The Colonization Of Colonial America

Chapter 3 Summary

In the 17th century, European colonies had begun to establish colonies in North America. These European colonies where comparable in a number of ways. The biggest difference was their relationships with surrounding native communities and their purposes of colonization. The colonization of New Mexico was a chance for the Spanish to spread their religion in a missionary work and effort. To do so, the Spanish created a society of “inclusion” with the natives. The Spanish settlers and missionaries participated in a variety of events and day-to-day life events with the natives to help them feel as though they where part of the Spanish in an effort to preach their religion. Another “inclusion” characteristic was the marriage of

A large factor for growing colonies was the desire for religious freedom. Some of the first religious dissenters to enter the Americas where the Puritans. They hoped to create a more “pure” church and be free from persecution that they experienced in England. The most famous of these groups where the Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower and settled in the Plymouth colony. The Plymouth colony was a success, and with this news, thousands of other Puritans relocated to the Americas. With the founding of a new colony, the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the relocation of over 20,000 people, this large colonization became known as the Great Migration. Puritans and Indians did not get along too well. The puritans, like other English colonists, thought they had the right to just take native lands, and so they did. They often used trickery and used illness to their advantage. With a civil war going on in England during the mid 1600’s, and its successes, the English desire to relocate to the Americas decreased. New England’s economy depended on these immigrations, and with the decrease of settlers, the economy had to thrive on something else, and it did. A new economy based on the merchant class flourished. Puritan communities where well ordered communities. Men where the leaders of households and of the communities. Women where of lesser value, though they took great care of children and the homes. There was a strong distrust of women who where not puritan, and who had no children or spouse. This led to the result of the Salem Witch trials. Dissent and religious and political disagreements within the communities led to the dissent and colonization of new communities within the