European Colonization Of America Research Paper

Improved Essays
In 1492, Christopher Columbus began the colonization of America when he found the continent sailing across the Atlantic Ocean looking for India. After his discovery, many other Europeans began to colonize America as well. Although there were many beneficial discoveries, there were also negative outcomes. The Europeans began to colonize America looking for new trade routes to Asia, to spread Christianity, and to discover gold and riches, but this colonization resulted in the abuse of Native Americans, the spread of christianity, and the discovery of many useful resources.
There were several reason why the Europeans came to colonize America. First of all, many came to find new trade routes to India. This is what brought many Spaniards, including
…show more content…
The European colonists invaded the Native Americans’ land, tortured and killed those who fought back, made them into slaves and took them back to Europe, sold them into sex slavery, and spread deadly illnesses. However, not all of the outcomes were bad. For example, the Europeans did succeed in spreading Christianity, and forming communities with some of the Native Americans, particularly in California. Another outcome of the colonization was that the Europeans discovered many useful items. While they did not find the gold they were looking for, they came back with other useful trading items like tobacco, corn, potatoes, and animal furs. There were many positive and negative effects to the colonization of America.
The Europeans began to colonize America looking for new trade routes to Asia, to spread Christianity, and to discover gold and riches. This colonization had some positive and negative outcomes. The colonization of America began with intentions of fame and fortune; this lead to the death and torture of the Native Americans, the spread of Christianity, and new discoveries which increased trade in Europe. The colonization of America ended up being good for Europe despite some negative

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Columbus’ misunderstanding and of the Native Americans and the New World was reflective of most of Europe in the late 15th century. This new land mass was seen as a commodity to exploit for money and its people as the new battlefield of the Holy Wars. The primitivation and racism that clouds most of Columbus’ writings also unfortunately colored the thoughts of leaders and explorers back in the Old World. Analyze the impact of colonization on Spain. Colonization allowed Spain to assert its newfound dominance, after successfully driving away the Muslims, into new lucrative frontier.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    American Exploration Dbq

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages

    We owe America´s success to our founding fathers who broke from England, before that the pilgrims who came here to escape religious persecution. But in the beginning it was the famous explorers who set out to discover new lands for European monarchies that shaped the country and society we live in today. European exploration was a movement during the years 1440-1550 in which Europe's prominent countries: Spain, France, and Portugal, were on a race to conquer the unclaimed lands of the New world. Colonization happened once explorers, hired by the monarchies, claimed lands for their country, and citizens looking new life took a ship to the New World and settled there.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Age Of Exploration DBQ

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages

    During the Age of Exploration many individuals such as Columbus, Magellan, and Cortes are recognized for the changes they brought to Europe during this time, but it is questionable whether their changes were more positive or negative. Each of these explores has brought many changes to both their conquered areas and their homeland. It’s safe to say these explores brought more negative changes than positive changes because the changes they brought only benefitted their homeland, resulting in the suffering of their conquered areas. During this time period the major powers were driven to have control over most lands, even if it meant the suffering Indigenous people. The Age of Exploration began as a result of economic desires.…

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These crops included wheat, which grew to feed millions of people. In spite of the positive effects of some crops, other crops that were introduced had negative effects. Some crops were harmful to the ecosystems that were already there. Other crops benefited the Europeans more than the natives, and some of the natives preferred their own foods over the new ones. Another positive effect that the columbian Exchange had on the Americans, was the arrival of horses.…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Compare and Contrast European Colony Development in North America With the discovery of North America, European countries realized they could benefit from the colonization and resources of this new land. Spain, France and England each had their own reasons why they wanted to colonize North America, and each countries strategy to do this was different from the others. England had a big advantage when it came to the colonization of North America; even though, this advantage led to the American Revolutionary War and the creation of The United States of America. The governments of Spain, France and England and the influences they had over their colonies in North America played a major role in the success of their colonies.…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dbq Native Americans

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages

    European explorers and the colonization of Indian Tribes heavily impacted the north American in the New World from 1492-1609. European explorers and their colonization of the Indian tribes affected the Native Americans socially, politically, and economically. Socially, the European explorers forced Indians to convert to Christianity and decimated the Native Population. Politically, Europeans caused Indians to aid each other in protecting themselves against the Europeans. Economically, the Europeans introduced the Indians to new goods and spread their trade.…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the hope that they would have more opportunities and increase their wealth Europeans began coming to the Americas and establishing colonies. In 1607 the Europeans developed the first colonization of the Americas known as Jamestown, Virginia. The more people heard of the opportunities the Americas offered the more that decided to settle there. As a result, in 1620 the second colony was established. And eventually by 1703 there were thirteen established colonies, these included, Virginia, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Additionally, the Americans gave the Europeans rubber, tobacco and cotton. In return, the Europeans gave the Americans coffee, chicken, bananas, rice, sugar cane, tulips, horses, etc. Overall, the goods that were traded between the new and old both benefited each other and led to positive outcomes. On the flip side, diseases from Europe such as smallpox spread into the Americas killing almost 90% of the population. Lastly, the Americans transferred the disease called syphilis to the Europeans which led to population decrease as…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Other regions such as the Americas were utterly devastated as a result. The impact of exploration was profoundly negative for indigenous peoples. Europeans consciously worked to re-create the Old World in whatever lands they found themselves. Religious, political, and social modes were introduced and native customs suppressed or destroyed. The high culture of Native American civilizations disappeared shortly after European contact.…

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the time period of 1707- 1950 CE many revolutions happened among the countries of the world. New ideas in science and industries developed with the growth and changes around the world. Social and political wars were a result of these revolutions in this time period. Changes that followed the American Revolution, included cultural, political and economic; nationalism developed; the consequences of cultural, economic, and industrialization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries changed the world.…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Minority Groups in America Introduction The 20th century has witnessed the transformation of the United States from a dominating white population to society rich with an array of religious, racial and ethnic minority groups. Historically, the country has been dominated by a settler group of ethically and religiously diverse whites. Traced back to the first settlements from the 1600s to the 19th century, most minority groups in the United States were as result of forced immigration to work in the American firms (Du Bois, 2014). The heaviest burdens of the minority groups have historically fallen upon the Africans, Native Americans and Women.…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    After Columbus ' discovery of the Americas, Spain reaped the benefits of this New World. More than a century later, Europeans finally took an interest in establishing colonies in North America. King James I of England established Jamestown, made up of men from the Virginia Company, in Virginia in 1607. Soon after, England established several new colonies along the Atlantic Coast. While Spain and British colonization efforts both began with the goal of finding new wealth, they differed in their religious aspects and their treatment of the native people.…

    • 1255 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Columbian Exchange had both positive and negative impacts on the New World, however there were more positive impacts than negative. Due to the Columbian Exchange, new crops, animals, foods, and flowers were brought over to the New World. These were all beneficial for people living in the New World. In addition to these positive impacts, there was one big negative impact that greatly affected the Native Americans. However, the positive impacts beat the negative impact.…

    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The major effects and causes of both the Age of Exploration and colonization of the new world were good. Gold and silver came to Europe from the Americas leading to rising prices. Gold partially offered health and the only gold itself. Glory was both personal and national part of the exploration. And the Europeans believe that only Christians were deemed to heaven.…

    • 78 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Within the development of America and European settlement, there have been many influences. One of the biggest influences has been greed from 1492-1815; this greed has been present in the Spanish, French, and British colonies. This greed was a key factor in the finding and development of the above people. The following will look at specific examples in the Spanish, French, and British colonies as well as examples from the book A Midwife 's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Starting in 1492 the Spanish came and conquered the Caribbean Sea Islands in hopes to enslave the natives to mine gold and silver.…

    • 1295 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays