Chapter 1
The Collision of Cultures
Learning Objectives
Explain how contact between European arrivals and the native peoples
of the Americas affected both groups.
Contrast Spanish settlement in the Americas with that of the English,
Dutch, and French.
Describe the effects of the importation of African slaves into the
Americas.
Define mercantilism and explain its influence on the European
colonization of North America.
Explain how the English experience in the colonization of Ireland affected
their efforts to colonize in America.
Chapter Overview
During the seventeenth century, many separate colonies were established in British
North America. Before 1660, most of these colonies were private ventures chartered
by the crown. These colonies were peopled largely by English Europeans, many of
whom migrated across the Atlantic Ocean in search of greater opportunity, be it
economic, religious, or social. After 1660, what were called proprietary colonies
became the norm. Charters granted by the crown indicated a closer tie between the
“owners” of the colony and the reigning monarch. By the 1680s, England had
established an unbroken string of colonies stretching from Canada to the Savannah
River and extending into the West Indies.
,Colonial expansion intensified the contact and conflict with natives. Despite a
considerable and mutual exchange of information and goods, the colonists’ ceaseless
desire for land led to a deterioration in relations with natives.
Gradually, time and distance influenced the attitudes of colonists, who began to
perceive themselves as a hybrid breed of both Old World English and New World
Americans. As the colonies matured, the inhabitants began to exhibit a desire to
control their own local affairs and interests that eventually would come to trouble
the British Empire. It would also contribute to decisions by officials in London to
tighten control over their increasingly independent-minded, not to mention
increasingly valuable, possessions in the New World.
Themes
The colonization of the Americas included a collision of European and Native
American cultures that had been developing along very different lines for
thousands of years.
A variety of ambitions and impulses (political, personal, financial) moved
individuals and nations to colonize the New World.
The motives of the colonizers, their experiences before immigrating, and
their limited knowledge of the New World shaped their attitudes toward
Native American cultures.
Lecture Strategies
Reciprocal Relationships
,An important theme to develop at the beginning of the course is the reciprocal
relationship between Europe and America. Lecturing on Spain and its New World
Empire in the sixteenth century is an ideal way of emphasizing not only that Europe
affected American development but that America affected European development.
While discovery transformed the ecology, population, economy, and culture of
regions that became Spanish America, the development of that colonial empire
hastened the pace at which political authority in Europe became more centralized
and economies in Europe became more monetarized and interdependent. The best
source on the ecological impact of discovery is the work of Alfred Crosby, both The
Columbian Exchange and Ecological Imperialism.
England in Ireland and America
England’s first attempt at conquest, of course, took place in Ireland rather than
America, and Chapter 1 discusses the ways in which the colonization of Ireland
served as a model for the subsequent settlement of America. In fact, many of the
same men who served with the English army in Ireland were also involved in the
earliest schemes for American colonization, lending to those designs their military
—and often quasi-feudal—character. The Irish experience also shaped subsequent
relations between the English and the natives of Roanoke and the Chesapeake. The
connection between Ireland and America will probably be unfamiliar to most
students, and its importance may warrant a lecture, one that addresses the
differences as well as the similarities of English adventuring in Ireland and America.
Nicholas Canny’s work, especially Kingdom and Colony, does an excellent job of
describing the English conquest of Ireland and of drawing comparisons between
Ireland under English rule and early Jamestown.
Comparison of European Contact in the New World and Africa
It could be helpful to point to the differences in the initial contact experience
between Europeans and the peoples they encountered in the New World and in
Africa. Generally, on the West African coast, the African kingdoms possessed enough
military power to negotiate on a level of relative equality with the European
explorers and traders. By contrast, the Taino, whom the Spanish first encountered in
the Caribbean, did not have the same capacities and were thus more easily
dominated. Later, the Aztecs and Incas, while formidable warriors, found it difficult
to fight the conquistadores, since their power had been weakened by the outbreak of
smallpox. In addition, both Aztecs and Incas were unpopular rulers, and thus found
it difficult to mobilize the peoples under their rule to come to their defense.
, Teaching Suggestions
The Aztec Perspective on Spanish Conquest
On the issue of Indian attitudes toward invading Spaniards, an invaluable source is
Miguel
León-Portilla’s The Broken Spears, which offers vivid accounts of the Spanish
conquest set down by Aztec scribes. It also sheds light on the question of how the
conquistadores succeeded in supplanting Aztec rulers by illustrating both the
importance of Indian disunity and the catastrophic consequences of their first
exposure to European diseases. Students should understand that although Spanish
weaponry was important, it was not the deciding factor.
Motivations for Colonization
Students might also be asked to assess the relative importance of “ideal” as opposed
to “material” goals in fostering colonization ventures. Most students are inclined to
opt for
the primacy of economic and political motives and tend to dismiss the colonizers’
professed concerns for religion and social justice as legitimizers of baser incentives.
Arguing against
the grain of these inclinations can stir up some valuable exchanges that will lend
complexity
to their view of overseas enterprise. For an effective collateral reading that
illustrates the ideals informing colonization, see Thomas More’s Utopia. Discussion
might also usefully emphasize the crusading mentality of the sixteenth-century
Spanish and the militant Protestantism of the English, who felt a keen need to define
themselves as something other than the “tyrannical” Spaniards of the “Black
Legend.” You may also want to introduce the attitudes of ordinary people in Europe
toward colonization, as opposed to those of the explorers and monarchs. How did
they regard exploration and colonization? What stake might fisherfolk and peasants,
sailors and tradespeople, have had in the opening of the Americas to Europe?
The Collision of Cultures
Learning Objectives
Explain how contact between European arrivals and the native peoples
of the Americas affected both groups.
Contrast Spanish settlement in the Americas with that of the English,
Dutch, and French.
Describe the effects of the importation of African slaves into the
Americas.
Define mercantilism and explain its influence on the European
colonization of North America.
Explain how the English experience in the colonization of Ireland affected
their efforts to colonize in America.
Chapter Overview
During the seventeenth century, many separate colonies were established in British
North America. Before 1660, most of these colonies were private ventures chartered
by the crown. These colonies were peopled largely by English Europeans, many of
whom migrated across the Atlantic Ocean in search of greater opportunity, be it
economic, religious, or social. After 1660, what were called proprietary colonies
became the norm. Charters granted by the crown indicated a closer tie between the
“owners” of the colony and the reigning monarch. By the 1680s, England had
established an unbroken string of colonies stretching from Canada to the Savannah
River and extending into the West Indies.
,Colonial expansion intensified the contact and conflict with natives. Despite a
considerable and mutual exchange of information and goods, the colonists’ ceaseless
desire for land led to a deterioration in relations with natives.
Gradually, time and distance influenced the attitudes of colonists, who began to
perceive themselves as a hybrid breed of both Old World English and New World
Americans. As the colonies matured, the inhabitants began to exhibit a desire to
control their own local affairs and interests that eventually would come to trouble
the British Empire. It would also contribute to decisions by officials in London to
tighten control over their increasingly independent-minded, not to mention
increasingly valuable, possessions in the New World.
Themes
The colonization of the Americas included a collision of European and Native
American cultures that had been developing along very different lines for
thousands of years.
A variety of ambitions and impulses (political, personal, financial) moved
individuals and nations to colonize the New World.
The motives of the colonizers, their experiences before immigrating, and
their limited knowledge of the New World shaped their attitudes toward
Native American cultures.
Lecture Strategies
Reciprocal Relationships
,An important theme to develop at the beginning of the course is the reciprocal
relationship between Europe and America. Lecturing on Spain and its New World
Empire in the sixteenth century is an ideal way of emphasizing not only that Europe
affected American development but that America affected European development.
While discovery transformed the ecology, population, economy, and culture of
regions that became Spanish America, the development of that colonial empire
hastened the pace at which political authority in Europe became more centralized
and economies in Europe became more monetarized and interdependent. The best
source on the ecological impact of discovery is the work of Alfred Crosby, both The
Columbian Exchange and Ecological Imperialism.
England in Ireland and America
England’s first attempt at conquest, of course, took place in Ireland rather than
America, and Chapter 1 discusses the ways in which the colonization of Ireland
served as a model for the subsequent settlement of America. In fact, many of the
same men who served with the English army in Ireland were also involved in the
earliest schemes for American colonization, lending to those designs their military
—and often quasi-feudal—character. The Irish experience also shaped subsequent
relations between the English and the natives of Roanoke and the Chesapeake. The
connection between Ireland and America will probably be unfamiliar to most
students, and its importance may warrant a lecture, one that addresses the
differences as well as the similarities of English adventuring in Ireland and America.
Nicholas Canny’s work, especially Kingdom and Colony, does an excellent job of
describing the English conquest of Ireland and of drawing comparisons between
Ireland under English rule and early Jamestown.
Comparison of European Contact in the New World and Africa
It could be helpful to point to the differences in the initial contact experience
between Europeans and the peoples they encountered in the New World and in
Africa. Generally, on the West African coast, the African kingdoms possessed enough
military power to negotiate on a level of relative equality with the European
explorers and traders. By contrast, the Taino, whom the Spanish first encountered in
the Caribbean, did not have the same capacities and were thus more easily
dominated. Later, the Aztecs and Incas, while formidable warriors, found it difficult
to fight the conquistadores, since their power had been weakened by the outbreak of
smallpox. In addition, both Aztecs and Incas were unpopular rulers, and thus found
it difficult to mobilize the peoples under their rule to come to their defense.
, Teaching Suggestions
The Aztec Perspective on Spanish Conquest
On the issue of Indian attitudes toward invading Spaniards, an invaluable source is
Miguel
León-Portilla’s The Broken Spears, which offers vivid accounts of the Spanish
conquest set down by Aztec scribes. It also sheds light on the question of how the
conquistadores succeeded in supplanting Aztec rulers by illustrating both the
importance of Indian disunity and the catastrophic consequences of their first
exposure to European diseases. Students should understand that although Spanish
weaponry was important, it was not the deciding factor.
Motivations for Colonization
Students might also be asked to assess the relative importance of “ideal” as opposed
to “material” goals in fostering colonization ventures. Most students are inclined to
opt for
the primacy of economic and political motives and tend to dismiss the colonizers’
professed concerns for religion and social justice as legitimizers of baser incentives.
Arguing against
the grain of these inclinations can stir up some valuable exchanges that will lend
complexity
to their view of overseas enterprise. For an effective collateral reading that
illustrates the ideals informing colonization, see Thomas More’s Utopia. Discussion
might also usefully emphasize the crusading mentality of the sixteenth-century
Spanish and the militant Protestantism of the English, who felt a keen need to define
themselves as something other than the “tyrannical” Spaniards of the “Black
Legend.” You may also want to introduce the attitudes of ordinary people in Europe
toward colonization, as opposed to those of the explorers and monarchs. How did
they regard exploration and colonization? What stake might fisherfolk and peasants,
sailors and tradespeople, have had in the opening of the Americas to Europe?
