During the fall of the Roman Empire in the 15th century, the landscape of Europe changed to incorporate kings and queens or newly formed monarchs. These monarchs improved their countries with better systems of government and nationalism. They wanted to expand their growth and power through trade with Asia, which led to more interest in sea explorations to find new and quicker trade routes. Brinkley (2012) wrote as trade increased, and as advances in navigation and shipbuilding made long-distance sea travel more feasible, interest in developing new markets, finding new products, and opening new trade routes rapidly increased (p. 10). These dreams and aspirations finally came to fruition thanks to the Portuguese, who were the first global sea power at that time. The Portuguese navigated their way around Western Africa and finally around the bottom tip of South Africa and then into India. This gave the Portuguese more claims to new trade routes and more opportunities. In 1492, an Italian named Christopher Columbus, discovered islands in the Caribbean. He …show more content…
Forty-one male passengers signed a document, the Mayflower Compact, which established a civil government and proclaimed their allegiance to the king before stepping ashore at Plymouth Rock (p. 43). The pilgrims were able to survive with the assistance of the natives who helped the pilgrims cultivate the land. This helped them to export crops back to Europe and develop trading partners with the Indians through crops and fur. Later, Plymouth became a colony under the Massachusetts Bay Company, which began migrating masses of Puritan families into the area in 1630. Soon the company transformed itself into a colonial government, which gave the Puritans the chance to seek salvation and the right to worship without interference from England (p.