The British colonization of the new continent

12.2.1. John Cabot was an Italian sea captain who explored for England. The English also hoped that Cabot could reach the Spice Islands by sailing west. In 1447 Cabot set sail with one small ship and eighteen men. After five weeks at sea he reached land and claimed it for England. Cabot thought he was in China. In fact, Cabot had landed in what is now Newfoundland. Instead of spices, he found one of the richest fishing areas in the world. The next year Cabot explored much of the north-eastern coast of North America.

12.2.2. The French explorer Jacques Cartier made three voyages to the New World between 1534 and 1542. Cartier was looking for the Northwest Passage — a water route through North America to Asia. He found the St. Lawrence River and explored it as far as present-day Montreal, Canada. French explorers kept trying to find the North West Passage. In 1603, Samuel de Champlain explored much of what is now eastern Canada and northern New York State. He claimed this land for France. He set up a settlement at Quebec and sailed across Lake Huron and Lake Ontario. Robert La Salle, another French explorer, traveled to the mouth of the Mississippi in 1682. He called the surrounding area Louisiana and claimed the entire Mississippi Valley for France.

12.2.3. Henry Hudson was an En­glish navigator who made important explorations for the Dutch and English. In 1609 he set sail from the Netherlands. Reaching North America, he ex­plored the Atlantic shore and sailed up the river that was later named for him — the Hudson River. He claimed the territory around the Hudson River for the Netherlands. It became New Netherlands — the first Dutch colony in the New World. In 1626, Peter Minuit established New Amsterdam, the settlement that became New York City years later. Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from one of the Algonquian-speaking tribes with trinkets valued at the amount of 60 Dutch guilders, a sum later calculated as $24.

12.2.4. T he first-ever English settlement in Americawas Roanoke Colony subsidized by Sir Walter Raleigh. Britons landed at Roanoke in August 1585, but encountered hostility from Native Americans and suffered from serious food shortages. The story of the settlement is full of mystery. It was abandoned and became known as the “lost colony.”

Jamestown became the first permanent English settlement in America 400 years ago, in 1607. The colonists were to look for gold and silver, for a passage to Asia, and for other discoveries that would quickly reward investors. None of their plans worked out, and the settlers began to die of dysentery and typhoid fever. At the end of the first year, only about one-third remained alive. There is a story about one of the founders of the colony Captain John Smith and Indian princess Pocahontas who helped colonists to survive during the hard times. The colony gave up the search for quick profits and turned to growing tobacco. King James I of England made Virginia the first royal colony.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-07