E. Napp

  In 1494, Spain and Portugal divided the lands Columbus had discovered between themselves [The Treaty of Tordesillas].  Conquistadores followed [Cortés and Pizarro].  However, other European nations also wanted to conquer land in the Americas. It Started With Spain E. Napp

  Arriving in 1524, the French established themselves in North America in the land that is presently Canada, as well as the upper northeastern United States.  The French created trade networks that extended down the Mississippi River to the port city of New Orleans. The French and the British E. Napp



  England eventually sent explorers to claim land and establish settlement in North America to compete with Spain and France. E. Napp The British

  In 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh established the colony of Roanoke off the coast of present-day North Carolina, which mysteriously vanished later. E. Napp

  In 1607, the Virginia Company was set up to establish a permanent colony in America and authorized Captain John Smith to organize the Jamestown Colony on the James River.  It established English settlers who were accustomed to having rights by giving them a charter providing them with the same privileges as they enjoyed as citizens of Britain. E. Napp The Virginia Company

  Captain John Smith brought the first British settlers to the Chesapeake Bay Region in  Initially established by the Virginia Company, the colony acquired a royal charter from King James I in 1624 in the expectation that it would provide gold, religious influence, and glory to England. E. Napp

  Under the leadership of John Rolph, tobacco farming was introduced to the colony and soon became an important cash crop. E. Napp

  In the early 1600s, the New England colonies (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire) were settled by a number of Calvinists who were known as the Puritans.  The Puritans sought to purify the Anglican Church by ridding it of any ceremony it still had in common with Roman Catholicism.  The Puritans were strict Protestants. E. Napp The New England Colonies

  The Pilgrims were Puritans who wished to form a new church.  Escaping persecution, they came to North America with the condition that they would spend their first seven years working for the Virginia Company (in exchange for a share of the profits they gained during that time). E. Napp The Pilgrims of Plymouth

  In 1620, the Pilgrims boarded the ship known as the Mayflower and set sail for Virginia.  They were unable to get to Virginia and instead landed in Plymouth Bay.  They chose a site for their settlement and created what is now known as Massachusetts. E. Napp

  Non-Puritans and dissenters were punished and often banished from the colony though.  Some dissenters, when banished left with followers and formed their own colonies.  Roger Williams, a minister from Salem who advocated a complete separation of church and state, believed that the biddings of conscience stood above civil or church laws.  He and his followers established the settlement of Providence, in what was later the colony of Rhode Island. E. Napp

  New York came into being when the English took over the Dutch colony of New Netherlands.  Its principal city of New Amsterdam had originally been founded as a fur trading center by the Dutch West India Company in  New Netherlands acquired its present name when King Charles II granted it to his brother, the Duke of York. E. Napp Other Settlements

  Georgia, founded and chartered in 1733 by James Oglethorpe, was the last of the British colonies.  English debtors crowding jails in London were transported to this colony.  Georgia served as a buffer between the valued Carolina plantations, and Florida, then a Spanish possession. E. Napp