people. The Spanish stole gold
and silver from the native empires and
shipped it back to Spain.
Spains colonial empire became the
biggest in the Americas. At its peak it
included the largest Caribbean islands,
all ofMexico and most of Central
America, large sections of South
The Roman
Catholic
church sent
many missionaries
into
Spanish, Portuguese,
and
French colonies.
Their task
was to convert
the Native
Americans to
Catholic
Christianity.
Francisco Pizarro conquered
what is now Peru and founded
the city of Lima there.
104 Americas, Exploration and Settlement of the BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
America, Florida, and the southwestern
quarter of what is now the United States.
English Colonies
The important English colonies were on
the Atlantic coast of North America. In
1607 merchants from the Virginia
Company founded Jamestown. This was
the first permanent English settlement
in North America.
Other English settlers soon founded
Plymouth Colony andMassachusetts
Bay Colony in New England. These
colonies were unusual. The people who
started them had reasons besides making
money. They wanted freedom to practice
their own forms of Christianity. They
could not find this freedom in Europe.
The English settled other parts of the
Americas, too. Starting in 1670, the
English traders of the Hudsons Bay
Company set up trading posts in
Canada. In the Caribbean Sea, England
had settlements on several islands. The
largest was Jamaica, which England
seized from Spain in 1655. The English
settled Belize in Central America in
1638. Scattered settlements in South
America united to form British Guiana
in 1831.
French Colonies
Frances settlements in North America
were known as New France.Most of
these settlements were in what is now
Canada. The French explored widely,
made friends with Native Americans,
and built forts and trading posts. The fur
trade became the basis of New Frances
economy. In the late 1600s and early
1700s the French captured many trading
posts from the Hudsons Bay Company.
In 1608 Samuel de Champlain founded
Quebec as the first permanent French
settlement. One French explorer, the
Sieur de La Salle, floated down the Mississippi
River in 1682 and claimed all
the land it drained.
France also claimed islands in the Caribbean
Sea, including what is now Haiti.
Queen Elizabeth I is pictured asking English
explorer Sir Walter Raleigh to start a colony
in Virginia for England.
Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoag Native
Americans, visits with the English settlers
called Pilgrims.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Americas, Exploration and Settlement of the 105
In the mid-1600s France founded
French Guiana on the northeastern coast
of South America.
France and England (which united with
Scotland to form Great Britain in 1707)
often fought over land in North America.
106 Americas, Exploration and Settlement of the BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
One such fight became known as the
French and IndianWar. At the end of
that war, in 1763, Great Britain won
control of French Canada. It also won all
other French territory east of the
Mississippi River. France sold its
territories farther west to the United
States in 1803.
Other Colonies
The Portuguese were among the earliest
explorers in the Americas. However, the
only colony they set up was Brazil, in
South America.
In about 1626 the Dutch built a settlement
in North America called New
Amsterdam. The English took over New
Amsterdam in 1664 and renamed it
New York. The Dutch also set up colonies
in the Caribbean. They are now
known as the Netherlands Antilles.
Russia came to North America from the
west. The Russians set up their first permanent
settlement in Alaska in 1784.
The Russians traded for furs as far south
as California. In 1867 Russia sold Alaska
to the United States.
End of Colonialism
Most colonies in North, Central, and
South America became independent
between 1776 and 1826. Many islands,
however, remained colonies.
In 1823 President James Monroe of the
United States issued a statement called
the Monroe Doctrine. It declared that
European countries were no longer welcome
to set up colonies in the Americas.
#More to explore
Balboa, Vasco Nunez de Cabot, John
Cartier, Jacques Columbus,
Christopher Cortes, Hernan Fur
Trade La Salle, Sieur de Magellan,
Ferdinand Massachusetts Bay Colony
Native Americans Plymouth Colony
Slavery Vespucci, Amerigo
In 1562 French explorer Jean Ribaut
brought colonists from France to North
America. They landed near Saint Johns
River in what is now Florida.
The first colonies
in the
Americas to