"geography was the primary factor in shaping the development of the British colonies in North America." ?

Question

assess the validity of this statement for the 1600s

This is for AP US History...can anyone help

Answer 1

Well they settled near water, and didn't venture too far west until some time later because of the mountains. And look at Pittsburgh. It was a stronghold fort because of the location and the rivers. (It was at the point.)   I can't give you an AP answer because I suck at history, but definitely the water thing. The rivers were used for like...everything. And the colonies stayed on the coast instead of spreading west because of importing.  Plus farming. They had to have good land for that, I guess.

Answer 2

From 1492, the Spanish and their allies, the portuguese, had a big head start with North American colonization.

They already had "the better parts". That was the areas that had functioning centrally controlled large civilizations, the Aztecs and Incas. It was much easier to just take them over, and usurp their infrastructure, and alter them to their needs. The biggest aspect of the Spanish "head start" was the gold and other precious metals to be found in their territories.

The British and French were late starters in the business of empire-building. The 16th century (1500-99) was basically the time of Spain's greatest power. The income from the new territories seized in the new world not only went into the greedy hands of Spanish nobles and clergy, but also went into the financing of great armies, that were roaming around Europe, causing troubles and war for everybody else. France and The Spanish Lowlands (Holland and Belgium later) had to be constantly at war or political intrigue with the Spaniards. There was no time for colonization yet.

Britain, since King Henry VIII's time, was breaking away from the power of the Catholic Church, thus the Hapsburgs and Spain.

Political intrigue was not getting the results that the Spanish king wanted. After the death of "Bloody Mary" (Queen Mary I), came the beginning of the reign of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I. More intrigues and pressure did not work to remove her, so, in 1588, a great Spanish Armada (fleet) was sent, full of troops, to invade England.

They had a problem, though, and his name was Francis Drake.

England did not have much of a navy then, and it's most experienced and successful sailor, Drake, was more of a pirate. He was very good at it, though.

Through Protestantism, and the boost in the industrial revolution resulting from this loosing of state and church controls on science and industry, the British fleet was nearly 100 years ahead of the Spanish technology.

English ships were faster, had better Dutch sails and rigging, and had higher quality metal in their cannons, reducing their weight, and increasing their strength and range. As long as the English ships did not allow the Spanish to "grapple" with them, and did the "serpentine" tactics of beating them individually, while staying out of range and gun angles, the Spanish did not have much of a chance.

A storm also helped the British out.

The defeat was crushing, and Spain no longer had a main fleet.

This was the beginning of when "Brittania ruled the Waves". Drake, with the Queen's permission, went after the Spanish gold fleets. Within about 20 years, Spain was in decline, financially collapsing, and it's armies in Europe in retreat. This also gave France and Holland their great opportunities to grow.

Now we are at the 17th Century (1600-99). Holland was bent for trade. It sailed around the world, looking mainly for trade venues, like Japan, through the port of Nagasaki, as well as Batavia (Indonesia/Malaysia), and various other tiny little colonies, mainly only for trade.

The French wanted territory, but the good parts were already taken, and their navy was not strong enough to challenge Spain. They took a few islands in the Carribbean anyway, but mainly opted for staying away from the Spanish territories. Jacques Cartier in 1535 already explored parts of North America, so they went that way.

Their first colonial attempt was in 1604, led by Samuel de Champlain, on a small island at the mouth of the St. John River (New Brunswick). This was a disaster.

Then they crossed over the Bay of Fundy to what later was to become Nova Scotia, to found the first permanent settlement in the north part of North America, Port Royal, in 1605. This place was successful, in that they were on the mainland, sheltered from the Atlantic weather in the Annapolis Basin.

Then came 1608. The British and French both got more active, as Frontenac of France founded Quebec, and Raleigh sent people to found the Jamestown colony. Jamestown was further south, since the British were not so worried about the Spanish. The Colony of Virginia, named after "The Virgin Queen", Elizabeth, quickly, after a brief problem with the indians, grew. so did Quebec.

Now the geography had more of a role to play, with new local economies. The French got into farming regular crops, and the fur trade, while the nicer climate of the growing "New England" states got into tobbacco and land aquisition. The French were more friendly with their Indians, trading furs for guns and alcohol, while the English colonists, traded only beads and junk most of the time, and preferred killing the natives.

In 1613, the first clash between the British and French happened, with colonists from Virginia coming north to attack and burn Port Royal.

The war for the part of "Acadia" (now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, P.E.I., and parts of Maine) that would later become mainland Nova Scotia, would go on for nearly 100 years. From 1613 to 1710, Port Royal/Annapolis Royal would change hands 7 times. Scottish settlers were "encouraged" to leave Scotland, and they landed in the north part of Nova Scotia in 1689, just after the last Stewart King, James II, declared it to be "New Scotland" (Latin= Nova Scotia). They were immediately at war with the french and their allies, the MicMac Indians.

from 1620, and the founding of Plymouth and the Massachusetts colony, more and more British colonists arrived in America. These colonies would gradually grow into the original 13 American colonies, but they were far from united at the time. Some trade differences even had different colonies support open p****y against another. Blackbeard was supported by Virginia, against Massachusetts and the other more northern English colonies.

Geography again played its role, in determining the colonial building directions of these two rival countries. The French would follow the St.Lawrence Seaway, up the river, to the Great Lakes, resulting in LaSalle and DeSoto pushing on and claiming the whole Mississippi and surrounding areas for France, calling this area Louisiana, after King Louis XIV, the "Sun King". This boxed the American colonies in, along the Eastern seaboard.

The English colonies slowly kept expanding, crossing the Appelachians with Daniel Boone, and beginning new colonies. The next clash, The French and Indian War of 1756-63, was inevitable.

And that sums it up for the 16th Century.

Have a star!

Answer 3

well it sounds somewhat valid because geography played a factor...but more so wasn't it the unknown of the west and the native americans that lived there??

just givin' some ideas..